The Academic Scholarships Program is the Organization of American States’ own scholarship scheme, offered across the 34 member states that take part in it. It funds full-time undergraduate degrees, master’s and doctoral degrees, and graduate research at an accredited university in a member state other than the applicant’s own country.
Applications do not go straight to the OAS in most countries. A National Liaison Office (ONE) in each member state screens and pre-selects candidates before the OAS reviews them, so the closing date is set nationally rather than centrally. Canada is one of the participating study destinations and invites applicants from other member states.
The money is deliberately partial: the OAS caps the award at US$10,000 per academic year, for one year and renewable to a second. The 2026 round closed at national level in the first half of 2026 and the next call has not been announced.
Benefits & funding
- Monetary cap of US$10,000 per academic year; the OAS states the award is complementary and is not intended to cover all of a recipient’s costs.
- Awarded for a minimum of one academic year and a maximum of two academic years.
- Benefits vary by case and may include tuition and mandatory fees, health insurance, a monthly subsistence allowance, round-trip airfare where applicable, and an annual book allowance.
- Universities in the OAS Consortium are preferred because their tuition rates are lower.
- For the 2026 round, first-year funds are disbursed during the second half of 2026.
Eligibility
- Be a citizen or permanent resident of a participating OAS member state: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay or Venezuela. Cuba is a member state but has been barred from participation since 1962.
- Study must take place at an accredited or recognised university in a member state other than the applicant’s own sponsoring country.
- Study must be full-time, and may be onsite, online, or a combination of both.
- Graduate applicants must already hold a first degree at the time of application; undergraduate applicants must already be enrolled and able to graduate within two academic years.
- Hold a GPA above the host university’s minimum standard, have the language competence for the language of instruction, and be in good physical and mental health.
- Applicants seeking a second bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree are not eligible.
- Medical sciences and the learning of new languages are excluded from the funded disciplines.
- In the 2025 round the Bahamas liaison office described one graduate scholarship per member state, plus one undergraduate scholarship open only to the English-speaking Caribbean member states and Suriname.
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Application process
- 1Apply directly to your chosen university and obtain enrollment or an admission letter first.
- 2Complete the OAS online application form for your level — the graduate and undergraduate forms are separate.
- 3Assemble the document set: current or most recent transcript, certified copy of the highest degree obtained, two recommendation letters on the OAS recommendation statement or employer forms, government ID or passport bio-data page, a general medical certificate, and a CV of no more than two pages.
- 4Send the same package to the National Liaison Office in your country by its published national deadline; the Canadian route additionally requires a separate application through the My EduCanada portal.
- 5The liaison office pre-selects candidates and the OAS reviews them; only shortlisted candidates are contacted.
Program timeline
Saint Kitts and Nevis national deadline
9 March 2026
Canada national deadline, 23:59 EDT
11 March 2026
Belize national deadline
16 March 2026
Jamaica national deadline, 15:00
27 March 2026
Window in which funded studies must begin
January to December 2026
First-year funds disbursed
Second half of 2026
Not announced
Next round’s call