A grant of $1,000 to $5,000 for applicants aged 18 to 35 for covering admission fees, travel expenses and related costs of taking up an academic opportunity.
The Global Mobility Scholarship pays the costs of access that decide whether a young person can take up an academic opportunity, for example a conference registration, a set of application fees, a language certificate, a flight, or the weeks between arrival and a first stipend.
Awards range from $1,000 to $5,000 and are made against a specific, costed plan. Up to ten are granted in each cycle. The scholarship is open to applicants aged 18 to 35 of any nationality.
The programme is financed by the OU Foundation and administered by its scholarship office. It carries no obligation to any university, agency or commercial partner, and no fee is charged at any stage.
Awards are made against a costed plan covering one or more of the following.
Conference attendance, summer schools, laboratory or archive visits, fieldwork and academic exchanges, including registration, travel and accommodation.
Application fees at universities and graduate schools, including several institutions in one admissions cycle, and credential evaluation.
TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo English Test, GRE, GMAT, SAT and comparable examinations, including preparation materials and one retake.
Flights, visa and residence permit fees, health insurance and travel to the nearest consulate, once a place or an invitation is confirmed.
Deposit and living costs for the first weeks of a programme, bridging the interval between arrival and the first payment of a stipend or salary.
A laptop, a licence, a dataset or laboratory consumables, where its absence is the single obstacle to a defined piece of work.
The scholarship does not fund tuition fees, living costs beyond the first month, debt, or expenses incurred before an award is made.
Applicants must be between 18 and 35 years of age on the closing date. There is no restriction on nationality or country of residence. Eligible applicants include:
The following are not eligible:
Enrolment at the time of application is not required.
Individual awards range from $1,000 to $5,000. The committee sets the amount from the plan submitted and the documented cost of the step described. A precise request supported by figures is assessed more favourably than a maximum request without them. Up to ten awards are made in each cycle, subject to available funds. Payment is made to the recipient, or directly to the institution or provider, once the plan is confirmed.
Selection has two stages: a written application and an interview for shortlisted candidates.
An online form in four parts: personal details, evidence of potential, the plan the award would fund, and references to prior work. It takes approximately 30 minutes and must be completed in one sitting, as answers are not saved in between.
Closes 11. Oktober 2026 at 23:59 UTCShortlisted applicants are invited to a video interview of approximately 30 minutes with two members of the committee, covering the plan and the applicant's work. Interviews are scheduled individually throughout November 2026.
Invitations by early November 2026All applicants who reach the interview stage receive a written decision. Recipients receive an award letter setting out the purpose of the funds and the payment schedule.
Final results by mid-November 2026Applications are assessed against four criteria, each carrying equal weight.
We read achievement against the means behind it. A national result from a school with no laboratory tells us more than the same result from a selective institution. What we look for is evidence that you act without being asked: a project begun before anyone commissioned it, a problem you stayed with after the assignment ended. Where you stand today counts for less than the direction you are moving in.
What matters here is whether the award decides the outcome. An applicant holding an offer and a date, with no way to pay the flight, is in a different position from one who will attend regardless and would merely be more comfortable. State plainly what is already secured, what is still missing and whether you have asked elsewhere. A partial request, where you have raised part of the sum yourself, is read as a strength.
A fundable request names the opportunity, the date and the cost, and shows how the figure was reached. An airfare quoted from a route, a registration fee taken from the organiser's page: those are numbers we can check. Requests for the maximum with the purpose described in general terms fail here, however strong the applicant behind them.
Anything that lets us verify the work counts: a repository, a paper, a competition result, a page that names you. Links are enough, and nothing needs to be certified or notarised. If your work is not public, describe it and give us someone who can confirm it. We do not expect a long record from an eighteen-year-old; we do expect what exists to be checkable.
No. The application is free and it stays free through the interview and the award. We never ask for payment or bank details in order to assess an application.
The age range is 18 to 35 on the closing date, and we apply it strictly so that every applicant is treated the same. If you turn 18 before 11. Oktober 2026, you are eligible.
No. School students preparing applications, students between programmes and early-career researchers outside a university are all eligible. What matters is the plan the money would make possible.
No. This programme funds mobility and access costs: travel, fees, tests, the first month abroad. Our database lists thousands of scholarships that do cover tuition, and the matcher will find the ones you qualify for.
Ask for what your plan actually costs, between $1,000 and $5,000, and show how you arrived at the figure. A well-costed request is far more persuasive than a large one.
Yes, as long as they belong to one coherent plan, for example a test fee and the application fees that follow it. Submit one application only; duplicates are removed.
English.
None are required. You may attach a CV, a transcript and up to three supporting documents, and links to your work count for just as much. Recipients are asked afterwards for proof of identity and of the cost being funded, such as an invoice or a booking.
Shortlisted applicants are invited to an interview in early November 2026, interviews run through November, and every applicant who reaches stage two receives a written decision by mid-November 2026.
Your application is used to assess this scholarship. It is stored on our own infrastructure in Germany and is never sold or passed to third parties. See the privacy page for details.
Questions on eligibility or on the application itself are answered by the scholarship office within a few working days.
Julia Berens
Scholarship Office
info@opportunity-universe.com
