The Clarendon Handbook

The Clarendon Fund is the University of Oxford’s flagship graduate scholarship. Officially it offers over 200 new fully-funded scholarships each year. Around 700 scholars are on course at any one time, from about 70 nations. In 2025/26 the Fund celebrated its 25th intake. Since the first scholars arrived in 2001, Clarendon has supported more than 3,400 graduate students.

What most listing sites get wrong is the application. There is none. You do not open a Clarendon portal, you do not upload a leadership statement, and you do not need a campus nomination. You submit a complete Oxford graduate application for a new Master’s or DPhil by the December or January deadline that is relevant to your course. The department then considers you for admission and may nominate you for Clarendon on academic merit and potential alone.

That is the opposite of Rhodes, which runs a separate constituency competition before Oxford, and of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme, which requires you to tick a box on the Oxford form and upload an extra statement. Clarendon is the automatic-merit pot: the strongest academic files in each division, considered without a second form.

A Clarendon scholarship covers course fees in full for both Home and Overseas fee status. Full-time scholars also receive an annual living grant of at least the UKRI minimum doctoral stipend. The last figure Oxford published on the Clarendon full-time page is for 2025–26: at least £20,780. This handbook does not invent a 2026–27 or 2027 living-grant figure. Recheck the official full-time page before you budget.

Awards are normally for the scholar’s period of fee liability — the years you are required to pay course fees. Continuation charges are not covered. Some divisions later extend the living grant beyond fee liability at their discretion; the continuation charge itself still is not paid. Part-time scholars receive a study-support grant that Oxford describes as a sixth, a third, or half of the UKRI minimum, depending on the course.

Clarendon is open to all nationalities and all subjects. Full-time and part-time Master’s and DPhil courses are eligible. Postgraduate certificates and diplomas are not. You must be applying to start a new course. Holders of a deferred Oxford offer are not considered. Students who will simply continue the same degree next year are not considered. A current Oxford Master’s student who re-applies for a DPhil is eligible for DPhil funding.

Official selection guidance says an excellent academic record is essential. The majority of successful scholars have at least a first-class honours degree or equivalent — Oxford cites a GPA of at least 3.7/4.0 as an illustration, and notes that many scholars sit higher. An outstanding Master’s can compensate for a moderate first degree. Assessors also read future potential, aptitude for the proposed course, and motivation through references, the research proposal where required, and the personal statement.