Marshall Scholarship is an award that enables students from the United States to study at universities in the United Kingdom. The scholarships pay for tuition fees, basic living expenses, travel between the United States and the United Kingdom, and other needs. Students can use the scholarships to pursue graduate—or in some cases, undergraduate—degrees in any field of study. The scholarships are awarded for two years but may be extended for a third year. The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission oversees the program. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British government funds it.
Candidates submit applications to one of eight regional centers in the United States. The centers are in Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; New York City; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. Candidates must be U.S. citizens who have graduated from a U.S. college or university and satisfied certain minimum academic requirements. Winners are selected by panels from the eight regional centers. The panels seek candidates with superior academic ability and the potential to make meaningful contributions to society. A minimum of 40 Marshall Scholarships are awarded each year.
The Marshall Scholarship program seeks to strengthen relationships between the people of the United States and the United Kingdom. The British Parliament established the program with the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act of 1953. The scholarships were named in honor of the Marshall Plan (officially called the European Recovery Program). The United States set up the Marshall Plan to help war-torn nations in Europe rebuild their economies after World War II (1939-1945).
