Graduate Scholarships
Graduate Scholarships
In the 2025-26 academic year, St Cross is home to 689 students from 73 countries, reading 208 different degrees. This diversity is integral to the College ethos and reflects our founding mission: to expand academic opportunity.
Students today face substantial financial pressures, with living costs and fees continuing to rise. The annual cost of most graduate degrees for an international student amounts to ca. £55,000. Prospective students may carry debt from undergraduate studies, and there is much competition for external sources of funding. Indeed, successful applicants cite ‘finances’ as the most common reason for refusing a place at Oxford.
Scholarships are key to confronting this challenge, helping us ensure that talented students aren’t deterred from coming to St Cross because of the costs.
Each year the College is typically able to support fewer than 10% of its incoming students with scholarships. We want to significantly increase this number, and we welcome your help in doing so. Gifts of all sizes will make an impact, and we can offer scholarship naming opportunities for donations of £10,000 or more. And in 2025-26, during the Anniversary Campaign, your gifts will be matched up to the value of £15,000, making every donation go further. Single gifts will be doubled and regular gifts tripled in the first year. Match funds will support the Community Bursary programme.
If you ever considered helping a future St Crosser, now is the time!
Jared Martin (MPhil Modern Middle Eastern Studies, 2023) MPhil Scholar in the Humanities and Social Sciences
I have just graduated from my MPhil programme in July 2025, receiving a grade of Distinction and the Zander Prize for the highest overall mark in my cohort.
Professionally, I want to place the intellectual and analytical skills gained during my time at St Cross at the service of others and contribute in some way to a more peaceful and tolerant world. I remain deeply grateful for the generous support that funded my MPhil scholarship, without which my studies would not have been possible.
St Cross for Africa (AfOx)
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, this Anniversary year St Cross is home to five donor-funded Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) Scholars. The AfOx Scholarships provide transformational opportunities for outstanding African students, offering full funding for Master’s degrees in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and the University. During the course of their studies, Scholars also have access to training, networking resources and bespoke assistance.
Students on the AfOx programme study Master’s courses which are geared towards challenges faced by their communities in Africa, focusing on issues such as governance and public policy, education, health sciences, sustainable water and energy, and entrepreneurship. The programme emphasises support for historically underrepresented groups such as women, refugees and those with disabilities. And after finishing their studies, scholars can be funded to take up placements in leading Africa-based organisations for an Ubuntu Period of Service (scroll down to ‘Ubuntu Transitions’).
We are acutely aware that opportunities for students from Africa are limited, and we are committed to sustaining (and growing) this scholarship programme year-on-year.
We wish to build on our current success and host a further five AfOx Scholars in the next academic year. We seek to raise £10,000 for each student, representing the College side of their funding. Thank you sincerely for your support!
Read more about our 2024-25 AfOx Scholars here - Simon Tiek, Ifeoluwa Oduguwa, Mosebetsi Khobotlo and Latifah Kinyanyile.
Last year's scholars, L-R: Simon Tiek (MSc in International Health & Tropical Medicine), Ifeoluwa Oduguwa (MSc in Clinical & Therapeutic Neuroscience), Mosebetsi Khobotlo (MSc in Global Governance & Diplomacy), Latifah Kinyanyile (MSc Energy Systems)
