Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme
The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme cultivates the leaders of tomorrow by providing an opportunity for outstanding university graduates and professionals mainly from developing and emerging economies, but also those who would not otherwise be able to support themselves, to pursue fully-funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford alongside a comprehensive programme of leadership development, long-term mentoring and networking.
About
The Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme was established in 2015 thanks to generous donations from multiple donors to mark the 95th birthday of Lord Weidenfeld. In June 2017, Trustee and Chairman André Hoffmann made an additional donation of £9m to the Trust which, thanks to matched funding of £6m from Oxford University, doubled the size of the Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme.
This scholarship is part of the Oxford Graduate Scholarships, which were established through a ground-breaking matched funding initiative to create fully-funded scholarships for graduate students of the highest calibre from across the world. The University contributes 40% of the funds for these scholarships, together with 60% from generous donations provided by supporters of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust, including Fondation Hoffmann.
The Leadership Programme is a unique part of these scholarships, and over the course of a year scholars take part in philosophical discussions, learn business skills and receive communication training within a supportive community. More information on this can be found on the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust website.
The scholarship will cover 100% of course fees and a grant for living costs (of at least £19,237). Awards are made to cover the full duration of your fee liability for the agreed course.
Partnership Schemes
In addition to the Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarship and Leadership Programme the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust also has a partnership with the Hualan Education Group and Chevening. The Hope Scholarships are also offered as part of the University’s Oxford Sanctuary Community’ for those with a displacement background. The scholarships also benefit from partnerships with multiple colleges where the college contributes a portion of the funding and therefore successful candidates will be transferred to one of the partner colleges when taking up the scholarship.
Scholarship outcomes
Decisions are expected to be made by the end of May 2025. If you have not heard from us by this time, then please assume that your application has been unsuccessful. Due to the volume of applications we receive, we regret that we are unable to contact unsuccessful applicants individually or provide feedback on applications.
Eligibility
You must be applying to start a new full-time graduate course at Oxford.
Please review the information below to see the complete list of eligible courses. You must also be ordinarily resident in one of the eligible countries listed.
Eligible courses
- BCL Bachelor of Civil Law
- MBA Master of Business Administration
- MJur Magister Juris
- MPP Master of Public Policy
- MSc Advanced Computer Science
- MSc African Studies
- MSt Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
- MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management
- MSc Comparative Social Policy
- MSc Contemporary Chinese Studies
- MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice
- MSt Diplomatic Studies
- MSc Economics for Development
- MSc Education (Comparative and International Education)
- MSc Education (Digital and Social Change)
- MSc Education (Higher Education)
- MSc Energy Systems
- MSc Environmental Change and Management
- MSc Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation
- MSc Financial Economics
- MSc Global Governance and Diplomacy
- MSc Global Health Science and Epidemiology
- MSc Health Service Improvement and Evaluation
- MSc International Health and Tropical Medicine
- MSt Islamic Studies and History
- MSt Jewish Studies
- MSt Japanese Studies
- MSt Korean Studies
- MSc Latin American Studies
- MSc Law and Finance
- MSc Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing
- MSc Migration Studies
- MSc Modern Middle Eastern Studies
- MSc Modern South Asian Studies
- MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Governance
- MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
- MSc Russian and East European Studies
- MSt Slavonic Studies
- MSc Social Data Science
- MSc Social Science of the Internet
- MSc Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment
- MSc Water Science, Policy and Management
- MSt Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Eligible countries
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei Darussalam
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- China
- China Tibet
- China, Hong Kong SAR
- China, Macau SAR
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo, Dem. Rep.
- Congo, Rep.
- Costa Rica
- Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- French Guiana
- Gabon
- Gambia, The
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Korea (North)
- Korea (South)
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lao PDR
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Marshall Islands
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestinian territories
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Réunion
- Romania
- Russian Federation
- Rwanda
- Saint Helena
- Samoa
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- St Kitts and Nevis
- St Lucia
- St Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Syria
- Taiwan (Republic of China)
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste (East Timor)
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
You should be intending to return to your country of ordinary residence once your course is completed. Students currently at Oxford are not eligible to apply unless they are already Weidenfeld-Hoffmann scholars.
You should be able to demonstrate a connection between your subject of study and your longer-term career objectives, explaining how you see your professional work contributing to the improvement of public life in your country of origin or at a wider regional or international level.
The above qualities will be assessed during the selection process, including using your graduate application form, your Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships Statement and (if relevant) your interview.
This scholarship is not open to applications from candidates who hold deferred offers to start in 2025-26.
How to apply
In order to be considered for this scholarship, you must select the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme in the University of Oxford Scholarships section of the University's graduate application form and submit your application for graduate study by the relevant December or January deadline for your course. See the relevant course page for the deadline applicable to your course.
You must also complete a Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships Statement and upload it, together with your graduate application form, by the deadline.
We will use the details you insert in the ‘Nationality and ordinary residence’ section of the graduate application form to assess your country of ordinary residence. For a definition of ordinary residency and further details on how to complete this section of the graduate application form, please see the Nationality and Ordinary residence sections of the graduate application form and the advice contained with the Application Guide.
To be eligible for consideration for this scholarship, applicants must be successful in being offered a place on their course after consideration of applications received by the relevant December or January deadline for the course. Course applications which are held over after the December or January deadline to be re-evaluated against applications received by the March deadline or course applications which have been put on a waiting list are not eligible for scholarship consideration.
If you are shortlisted for the scholarship, you will be required to participate in an interview, which is likely to be held online in April 2025.
College preference
All graduate students at the University of Oxford benefit from membership not only of their department, but also of one of our multi-disciplinary colleges. Applicants may select a preferred college as part of their application or leave the allocation of a college to the University. The Weidenfeld and Hoffmann scholarships and leadership programme benefit from partnerships with multiple colleges where the college contributes a portion of the scholarship and therefore successful candidates will be transferred to a partner college in order to take up the scholarship.
Other Schemes
The Weidenfeld Hoffmann Trust has partnership awards with the Hualan Education Group and Chevening. Please note that the selection process for these scholarships is managed by the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust and their respective partners, and is not managed by the University of Oxford.
Candidates applying for the Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann Scholarships and leadership programme will automatically be considered for the Hualan Education Group partnership awards. The partnership award selection and interview process is run entirely by the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust and the University of Oxford is not involved in the selection process. For more information please visit the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust website or contact [email protected]
Applications for the Chevening-Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships must be made via the Chevening website. To be considered as an award recipient, applicants must list the University of Oxford as their first preference university choice. Chevening-Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholars will also be subject to the terms and conditions of the Chevening Scholarship.
