Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme
About
This scheme provides access to higher education to students displaced by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank through the provision of full graduate scholarships to study at Oxford.
Since October 2023, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in Gaza and the West Bank, with universities destroyed and higher education suspended across the region.
As a University of Sanctuary, Oxford aims to provide an inclusive and welcoming community for displaced people, including through providing scholarships for refugees and students who are otherwise forcibly displaced. We have established an Oxford Sanctuary Community to provide dedicated support to students and staff from displacement backgrounds.
A range of scholarships now exist to support students from displacement backgrounds from around the world. Information on these scholarships can be found on the graduate access webpages and includes, subject to each scheme’s criteria, the Refugee Academic Futures scheme, and the Hope Scholarship and Leadership Programme.
The Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme, will provide sanctuary through the provision of full graduate scholarships to Oxford for students displaced by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. Each scholarship will cover your course fees and will provide you with a grant for living costs, as well as additional support towards arrival costs.
The support offered by the creation of this scholarship scheme forms part of the University’s wider efforts to support the rebuilding of higher education in Gaza. The University has a longstanding and recently renewed commitment to CARA Fellowships for academics at risk and continues to explore other ways in which we can support the re-establishment of the academic community in Gaza, including in collaboration with partners in the region and across UK higher education.
The creation of this scheme has been made possible through funding support from partners across the collegiate university, including divisions, their academic departments, and colleges, and the ongoing engagement of our student community.
Eligibility
These scholarships are open to those who hold an offer for any one-year full-time or two-year part-time taught master's course starting in the 2025-26 academic year, and have been displaced by the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.
These scholarships support students across the University and are open to all subject areas.
How to apply
We will contact you by early April to ask you to apply for these scholarships and complete an additional application form if you have:
- applied for an eligible course by the relevant November, December or January deadline for your course and received an offer;
- indicated you are a refugee/displaced person when you applied for your course.
Mentorship and support in preparing your graduate course application for study at Oxford is available to those eligible for this scheme through the Oxford Sanctuary Community. If you would like to receive further information, please sign up via this registration form.
Please note, if you do not tick the box on the application form to indicate that you have a displacement background you will not be invited to apply for the scholarship, even if you have mentioned this elsewhere in your application. If you are eligible but did not complete the question on your course application about refugee/displaced status you can still email us (via [email protected]) by 4th April 2025 to confirm that you wish to apply.
If you are eligible for these scholarships, you will be considered regardless of which college (if any) you state as your preference on your graduate application form. However, these awards are only tenable at specific colleges and successful applicants will be transferred to the relevant college in order to take up the scholarship if applicable.
After you apply
All applications for the Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme will be checked for eligibility and assessed by a panel of academics. The panel will review applicants' admissions applications and Palestine Crisis Scholarship applications and will agree a priority ordering of candidates within the limits of available funding. All Palestine Crisis Scholarship applicants will be contacted with the outcome of their scholarship application by email, usually by the end of June. Final college placements will also be confirmed for awards that are tenable at specific colleges only. If you are offered and accept a scholarship, this means your funding is now secure as long as you meet the conditions of your offer of a place to study at Oxford.
Contact
If you would like further information on the scholarship and the support program it provides you can contact the Oxford Sanctuary Community via [email protected].