Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholarships — Master's Scholarship

Rotary Foundation Global Grant Scholarships support graduate-level academic study outside the scholar’s home country. The study plan must advance one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus: peace, disease prevention, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, education, local economies, or the environment.

A Rotary club or district works with an international partner to sponsor the grant, while the scholar undertakes the approved study abroad. Central applications are accepted year-round, but local sponsors may set additional requirements and earlier deadlines.

Benefits & funding

Scholarships last from one to four years and may cover an entire degree program.
Each grant is financed by its sponsors through District Designated Funds, cash, directed gifts, or endowment earnings; The Rotary Foundation adds an 80 percent World Fund match to DDF contributions.
The overall global grant must have a minimum budget of US$30,000, and the maximum World Fund award is US$400,000. What an individual scholar receives follows the budget the sponsoring clubs or districts get approved.
A scholarship grant can pay the scholar’s study costs: passport and visa, inoculations, travel, school supplies, tuition, school fees including any health insurance the institution requires, room and board, household supplies, language training courses, and local transportation.
Some costs stay with the scholar: anything spent before the grant is approved, vehicles, support for a spouse or dependents, housing kept in the home country during the study period, and tax owed on the award.

Eligibility

The proposed study must be graduate-level academic study abroad.
The academic and career plan must align with at least one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus.
The candidate must work through a sponsoring Rotary club or district; local application rules and selection requirements vary.
The club or district where the study takes place and the international partner club or district must be qualified before the global grant application is submitted.
Rotary’s central pages state no universal nationality, residency, gender, age, or work-experience restriction for scholars.

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Education required
Bachelor · Master

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Application process

1
Contact a local Rotary club to obtain its scholarship application details, eligibility rules, and internal deadline.
2
Develop a graduate study plan abroad that clearly connects academic goals and intended impact to one Rotary area of focus.
3
Work with the sponsoring Rotary club or district and its qualified international partner to prepare the scholar information, financing plan, and global grant application.
4
The sponsoring clubs or districts submit the application through Rotary’s Grant Center. Applications are reviewed as received throughout the year.
5
Wait for Foundation approval before incurring grant-funded costs or beginning the supported study.

Program timeline

Year-round
Sponsoring clubs and districts may submit global grant applications; Rotary reviews them as received.
June 30
Foundation submission deadline for sponsoring clubs and districts when a scholar will begin study in August, September, or October.
Per local sponsor schedule
Candidate screening, interviews, and internal decisions.
Per approved grant plan
Study begins and continues for one to four years.