Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program 2026/27: Fully Funded Study Through Partner Universities

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is one of the largest scholarship initiatives of its kind in Africa — and also one of the most misunderstood. Every year, thousands of talented young people search for “the Mastercard Foundation application form,” and every year many of them land on unofficial websites, social media posts, or outright scams offering a single central application that does not exist. The real program works differently, and understanding that difference is the first and most important step in applying successfully: the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is delivered entirely through partner universities and non-governmental organisations, each of which runs its own application process, sets its own deadlines, and makes its own selection decisions.

The Foundation itself describes the goal clearly. Launched in 2012, the Scholars Program set out to develop transformative leaders, and the Foundation states that it will reach 100,000 Scholars by 2030, having already enabled over 45,000 scholarships for young people to pursue secondary or tertiary education. Its focus is on talented and diverse young people — particularly young women, refugees and forcibly displaced young people, and persons with disabilities — whose academic ambitions exceed their financial resources, and who are committed to making a difference in the lives of others. Support is not only financial: Scholars receive academic and psychosocial support, mentoring, counselling and leadership development as part of a community that continues into an alumni network after graduation.

This guide explains the model honestly and in detail: who the program is for, what it covers (and why exact figures belong to each partner, not to a single program-wide price list), which kinds of partner universities take part — from McGill and the University of Toronto in Canada to the University of Edinburgh in the UK, Sciences Po in France, and Ashesi University and Makerere University in Africa — how to apply step by step through a partner, what documents partners typically ask for, how deadlines work when every partner sets its own, and how to protect yourself from the fraudulent “central application” schemes the Foundation itself warns about. For a wider view of funded routes, browse our scholarships directory alongside this guide.

Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at a Glance

Two rows of that table decide your whole strategy. Because there is no central application, there is no central deadline, no central eligibility checklist beyond the program’s broad principles, and no central decision. A partner in Canada may recruit master’s students from Sub-Saharan Africa for specific health-related programs; a partner in Ghana may recruit undergraduates from across Africa; a partner in France may recruit master’s students for a defined list of degrees. Your job is not to “apply to Mastercard.” Your job is to choose the partners whose offer matches your level, field and background, and then to win a place through that partner’s own process.

Who the Program Is For: Eligibility in the Partner Model

Because each partner manages its own process, eligibility has two layers. The first layer is the program’s shared profile, described by the Foundation across its official pages. Candidates should be academically strong and have demonstrated a commitment to making a difference in the lives of others. The Foundation’s “becoming a Scholar” guidance speaks directly to young people whose academic ambitions exceed their financial resources, who want to join a network of young changemakers, and who identify as women, refugees, forcibly displaced persons, persons with a disability, or members of another underrepresented community. The Foundation’s FAQ adds that admissions criteria across the program include academic excellence, leadership, financial need, and the intention to use the experience to give back to society.

The second layer is the partner’s own criteria, and this layer is where applications are actually won or lost. A partner university will specify some combination of the following, in its own words and with its own thresholds:

• Citizenship and residence. Most partners recruit citizens (and often residents) of African countries; some specify a region, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, and some programmes at North American partners are tied to particular partner networks or feeder institutions in Africa. The University of Toronto’s graduate Scholars route, for example, has required applicants to be citizens and residents of a Sub-Saharan African country and to be graduating from, or have graduated from, an Africa Health Collaborative partner university. Always read your target partner’s wording literally.
• Level and program. The partner defines whether its call is for undergraduate or master’s study and which degree programs are eligible. A university’s participation in the program does not mean every course it offers is funded.
• Age. Several partners set an age ceiling — some graduate routes specify applicants normally under 35 — but this is a partner rule, not a program-wide one.
• Academic admission. You must meet the partner university’s own admission requirements for the degree. Scholarship selection never substitutes for academic admission, and the Foundation is explicit that gaining admission to a partner institution does not by itself guarantee selection as a Scholar.
• Financial need. Partners assess economic disadvantage in their own way, often through financial documentation and family circumstance statements.
• Leadership and service. Evidence of leadership potential and community engagement is a recurring partner requirement, reflecting the program’s purpose.
• Return and contribution. Many partners look for a credible intention to return home or contribute to development in Africa after graduation; some state it as an expectation.

The honest summary is that there is no universal checklist we can print that will be correct for every partner — and any guide that prints one is guessing. Use the shared profile to judge whether the program is meant for someone like you, then use your chosen partner’s page as the only authoritative eligibility list. Profiles of many partner universities, including McGill University and the University of Edinburgh, are available in our university directory to help you compare the institutions themselves.

Benefits: Full-Cost Support, Described the Way Partners Describe It

The Foundation describes the support as financial, psychosocial and academic. Its FAQ states that financial support includes, but is not limited to, tuition fees, accommodation, books and other scholastic materials, mentoring, counselling, leadership development, and a return air ticket to a Scholar’s country of origin if necessary. The phrase “includes, but is not limited to” is deliberate: partners build the complete package around their own costs, country and level of study, and partner pages describe comprehensive support in their own terms. The University of Toronto, for instance, describes its graduate Scholars support as including travel to Canada, passport and visa costs, tuition, housing, food and grocery support, health insurance, learning materials and other study-related expenses. Other partners describe combinations of tuition, living stipend, accommodation, books, a laptop, health coverage and travel.

What this guide will not do is print a single dollar figure as “the Mastercard Foundation stipend,” because no such program-wide figure exists. When a partner publishes amounts, use that partner’s figures for that partner’s call and that intake year — and ignore third-party pages that attach one university’s package to the whole program. The wrap-around support also deserves real weight in your decision-making: for a first-generation student travelling from, say, rural Uganda or northern Nigeria to Montreal, Paris or Edinburgh, mentoring, counselling, a peer Scholars community and alumni connections are not decoration. They are a large part of why completion rates for supported Scholars are strong, and why partners select for people who will use the whole package, not just the funding.

Partner Universities: How the Network Is Organised

The Foundation states that partner institutions are primarily in Africa, with additional partners in North and Central America, Europe and the Middle East, and that its current focus includes expanding the Scholars Program to more universities in Africa. The official starting point is the Foundation’s Where to Apply institutions directory, which lists partner institutions and directs you to apply directly through the institution you wish to attend. Partners named in this guide’s instructions and across official partner pages include, in Canada, McGill University, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia; in the United Kingdom, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford; in France, Sciences Po; in the United States, institutions such as Arizona State University and the University of California, Berkeley; in Lebanon, the American University of Beirut; in Costa Rica, EARTH University; and in Africa, institutions including Ashesi University and KNUST in Ghana, Makerere University in Uganda, USIU-Africa in Kenya, the University of Cape Town, the University of Pretoria and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, the African Leadership University and Carnegie Mellon University Africa in Rwanda, and the University of Rwanda.

Treat that paragraph as a map, not a menu. Partnership status, eligible programs and open calls change: a partner may recruit undergraduates one year and only master’s students the next, restrict a call to particular faculties, or pause a cohort. The Foundation’s directory and each university’s own Scholars Program page are the only reliable statements of what is open now. When you compare partners, weigh four things: whether your level (undergraduate or master’s) is recruited; whether your intended field is on the eligible list; whether your citizenship, residence and educational background match the call’s specific conditions; and whether the location and language of instruction fit your life — a French-taught environment at Sciences Po, an English-taught degree in Cape Town, and a health-focused graduate program in Toronto are very different commitments.

How to Apply: Step by Step Through a Partner

1. Start at the official directory. Go to the Foundation’s Where to Apply page and list the partner institutions that interest you. Bookmark only official pages — the Foundation’s site and the universities’ own domains.
2. Read each partner’s Scholars Program page completely. Note the level, eligible programs, citizenship and background conditions, age rules, documents, and the deadline. If a partner’s call is closed, note its last cycle’s timing and check back — do not apply through any other website claiming to represent that partner.
3. Confirm academic admission requirements. Separately from the scholarship, list what the degree itself requires: prior qualifications, grades, English (or French) proficiency evidence, and tests where a partner requires them. The Foundation notes that some North American partners require TOEFL and/or SAT scores for international candidates, while many African partner universities do not require SAT or TOEFL.
4. Prepare your scholarship evidence. Gather financial-need documentation, leadership and service evidence, transcripts and references, and draft the essays the partner requests. This evidence is the heart of a Scholars application; start it months, not days, before the deadline.
5. Submit the partner’s application by the partner’s deadline. Depending on the partner, the scholarship application may be integrated with admission, follow admission, or run in parallel — follow that partner’s stated sequence exactly. Pay the partner’s admission fee if one is required, knowing the Foundation states it will be reimbursed if you are selected.
6. Complete any interview or additional stage. Shortlisted candidates at many partners are interviewed or asked for further financial documentation. Treat this as part of selection, and answer consistently with your written application.
7. Receive the partner’s decision. Decisions are made and communicated by the partner. If selected, you enrol as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar and receive the partner’s defined support package, onboarding, mentoring and community access.
8. Consider applying to more than one partner. The Foundation confirms candidates may apply to as many partner universities as they wish. Each application is a serious piece of work, so choose a small number of well-matched partners rather than scattering generic applications.

Required Documents

Each partner publishes its own list, but strong applications across the network are built from the same core materials. Preparing these in advance lets you respond quickly when a partner’s window opens.

• Academic transcripts and certificates for your completed and current study, with certified translations where documents are not in the language of instruction.
• Proof of identity and citizenship — passport or national ID — and evidence of residence where the call requires it.
• Financial-need documentation: family income and circumstance statements, and any supporting documents the partner’s financial assessment requests.
• Essays or personal statements answering the partner’s prompts — typically covering your background, academic goals, leadership and service, and how you intend to give back.
• Recommendation letters from teachers, lecturers, employers or community leaders who know your work and character directly.
• A CV or activity record evidencing leadership, volunteering, work and community projects, with dates and your actual role.
• English or French proficiency results, or standardised test scores, where — and only where — the partner requires them.
• For graduate calls: your bachelor’s degree certificate and transcripts, and any program-specific requirements of the master’s degree itself.

Deadlines and Timeline: Partner Deadlines Are the Only Deadlines

The Foundation’s answer to “when is the deadline?” is unambiguous: each partner sets its own deadline, and you must check the program website of the partner institution of your choice. In practice, many partner calls open in the autumn and close between late autumn and the winter admission season for entry the following academic year, but the spread is wide — undergraduate calls at African partners can run on entirely different calendars from graduate calls in Canada or the UK — so the table below is a planning framework, not a schedule. Any specific date you rely on must come from your partner’s current page.

Use our deadline and planning tools to track several partner calendars at once, and set a personal deadline at least a week ahead of each official one. For broader context on destination choices while you shortlist partners, our study abroad guides cover the main host countries in the network.

Selection: What Partners Are Really Looking For

Across the Foundation’s official descriptions, four qualities recur: academic excellence, leadership, financial need, and the intention to give back. Partners weight them in their own way, but a competitive application shows all four with evidence, not adjectives. Academic excellence means results strong enough for the degree itself — remember, admission and scholarship selection are linked but distinct, and the Foundation states plainly that admission to a partner does not guarantee selection as a Scholar because the program is highly competitive.

Leadership, in this program’s language, is not a title collection. It is a record of identifying a problem around you — in a school, a neighbourhood, a clinic waiting room, a farmers’ cooperative — and doing something organised and sustained about it, however small the scale. Financial need must be documented as carefully as it is described; partners cannot award need-based funding on the strength of an essay alone. Giving back is the program’s theory of change: Scholars are expected to enrich their communities and contribute to transformation, and many partners look for a credible, specific account of how your degree connects to the community or country you come from. Write that account from your real life. Selection panels read thousands of essays; the ones that stay with them describe actual people, actual constraints, and a plan that follows logically from both.

Common Mistakes — Including the Scam Trap

• Searching for a central application form. There is none. The Foundation warns that it is aware of Facebook posts advertising recruitment for the Scholars Program and requesting an application fee, that those groups are not associated with the Foundation, and that the Foundation does not solicit funding or request payments from individuals. Suspected fraud should be reported to local law enforcement and to the Foundation at the ethics address published on its official site.
• Paying a “Mastercard scholarship fee” to an agent or page. Partners charge their own admission fees where applicable — payable through the university’s own process — and the Foundation states those fees are reimbursed if you are selected. A fee demanded by a social media page or middleman for the scholarship itself is a red flag.
• Assuming every course at a partner is funded. Eligible programs are defined per partner and per call.
• Assuming admission equals the scholarship. The Foundation explicitly says it does not; selection is competitive and separate.
• Applying for a PhD. The Foundation states scholarships are not currently available to PhD candidates; the program covers secondary, undergraduate and master’s levels.
• Copying another partner’s deadline or document list. Each partner’s process is its own; a perfect Edinburgh file submitted on a McGill timeline is simply late.
• Thin leadership and need evidence. Claims without documents, dates or referees cannot carry a need- and leadership-based selection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a single application form for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program?

No. The program is implemented through partner universities and NGOs, and the application process and decision-making are managed individually by each partner. You apply directly through the institution you wish to attend, starting from the Foundation’s official Where to Apply directory.

What does the scholarship cover?

The Foundation states that Scholars receive financial, psychosocial and academic support, and that financial support includes, but is not limited to, tuition fees, accommodation, books and other scholastic materials, mentoring, counselling, leadership development and a return air ticket home if necessary. Each partner defines and describes its complete package, so check the partner’s page for its exact terms rather than relying on figures quoted for a different university.

Who is the program mainly for?

Academically talented young people whose ambitions exceed their financial resources — primarily young Africans, with particular emphasis on young women, refugees and forcibly displaced young people, and persons with disabilities. Some partners also serve Indigenous communities in Canada. Each partner’s call defines its exact eligible group.

Can I apply to more than one partner university?

Yes. The Foundation confirms there is no limit on the number of partner universities you may apply to, while noting that each application takes substantial effort and may involve an admission fee.

Does the program fund PhD study?

Not currently. The Foundation states the Scholars Program provides scholarships at secondary, undergraduate and master’s levels, and that scholarships are not available to PhD candidates.

Does admission to a partner university guarantee the scholarship?

No. The Foundation describes the program as highly competitive and states that gaining admission to a partner institution does not guarantee selection as a Scholar.

When is the application deadline for 2026/27?

There is no program-wide deadline. Each partner sets its own, and many calls for a given intake open and close on that partner’s admission calendar. Check the Scholars Program page of each partner you are targeting for its current cycle dates, and treat dates on unofficial sites as unverified.

What if I cannot afford a partner’s admission fee or required tests?

The Foundation notes that admission fees are reimbursed if you are selected, and its FAQ suggests practical routes applicants have used for test costs, including asking a counsellor or principal for a letter of support to share with the university’s admissions office and exploring support through EducationUSA. Many African partner universities do not require SAT or TOEFL scores at all.

Sources and Verification

This guide is based on the Mastercard Foundation’s official pages, checked at the time of writing. Partner participation, eligible programs and deadlines change by cycle; always confirm on the Foundation’s directory and your chosen partner’s own page before applying.

• Mastercard Foundation — Scholars Program: Where to Apply (Institutions): the partner model, direct application through institutions, partner-set processes, deadlines and fees, fee reimbursement on selection, and the Foundation’s fraud warning.
• Mastercard Foundation — Frequently Asked Questions: program purpose and scale (launched 2012; over 45,000 scholarships; 100,000 Scholars target by 2030), what the scholarship covers, partner-set deadlines, levels covered and the PhD exclusion, multiple applications, and refugee and displaced applicant eligibility.
• Mastercard Foundation — Becoming a Mastercard Foundation Scholar: the candidate profile — academic strength, commitment to making a difference, and ambitions exceeding financial resources.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details change yearly and vary by partner institution, so always confirm deadlines, amounts and eligibility on the official website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency and not a representative of the Mastercard Foundation or any partner university, and we cannot promise selection, admission or visa approval to any applicant.