Swire Scholarships
The Swire Scholarships at St Antony’s are generously funded by the Swire Charitable Trust, founded by John Swire & Sons. Four fully funded scholarships are available to graduate students demonstrating exceptional academic merit and/or potential who will commence study on a course offered by St Antony’s College in 2025/26.
About the scholarships
The Swire Charitable Trust has a longstanding relationship with St Antony’s College and has over many years funded numerous scholarships for both students and Academic Visitors, as well as, until 2014, funding the Swire Fellow Professor Rosemary Foot, now an Emeritus Professor at St Antony’s College.
Each scholarship is tenable for up to three years, depending on the course undertaken and subject to satisfactory academic progress.
Am I eligible?
The scholarships are open to applicants who are permanent residents of Japan, Chinese mainland or Hong Kong SAR and have completed the majority of their formal education in their country/region of permanent residency.
The Scholarships will be awarded primarily on academic merit, although financial need may be taken into account.
Scholars must intend to return to their country/region of permanent residency after completing their course of study. Preference will be given to applicants who plan to pursue a career in government, business, academia or a recognised profession.
Applicants must apply for admission to a full-time graduate course of study that is offered by St Antony’s College to start in 2025/26 except those listed below. St Antony’s College accepts students in a wide range of subjects in Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions. The University’s graduate courses page gives a list of the subjects we accept.
Please note that applicants for part-time courses, or applicants for the MBA (Master of Business Administration), the MFE (MSc in Financial Economics) or the MPP (Master of Public Policy) are not eligible to apply.
Applicants must meet the requirements for entry to their course, including English language requirements. See the University’s course guide for more information. An award recipient cannot hold another scholarship concurrently with a Swire Scholarship.
What does it cover?
The award covers the full cost of the scholar’s university and college fees plus a maintenance grant (£17,442 per annum at the current level). In addition, free economy class air passage to and from London will be provided to the scholar at the beginning and at the end of the period of tenure. It is expected that the scholars must reside in Oxford throughout each academic year, except for short periods of fieldwork which may involve study in another country.
The award is made for the full duration of a student’s fee liability for the agreed course. If a scholarship is offered for a course lasting more than one year, the continuation of the scholarship each year is subject to an annual renewal process based upon satisfactory academic process.
How do I apply?
In order to be considered for this scholarship, candidates must submit their application for graduate study to the University by the January deadline (check the University’s guidance on application deadlines) and must have secured a place on their chosen programme of study by 11th April 2025. Please contact us at the email address below if your course will not confirm your place by this date.
It is helpful if candidates select St Antony’s College in the ‘College choice’ section of the application form, though this is not compulsory. Students must migrate to St Antony’s College to take up the scholarship if they have been accepted by another Oxford University college.
Candidates must also complete the application form which is available at the bottom of this page, except for candidates from Hong Kong, who should visit the Swire website to apply through the online form.
The deadline for the submission of the form is 5pm (UK time) on 4th March 2025.
Please note that incomplete and ineligible applications will not be considered for the Swire Scholarships.
Terms for the Hong Kong SAR Swire Scholarship are also available as a separate document.
How will I know if I have been successful?
Following a meeting of the Swire selection committee at St Antony’s College, all nominations are reviewed by the Swire Charitable Trust. Successful candidates will be notified by the end of July 2025. If you have not been contacted by then, please assume that your application has not been successful on this occasion.
If you have any questions about this scholarship which are not answered above, please email funding@sant.ox.ac.uk
External Links:
Swire Scholarship Application Form (Japan and China) 2025-26