All You Need To Know About Getting A Chevening Scholarship As A Nigerian

Scholarship opportunities for Nigerians avail every year to study abroad, which ease up financial tension and help students focus more on their studies. These scholarships are for various levels and fields of education. One of such scholarship opportunities is the Chevening Scholarship for Nigerians.

What is Chevening?

Chevening is the United Kingdom Government?s international awards programme geared towards developing global leaders. It is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and other partnering organisations. Chevening provides opportunities for world-changers and future leaders from all over the world to network extensively, experience the British Culture and build positive relationships with the United Kingdom whilst developing academically and professionally. Chevening usually offers two types of awards-Chevening Fellowships and Chevening Scholarships. The recipients of either of these awards are always personally selected by British high commissions and embassies all over the world.

There are also scholarship opportunities for Nigerians to study in Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries.

Chevening Scholarships For Nigerians

Chevening in Nigeria Scholarships are awarded to exceptional students from Nigeria to pursue a one year master?s degree in any course at any university in the United Kingdom. The scholarships are fully-funded covering: university tuition fees, travel costs to and from the United Kingdom, arrival allowance, cost of visa application, departure allowance, travel grant to attend Chevening events in the UK and monthly stipends, leaving you to focus on achieving your academic/professional goals as well as having the ultimate experience of a lifetime.

Chevening?s Eligibility

To be eligible for a Chevening scholarship, you must:

• Have completed an undergraduate degree that will grant you access into a postgraduate degree at a UK university at the time of submission of your application. This is equivalent to a second-class upper (2:1) degree from a Nigerian University.
• Have at least two years work experience. The types of work experience that are eligible for Chevening Scholarships include: Full-time employment, Part-time employment, Voluntary work and Paid or unpaid internships.

Work experience can be completed before, during or after graduating from your undergraduate studies. Mandatory employment that counted towards the completion of your undergraduate course -such as working during your SIWES or Industrial Training- would not be eligible.

Note that you do not need to meet the work experience requirement in one period of employment. You can submit up to 10 different employment periods in order to meet the requirement. However, if you have held more than ten positions, you are adviseed to enter the periods that make up the highest number of work hours.

• Return to Nigeria at least two years after your scholarship award has ended.
• Meet the Chevening English Language Requirement before the deadline.
• Apply to about three different UK university courses and must have received an offer from any of your choices.

Note that ineligible applications will be rejected by the Chevening body. It is therefore important that you check your eligibility status before applying. You should also note that if you make errors in your application form, your application will be ineligible.

You are not eligible for a Chevening scholarship if:

• You are an employee, a former employee or relative of an employee (since July 2017) of Her Majesty?s Government (including British embassies/high commissions; the Department for International Development; the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; the Ministry of Defence; Department of International Trade and the Home Office), or a staff member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
• You hold a British or dual British citizenship.
• You have previously studied in the United Kingdom with funding from a UK Government-funded Scholarship.

If you an employee, a former employee or relative of an employee of Chevening Partner Organisations, you can apply for the scholarship but cannot receive a Chevening Partner Award from the organisation where you work, previously worked or are connected to through relatives.

Chevening English Language Requirements

One of the requirements for being eligible for a Chevening Scholarship, is an applicant?s proof of English proficiency. Applicants must demonstrate that they have fulfilled Chevening?s English requirement. This should be done as early as possible by either:

• Taking an English Language test: Chevening recognizes English Language tests from five providers;
• TOEFL iBT
• Pearson PTE Academic
• IELTS (Paper or Computer Based)
• C1 Advanced (formerly Cambridge English)
• Trinity ISE II (B2)

The tests must be valid i.e they must have been taken on or after 1^st October 2018.

• Claiming an exemption based on the UKVI exempt categories: These are countries exempted from submitting an English language test for a Chevening Scholarship. Nigeria does not belong in that list.

Choosing Your Courses

In choosing a course, you need to be careful as you would not be able to change them after submitting your application.

Your courses should:

• Be full-time.
• Lead to a master?s degree qualification.        
• Start in the autumn term (September/ October).
• Be course-based (i.e not research-based).

Your courses should not be:

• Distance learning.
• Part-time.
• Less than nine months in duration.
• More than twelve months in duration.
• PhD based.

Interview

After meeting the requirements and applying for the scholarship, you could be called up for an interview. If you are shortlisted to be interviewed for a Chevening Scholarship, you will be invited to the British Embassy in the country to attend the interview. The interview is a great opportunity for you to be selected for a scholarship.

Prior to the invitation, you would be asked to upload the following documents to Chevening?s online application portal:

• Copies of your certificates and/or transcripts.
• Two reference letters.
• A short biography that gives more information about you.

You will need to take your Passport/national ID when going for the interview.

You might want to book a hotel close to Victoria Island, where the British Embassy is located so as not to be late for your interview. We can help you book awesome Hotels in Lagos.

To apply for the scholarship, you should visit Chevening's official website.

Let us know in the comment section if you have had any experience applying for a scholarship. Also share this article to anyone you think might be interested using the share button below.

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