Hornby Trust Scholarship 2024

The Hornby Education Trust  prioritises capacity building for English language teaching in low- and middle-income countries. It awards Master’s degree scholarships to teachers and related professionals with relevant experience and evidenced potential to impact and enhance the field of English language teaching and learning in their home country’.

Up to ten (10) fully funded scholarships are available to students who meet the University of Exeter’s admission’s criteria for the MEd TESOL Programme for September 2024 entry. Scholarships will be awarded to academically talented and experienced applicants who are nationals of and work in low and middle income countries as defined in the OECD DAC list (listed here).

Scholarship includes;

• Full fees
• A stipend totalling at least £15,500 (spread over monthly payments) to cover accommodation and living costs (Exact stipend amount, to be confirmed on the acceptance of the award).
• Return international travel costs*

Please note this scholarship is only available for study on the University of Exeter’s MEd TESOL programme and is not available for PGCert or PGDip programmes of study.

The Hornby Trust is delighted to be working with the University of Exeter to deliver these scholarships and all applicants will be jointly considered by the University of Exeter and the Hornby Trust.

*Covers one journey to the UK at the start of the course and one journey back to your home country at the end of the course. An open return ticket is encouraged.

Eligibility criteria:

• You should only apply if you satisfy the criteria below.
• • You must be a resident of, and work in, a low or middle income country as included in the OECD DAC list (see this list).
• • You must have a minimum of three years’ full time TESOL teaching or related professional experience after your first degree.
• • You must already hold an undergraduate degree (with grades equivalent to UK upper 2nd class honours or higher) or a relevant postgraduate degree.
• • You must first submit a normal postgraduate application to the University of Exeter for the MEd TESOL programme and so receive an Exeter student number. This number will be sent directly to you on receipt of your Exeter application. Only after that will you be able to submit your application for a Hornby Scholarship as this number must be included in your application.

How to apply?

IMPORTANT: Please first complete the University of Exeter application form for admission to the MEd TESOL programme by the Apply Online section in the upper right section of this webpage.Then, once you have obtained an Exeter student number, please complete the Hornby Scholarship application form here. 

Please remember that you will need your Exeter student number to submit your scholarship application.

When completing the Hornby Scholarship application, you will be asked to upload a covering letter of no more than 800 words responding to the following question:

In your context, what are the key challenges that you, and other teachers of English, typically face on a daily basis? How would studying the MEd TESOL at the University of Exeter help you to respond to these challenges? How do your skills and expertise make you a suitable candidate for the Hornby Scholarship?

To address the above questions you might want to consider including the following points:
Your focus should not just be on how you have been effective as an English language teacher. We are more interested in hearing about how you plan to use your learning and experiences on the MEd TESOL course, to help teachers to respond to the challenges identified above. Please make it very clear what your role would be in tackling the challenges you have identified.

You might also want to describe particularly outstanding personal and/or professional characteristics, achievements, or experiences that have helped you develop new skills and understandings. We would be particularly interested in hearing about any language teacher development activities that you have delivered or helped deliver; for example, teacher training, professional development, materials development, or leading a teachers’ association or professional activity group. Your focus should be less on how you have been effective as an English language teacher, and more on how your skills and expertise will help you support teachers in order to respond to the challenges identified above.

Deadline: 1st March 2024. 

Applicants will be notified if they have been shortlisted to attend an interview no later than 15th April 2024.

Interviews will be held during the weeks commencing Monday 29th April & Monday 6th May.

Applicants shortlisted to attend an interview will be notified of the final outcome no later than 22nd May 2024.

Any candidates that are selected for the shortlist will be reimbursed the English Language test fee required for acceptance onto the MEd TESOL programme.(To be Confirmed)

Terms & Conditions:
• By applying for this Scholarship, you are agreeing to your personal details and related data being shared with representatives from the University of Exeter, the Hornby Trust and Final Selection Panel members.
• All scholarship awards are conditional on prior application to the University of Exeter for the MEd TESOL programme
• Hornby Scholarships are not awarded in conjunction with other scholarships. In the event of your obtaining any further scholarship awards, the Hornby Scholarship will only be awarded if it is greater than any other such awards.
• We reserve the right not to award Hornby Scholarships if suitable candidates are not found.
• If you defer your offer from the University of Exeter, or change your fee status, your Hornby Scholarship offer could be invalidated and withdrawn. In the event that you withdraw or interrupt your studies post enrolment in the University of Exeter, the University’s Finance regulations at that date will apply as regards any repayment or other requirements.