Chevening Scholarships is a program that offers applicants to study in the UK and use their experience for the benefit of their native country. Eight Armenian Chevening applicants were selected to study for Master’s degrees in leading UK universities in 2019-2020. Armenian News-NEWS.am talked to Nora Mufics, Chevening Programme Officer International, to explore how to apply for scholarships and what benefits it brings. 

What is Chevening? What does it provide scholarships for?

Chevening Scholarships is a government scholarship programme that is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It is available in more than 160 countries and territories around the world and provides opportunity to the applicants to come to the UK and study master’s degrees at any university they want. We are looking for potential leaders, for people who have a vision of what they want to achieve in the future. After studying in the UK they will bring their knowledge back to Armenia. Our main requirements are undergraduate degree, at least two years of professional experience and English knowledge. The applicants need a certificate to prove they meet English knowledge requirements. 

 What is the purpose of your visit to Armenia? Does your visit mean that you are attaching significance to the applicants from Armenia?

I am here to promote Chevening Scholarships programme. Chevening is a very well established program here in Armenia, and Chevening alumni are achieving great things here. 

 How many applications from Armenia do you receive every year? 

Applicants from Armenia are under 200 a year. We would like to attract even more, we want to see more suitable applicants to apply for Chevening and realize the great opportunities that Chevening offers. 

What is the main criterion for choosing a person who will get a scholarship?  Do you pay more attention to his/her education or work experience?

We have basic requirements: undergraduate degree, at least two years of professional experience and knowledge of English. But, apart from the basic criteria, what we are looking for is the potential that I mentioned. We want applicants to have a vision in their head: “I want to make a change. I want to come back to Armenia and to implement what I’ve learned in the UK, to use the network that I built in the UK.” That is what we are looking for. We would like to see the potential of a leader in people. If he can somehow show us: ‘yes, I’ve done this or that project’. Leading a group and a smaller community is something that we want to see. We want people to show us their vision of professional lives to see how they can advance in the coming years. 

All those interested in Chevening program know that it is providing scholarships, but many people do not understand what to start with. Can you explain what an applicant should do first (choose a university, a course, or pass an English test)?

I want to ask people to check our official website www.chevening.org. If the scholarship is for you, you can sit down and do research to find out what you want to study. On the website we have a course finder where you can find all the courses and universities as well. I would advise people not to necessarily go for the university itself. The university might be very well known in Armenia, like Cambridge or Oxford, but you have to think about the department which offers the course which might be the best in the country. Do not just go for name, be open minded, because there are many wonderful universities. 

We accept the results of different English language tests you can check out them on the website. IELTS, Cambridge and other tests. I would encourage people to check the university’s individual requirements. Sometimes it can be lower or higher than Chevening scholarship requirements.

Do you follow success stories of the Chevening Alumni?

Among Chevening Alumni you can find ambassadors of Armenia, people working at different ministries and NGOs. Chevening secretariat’s job is to keep in touch with all of them. They organize conferences and other events, Chevening is a real family.  This year is very important as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Chevening. The alumni are really very active, some of them organized Chevening talks in Armenia. We want to promote Chevening in Armenia’s regions, and we are happy to see that we have two applicants from the regions who are already studying in the UK.