Chevening Alumni

What Chevening Alumni does

Chevening is the UK government's international scholarships and fellowships programme, operated by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and headquartered in London. Founded in 1983, it awards fully-funded one-year master's degrees and tailored mid-career fellowships to exceptional emerging leaders from 140+ countries and territories, with applications routed through British embassies and high commissions worldwide and final selection producing a roughly 1% acceptance rate.

Core products include Chevening Scholarships (fully-funded master's programmes), Chevening Fellowships (short courses, research placements, and professional placements hosted at institutions such as Oxford, LSE, King's College London, the British Library, Clore Leadership, and Cranfield Defence Academy), and specialised regional variants including SIDS and ASEAN scholarships. Supporting infrastructure consists of the chevening.org portal, an Online Application System, a Course Finder powered by Postgrad Solutions, the Resource Hub, and the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund (CAPF) for post-award alumni-led projects.

The business model is government-funded rather than commercial: core financing comes from the FCDO with co-funding from 51 UK university partners that waive tuition fees and 96+ corporate partners that provide financial or in-kind support. There is no fee charged to scholars; the programme is structured as a single annual application cycle (August-October) followed by embassy-led interviews and a September/October start. The platform's underlying technology is essentially standard web infrastructure with no disclosed AI/ML components, and the commercial value is captured indirectly through UK soft-power diplomacy, alumni influence (60,000+ alumni including 22 heads of state/government), and partner talent pipelines.

Name

Chevening Alumni

Legal name

Chevening (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Website

https://chevening.org

Company type

Public

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Chevening is the UK government's flagship international scholarship programme, funded by the FCDO and partners to award fully-funded master's degrees and fellowships to emerging leaders from 140+ countries, supported by a 60,000+ global alumni network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government International Scholarship Programme

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Government-Sponsored Scholarships & Exchange Funding (EDAIAOAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Country/Region-Specific Scholarships (Inbound/Outbound) (EDAIAOAC), University/Institutional Scholarships & Tuition Waivers (EDAIAOAG), Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Government scholarship program
• Fully-funded scholarships
• International fellowships
• Leadership development programme
• UK master's funding

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. UK Government Funding: Chevening is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations. The programme provides fully-funded scholarships and fellowships covering tuition fees, living expenses, travel costs, and other associated costs for recipients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Chevening is the UK government's international scholarships and fellowships programme, providing fully-funded one-year master's degrees and tailored short-term research/professional fellowships for emerging leaders and mid-career professionals from 140+ countries. Awards cover tuition, living expenses, flights, and visa support, and recipients gain entry to a global alumni network of 60,000+ leaders. Specialised variants include SIDS Scholarships for Small Island Developing States and ASEAN Scholarships, alongside fellowship programmes hosted by UK institutions such as Oxford, LSE, the British Library, and Cranfield Defence Academy.

Product overview

Chevening is the UK government's international scholarships and fellowships programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations. The core offerings consist of Chevening Scholarships (fully-funded one-year master's degrees) and Chevening Fellowships (tailored short courses, research, and professional placements). Supporting these are the Resource Hub (providing application guidance, scholar support, and alumni resources), the Course Finder tool (powered by Postgrad Solutions), the Online Application System, and the Chevening Alumni Programme Fund for post-award projects. Specialised variants include SIDS Scholarships for Small Island Developing States and ASEAN Scholarships for Southeast Asian countries. The programme connects future leaders from 140+ countries with UK world-class universities and a global alumni network of 60,000+ members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Chevening SIDS Scholarships: Scholarships for Small Island Developing States
• Chevening ASEAN Scholarships
• Chevening Alumni Programme Fund (CAPF)

Products and services

• Chevening Scholarships Fully-funded one-year master's degree programmes in the UK for outstanding emerging leaders from 140+ countries. Covers tuition fees, living expenses, flights, arrival allowance of £150, visa support, and provides access to professional skills training and a global alumni network.
• Chevening Fellowships

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• British LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe British Library hosts Chevening Fellowships including the Chevening Overseas Territories in the Atlantic and Caribbean British Library Fellowship and Chevening Southeast Europe British Library Fellowship. Fellows work with curators on rare primary sources and historic collections.
• King's College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the current hosts for Chevening Fellowships, offering tailored short courses and research opportunities.
• London School of EconomicscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLSE hosts the Chevening LSE Fellowship enabling experts from social sciences to spend up to nine months working with academic supervisors on defined research projects.
• University of OxfordcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of Oxford hosts Chevening OCIS (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) Fellowships enabling mid-career professionals to undertake self-directed research on Islamic civilisation and contemporary Muslim societies.
• University of WestminstercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the current hosts for Chevening Fellowships providing professional development opportunities.
• University of DundeecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the current hosts for Chevening Fellowships.
• Coventry UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the current hosts for Chevening Fellowships offering tailored professional development opportunities.
• CLORE Leadership ProgrammecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe CLORE Leadership Programme hosts the Chevening Clore Leadership Fellowship providing leadership development opportunities.
• Cranfield Defence AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of the current hosts for Chevening Fellowships, offering specialised defence and security-related professional development.
• University of LeedscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUniversity partner that waives tuition fees for Chevening scholars. Receives high-quality international student applications and promotion on Chevening channels.
• BBC World ServiceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Chevening BBC internship provides journalism training through BBC Academy tools and covers international story coverage.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service): Germany's national agency for international academic exchange, funding scholarships for international students at German universities—comparable government-funded international scholarship programme with similar scope and global reach.
• Australia Awards Scholarships: Australian government's flagship international scholarship programme for developing-country leaders to study in Australia—directly comparable government-funded international scholarship targeting future leaders from partner countries.
• Marshall Scholarships: UK government-funded scholarships for American graduates to study in the UK—operated under FCDO alongside Chevening, with same funding source, similar structure, and comparable candidate selection process targeting future leaders.
• MEXT Scholarships (Japanese Government): Japanese government-funded scholarships for international students at Japanese universities—comparable fully-funded nation-state scholarship with similar scale and target audience of emerging global leaders.
• Commonwealth Scholarships: UK government-funded scholarships for students from Commonwealth nations to study in the UK—also operated under FCDO, targeting a related but distinct candidate pool with overlapping operational infrastructure.
• Rhodes Scholarship: Prestigious fully-funded postgraduate scholarship at the University of Oxford—comparable elite international scholarship brand targeting future leaders from specific countries, with similar selectivity and lifetime alumni network value.
• Fulbright Program: The US government's flagship international exchange programme, offering fully-funded scholarships and fellowships for international students and scholars—directly comparable as a nation-state scholarship brand competing for the same elite global candidate pool.
• Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees: EU-funded fully-funded master's degree scholarships for international students across European universities—directly comparable in product offering (fully-funded master's) and target market (emerging global leaders).

Emerging players

• Gates Cambridge Scholarship: Highly selective fully-funded postgraduate scholarship at the University of Cambridge funded by the Gates Foundation—comparable as a top-tier UK-based international scholarship competing for similar high-achiever candidate profiles.
• Schwarzman Scholars: Fully-funded master's programme at Tsinghua University in Beijing targeting future global leaders—comparable as an elite international scholarship with strong government backing (Chinese government support) competing for similar future-leader candidates.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cheveningfco
• Facebookfacebook.com/officialchevening
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/5328095
• Instagraminstagram.com/cheveningfcdo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chevening Alumni