Thanks to the generous support of the University’s alumni, York Futures Scholarships are designed to support students in improving their personal and professional development by allowing them to access experiences they would otherwise not be able to afford.
Work experience, study abroad, placements and extracurricular learning; activities that build your readiness to find, compete for and secure the career options you want, are all eligible for support.
Apply for financial and practical support to suit your ambitions at the different stages of your time at York.
* Only integrated masters students taking up an eligible activity (such as a year abroad) may apply for £6,000.
** Postgraduate students should seek approval from their academic supervisor before applying for £2000-£5000 scholarships, as summer international opportunities fall within teaching time for postgraduate taught students.
Applications from students with the following backgrounds will receive priority:
Applications are competitive and awards are allocated on the basis of the student’s financial need to access the opportunity/opportunities in question, and on evidence of how the opportunity/opportunities will support their personal and/or professional development, career ambitions and employability.
There are four funding levels available. You can apply for different levels at different times in your university career, depending on the activities you want the funding to help with.
Funding is allocated on the basis of the student’s individual need alongside the nature of their plans and how these link to personal and/or professional development.
Please note that students can only apply for one level of funding per application cycle, and no alternative offers will be made (this includes at the £2000-£5000 bracket, where students will only be considered for the specific level of funding they indicate within this bracket on their application form.)
If you have questions about the funding levels, please contact york-futures-scholarship@york.ac.uk
If you have no fixed ideas on your future plans yet but are keen to explore some options then apply to a £250 award to help access smaller scale opportunities linked to your career development. Some examples of how you could use the money include: to cover the travel costs of visiting an employer or relevant organisation, taking up work shadowing opportunities or even purchasing business attire for an interview.
You don’t need to have a specific career plan in mind to apply, but you should be able to demonstrate how completing the activity/activities which you plan to use the York Futures Scholarship for, will support you in your personal and/or professional development and employability.
You can view the application questions for the £250 level below.
Got a specific career development opportunity in mind? Some examples of how this level of funding may be used are: to support travel costs, setup costs for a year long opportunity, pay up-front living expenses, learn a language or support you in accessing work experience or volunteering. This level of scholarship can also be used to cover costs associated with training courses, conferences and remote or virtual internships.
Opportunities should be about participation in activities that develop you personally or professionally. You will need to use your application to show how the opportunity you want the funding to support will genuinely enhance your career ambitions and/or your employability.
You may apply for funding to support an opportunity you have identified but have not yet secured, provided that you make this clear in your application.
You can view the application questions for the £1,000 level below.
This funding bracket is intended to support international mobility, and will only be awarded to students undertaking international internships or summer abroad programmes. Applications for other activities will not be considered.
We recognise that international experiences vary greatly in cost, and so this funding level has been changed to be between £2,000 and £5,000 dependent on need. Applicants must make clear when applying the level of funding required to the nearest £500 between £2,000 and £5,000 selecting one amount from: £2,000, £2,500, £3,000, £3,500, £4,000, £4,500 or £5,000. Please note that students can only apply for one level of funding per application cycle, and no alternative offers will be made.
Applications should relate to activities which show significant ambition above and beyond the scope of your core academic study. You will need to use your application to show how the international opportunity you want the funding to support will genuinely enhance your career ambitions and/or your employability.
You don’t need to have fully secured the opportunity to apply but a clear commitment to a specific activity is required. Should you subsequently fail to secure the opportunity applied for then you will not be able to receive the funding.
You can view the application questions for the £2,000-£5,000 level below.
Thinking of taking a year away from York on an academically accredited option? This level of funding can only be used by students undertaking activities organised by the University of York which carry academic credit, including Year Abroad (study and/or work option), Year in Industry (paid & unpaid) or Placement Year (paid & unpaid). Applications for other activities will not be considered.
Please note that successful applicants for this level of award will receive a decision in principle in the academic year 2023/24. No funding will be released until we have received full confirmation that the opportunity is going ahead. The date of this final approval will depend on factors specific to the opportunity.
You don’t need to have fully secured the opportunity to apply for the funding but its final payment is dependent on gaining a formal contract of engagement for your year away, which is approved by the University.
You will need to use your application to show how the year long opportunity you want the funding to support will genuinely enhance your career ambitions, professional development and/or employability.
If you are preparing for a year-long opportunity, and are applying for a scholarship to cover up-front costs (such as travel or living expenses in the first month), you should apply for a £1,000 scholarship to cover these costs.
You can view the application questions for the £6,000 level below.
Students should clearly demonstrate how the funding could support access to career-related activity which would otherwise be unattainable, as well as how completing the opportunity/opportunities will support their personal and/or professional development.
The higher the level of award you apply for, the more detailed your plans will need to be. Remember you can apply for a lower level award to help you gain the insights you might need to later apply for a higher level of funding.
It is important to consider the application questions carefully when applying and provide sufficient detail. Links to the application questions are included below.
When applying please consider what the assessors are looking for:
For the £1,000, £2,000 - £5,000 and £6,000 awards, the assessors are looking for:
Please note: at all levels, the York Futures Scholarships are not designed to support the furtherance of academic work, such as dissertation research, unless you can make a clear case that supports your longer term career ambitions.
We encourage all applicants to read the questions carefully and provide as much detail as possible. The planned application questions for each level of YFS are listed below. Please note that these may be subject to change, so applicants should ensure they read the application form clearly when it goes live.
There are two opportunities to apply online for each level of a York Futures Scholarship each academic year. Please note that for this academic year, the £2000-£5000 level has a separate application round from the other levels in Semester 1.
The YFS application form will be hosted on this webpage during the applications rounds each year.
Planned application rounds for the 2023/24 academic year are:
We aim for outcomes for this round to be communicated to students by the end of Semester 2, Week 12
Who to contact
The York Futures Scholarships Team within Careers and Placements
york-futures-scholarship@york.ac.uk
Check out the bursaries and scholarships webpage to find out what other financial support is available at the University of York.