Oxford Pershing Square Scholarships for MBA and Master’s Students
Few fully funded graduate scholarships combine prestige, purpose, and financial scale quite like the Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarships. Established in 2014 and endowed in perpetuity with a combined fund of £13 million, these awards support up to five exceptional students each year to pursue both a one-year Master’s degree and a one-year MBA at the University of Oxford — entirely free of charge. For ambitious postgraduate applicants looking to secure fully funded MBA scholarships for international students, this opportunity deserves serious attention.
This article covers every factual detail you need: the scholarship’s financial value, eligibility criteria, eligible Master’s programmes, the application process, selection criteria, and the broader Pershing Square Scholar experience.
What Is the Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship?
The Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is a fully funded postgraduate award that supports outstanding students on Oxford’s unique 1+1 MBA programme. The 1+1 MBA is a two-year pathway in which a student completes a one-year specialist Master’s degree from one of Oxford University’s partnering departments, followed by the one-year Oxford MBA at Saïd Business School.
The scholarship was established through a partnership between the Pershing Square Foundation and the University of Oxford. The Foundation contributed £7.8 million to endow the scholarships permanently, while the University of Oxford added a further £5.2 million through its Oxford Graduate Scholarship Matched Fund, bringing total endowment to £13 million. This means the scholarship is funded in perpetuity — it is not subject to a one-off grant cycle or political funding decisions.
The Pershing Square Foundation was founded in 2006 by Bill Ackman and Karen Ackman to support exceptional leaders and innovative organisations working across health, education, economic development, and social justice. The Foundation has committed more than $500 million in grants and social investments globally. The Oxford scholarship is among its flagship education initiatives.
Key fact: The scholarship is available to applicants of all nationalities. There is no country restriction, and the application process is free of charge.
Scholarship Financial Value: What Does It Cover?
The Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is one of the most generous fully funded postgraduate scholarships in the United Kingdom. It is not a partial bursary or a fee-waiver — it covers all major costs associated with two full years of study at Oxford.
| Benefit | Details |
|---|---|
| Full tuition fees — Master’s year | 100% of course fees for your chosen Oxford Master’s programme |
| Full tuition fees — MBA year | 100% of Oxford MBA fees (the 2025–26 MBA fee is £88,800) |
| College fees — both years | University college fees covered for both the Master’s and MBA years |
| Living cost grant — Year 1 | At least £20,780 per year toward living expenses |
| Living cost grant — Year 2 | At least £20,780 per year toward living expenses |
| New York Trek | Fully sponsored spring visit to New York, hosted by the Pershing Square Foundation |
| Mentorship programme | Structured mentoring from the Scholarship Advisory Board, Oxford Saïd faculty, and alumni |
| Community events | Access to exclusive conferences, termly scholar gatherings, and networking events |
To put the financial weight of this award in context: the Oxford MBA alone costs £88,800 in tuition for the 2025–26 academic year. Add Master’s tuition, college fees, and two years of living expenses in Oxford — one of the UK’s most expensive cities — and the total value of this scholarship across both years easily exceeds £150,000 for most recipients. For international students weighing the cost of a top-tier UK MBA programme, this award effectively removes every financial barrier.
The Oxford 1+1 MBA: Understanding the Programme Structure
Before applying for the Pershing Square Scholarship, it is important to fully understand the 1+1 MBA structure, because the scholarship is specifically designed for students on this pathway.
Year One: The Specialist Master’s Degree
In the first year, students complete a one-year specialist Master’s degree from one of Oxford University’s partnering departments. This gives scholars deep subject-matter expertise in a chosen field — whether that is public policy, computer science, environmental management, or law and finance — before they move into business training.
Year Two: The Oxford MBA at Saïd Business School
In the second year, scholars join the full Oxford MBA cohort at Saïd Business School. The one-year MBA covers core business principles, strategy, leadership, and finance, with a range of elective courses. Students are embedded in the Saïd Business School community from the moment they begin their Master’s degree in Year One, attending receptions, meetings with the Dean, and MBA community events throughout both years.
The combination of specialist depth from the Master’s and the breadth of Oxford’s MBA is what makes this pathway distinctive in the global landscape of postgraduate business education. Oxford Saïd currently ranks 12th in the QS Global MBA Rankings 2026 and 26th in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2025.
Eligible Master’s Programmes: What Can You Study?
Scholars can pursue any of the official 1+1 MBA partnering programmes at Oxford University. The list is extensive and spans disciplines from social science and public policy to technology, law, and environmental science. Below is a representative selection of partnering programmes:
| Programme | Department / School |
|---|---|
| Master of Public Policy (MPP) | Blavatnik School of Government |
| MSc in Computer Science | Department of Computer Science |
| MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine | Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine |
| MSc in Environmental Change and Management | School of Geography and the Environment |
| MSc in Law and Finance (MLF) | Faculty of Law / Saïd Business School (joint) |
| MSc in Comparative Social Policy | Department of Social Policy and Intervention |
| MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation | Department of Social Policy and Intervention |
| MSc in Statistical Science | Department of Statistics |
| MSc in Sociology | Department of Sociology |
| MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice | Centre for Criminology |
| MSt in Modern Languages | Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages |
| MSt in Music | Faculty of Music |
This is not an exhaustive list. The full catalogue of partnering programmes is available on the Oxford Saïd Business School website, and new programmes are periodically added. Importantly, Oxford also considers applicants who are combining the MBA with a full-time one-year Master’s that is not on the official partnering list — this is assessed on a case-by-case basis, and applicants in this category are advised to contact the Oxford MBA admissions team directly to discuss eligibility.
Eligibility Criteria: Who Can Apply?
The Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is open to applicants of all nationalities. However, eligibility for the scholarship is contingent on meeting the entry requirements of both the chosen Oxford Master’s programme and the Oxford MBA independently. There is no route to the scholarship without first gaining admission to both programmes.
Admissions Eligibility
- Must hold, or be on track to hold, a bachelor’s degree by the time studies commence
- Must meet the individual entry requirements of the chosen partnering Master’s programme
- Must meet the entry requirements of the Oxford MBA, including GMAT or GRE scores, professional work experience, academic transcripts, and references
- The average GMAT score for admitted Oxford MBA students is approximately 690; GRE composite median is around 320
- Applicants on the waiting list or under re-evaluation are not considered for the scholarship
Scholarship Selection Criteria
Being admitted to the 1+1 MBA programme is necessary but not sufficient. The scholarship selection committee evaluates admitted applicants against a separate set of criteria. These are the qualities that must be demonstrated across your MBA application, scholarship essay, and interview:
- Academic achievement — demonstrated through degree results, GMAT or GRE scores, university prizes and academic distinctions
- Leadership potential — evidenced through professional experience, community involvement, and demonstrated motivation to lead
- Strong personal character — integrity, resilience, and a clear sense of purpose
- Commitment to world-scale social challenges — a clear intent to direct your career toward addressing large-scale problems, either within an existing organisation or through building a new enterprise
- Vision for scalable, sustainable solutions — the ability to conceptualise how problems can be solved at scale, not just at the individual or community level
- Articulated vision for the 1+1 MBA — a clearly explained understanding of how the two-year Oxford programme specifically equips you to achieve your objectives
These criteria collectively define the profile of a Pershing Square Scholar: not simply an excellent student, but an ambitious changemaker with the intellectual firepower and personal drive to create measurable, lasting social impact.
Priority Categories for Scholarship Consideration
Where competition is especially tight, applicants are considered in the following order of priority:
- New applicants admitted to both a 1+1 MBA partnering programme and the Oxford MBA simultaneously
- Applicants combining the MBA with a full-time one-year Master’s degree from a non-partnering department
- Current Oxford Master’s students who have been admitted to the MBA and were not previously considered for the scholarship (e.g., those who were waitlisted or re-evaluated in the prior year)
How to Apply: Step-by-Step
Applying for the Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship involves two parallel application processes. You cannot apply for the scholarship directly — it is awarded to students who have already been admitted to the 1+1 MBA programme and have completed the scholarship essay as part of their MBA application. Here is exactly how the process works.
Step 1: Apply to Your Chosen Master’s Programme
Identify the Oxford Master’s programme that aligns with your field of expertise and career ambitions. Each partnering programme has its own application portal, deadlines, and entry requirements — these are managed independently from the MBA application. Most partnering Master’s programmes have December or January admissions deadlines. You must apply by your chosen programme’s December 2025 or January 2026 admissions deadline for the 2026–28 intake.
Step 2: Apply to the Oxford MBA (1+1 Route)
Submit a complete Oxford MBA application through the Saïd Business School portal, selecting “1+1” as the programme of interest. For the 2026–28 intake, the MBA application deadline is Wednesday, 7 January 2026. Standard MBA application requirements apply: GMAT/GRE scores, professional references, personal essays, and work experience details.
Step 3: Submit the Scholarship Essay
Within the MBA application, there is a dedicated “Funding” section. You must upload your scholarship essay here by the application deadline. The essay prompt asks:
“How do you intend to change the world? What does this tell us about you as a person?” (Maximum 500 words)
This essay is the single most important piece of scholarship-specific writing you will produce. It must be substantive, personal, specific, and credible. Vague statements about “wanting to make a difference” will not be competitive. The strongest essays identify a specific global challenge, articulate why the applicant is positioned to address it, and explain with precision how the Oxford 1+1 MBA equips them to do so.
Step 4: Shortlisting and Interview
Shortlisting takes place in early April. Candidates who are shortlisted are invited to interview in late April or early May. The interview is conducted with members of the Scholarship Advisory Board and assesses the same criteria as the written application: leadership, character, academic strength, and clarity of social impact vision.
Key Application Deadlines at a Glance
| Application Component | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Oxford MBA application (1+1 route) | 7 January 2026 |
| Scholarship essay upload (in MBA application) | 7 January 2026 (same deadline as MBA) |
| Partnering Master’s programme application | December 2025 or January 2026 (varies by programme) |
| Scholarship shortlisting | Early April |
| Scholarship interviews | Late April to early May |
Important note: your two applications — for the Master’s and the MBA — are assessed completely independently. The MBA Admissions Committee does not have access to your Master’s application, and vice versa. This means you must tailor each application separately to demonstrate fit and motivation for each programme on its own terms.
The Scholar Experience: Beyond the Funding
The financial award is only part of what the Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship offers. The scholar experience is designed to integrate recipients into two powerful communities simultaneously — the University of Oxford academic community and the global Pershing Square Foundation network.
Integration into Saïd Business School from Day One
Pershing Square Scholars are treated as full members of the Oxford MBA community from the moment they begin their Master’s degree in Year One, not just when they enter the MBA in Year Two. This means attending receptions and events with the MBA Director, faculty, and fellow MBA scholars from the very start of their time at Oxford. By the time scholars formally join the MBA cohort, they are already embedded in the community and have existing relationships across the school.
Mentorship Programme
Each scholar benefits from structured mentorship through the Scholarship’s mentorship programme. Mentors can include members of the Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship Advisory Board, Oxford Saïd faculty, members of the wider University of Oxford community, and alumni of the scholarship itself. Mentorship sessions focus on research directions, career planning, and professional development.
Termly Events and Scholar Community
Scholars attend termly events hosted by the MBA Director, including lunches, dinners, and afternoon teas designed to strengthen the cohort’s bond. Beyond these structured gatherings, each scholar cohort is supported to organise its own events — from informal social gatherings to group attendance at conferences. This creates a tight-knit community of scholars who support one another throughout both years of study.
The New York Spring Trek
One of the most distinctive non-academic benefits of the scholarship is an all-expenses-paid spring trek to New York City, organised by the Pershing Square Foundation. Scholars participate in meetings, conferences, and workshops with leading innovators, social entrepreneurs, and change-makers drawn from the Foundation’s global network. This provides early access to a world-class professional and philanthropic ecosystem that most MBA graduates only encounter years into their careers.
Access to Prestigious Conferences
Pershing Square Scholars are invited to a range of prestigious events throughout the academic year. Past scholars have had access to events including the Ditchley Conferences and the Skoll World Forum — high-level gatherings that sit at the intersection of policy, business, and social innovation.
Who Should Apply? Ideal Candidate Profile
It is worth being direct about who this scholarship is designed for — and who it is not. The Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is not a merit scholarship in the conventional sense. Raw academic excellence alone is not enough. The Pershing Square Foundation is investing in people who will use world-class education to solve world-scale problems. The ideal candidate profile looks like this:
- Strong academic track record with demonstrable intellectual curiosity, not just high grades
- Meaningful professional or leadership experience in a field with genuine social impact potential — this could span public health, climate policy, education technology, economic development, social enterprise, or international governance
- A clear, specific, credible vision for how they intend to use the 1+1 MBA to create scalable social impact — not a vague aspiration, but a thought-through plan with a named problem, a proposed approach, and an honest assessment of what Oxford uniquely provides
- Personal integrity and character that come through in references, interviews, and written work
- An ability to connect specialist knowledge (from the Master’s year) to business and leadership skills (from the MBA year) in a way that is coherent and compelling
Candidates who combine technical or policy expertise with entrepreneurial ambition and a track record of leadership — even at an early career stage — tend to be the strongest applicants.
Oxford Pershing Square vs. Other Fully Funded Oxford Scholarships
Oxford offers several prestigious fully funded graduate scholarships. Understanding how the Pershing Square Scholarship compares helps applicants decide which award to pursue — or whether to pursue multiple simultaneously, where eligible.
| Scholarship | Programme | Awards Per Year | Key Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship | 1+1 MBA (Master’s + MBA) | Up to 5 | Social impact leadership, scalable solutions to global challenges |
| Rhodes Scholarship | Any Oxford postgraduate degree | ~100 globally | Academic excellence, leadership, commitment to service |
| Clarendon Scholarship | Any Oxford postgraduate degree | ~140 per year | Academic excellence; open to all graduate programmes |
| Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarship | Any Oxford postgraduate degree | Varies | Leadership with responsibility to home country development |
| Skoll Scholarship | Oxford MBA (Saïd Business School) | Varies | Social entrepreneurship and innovation |
What sets the Pershing Square Scholarship apart is its exclusive focus on the 1+1 MBA pathway — the only Oxford award that fully funds two degrees simultaneously. It is the top funding option for anyone pursuing the dual Master’s and MBA route at Oxford, and one of the richest fully funded MBA scholarships available to international students anywhere in the world.
Tips for a Competitive Application
Given that only up to five scholarships are awarded each year, competition is exceptionally high. These are the factors that separate shortlisted candidates from everyone else.
Treat Your Scholarship Essay as a Strategy Document
The 500-word essay asking how you intend to change the world is deceptively hard to write well. The most common mistake is writing something emotionally moving but strategically vague. Selection committees want to see that you understand the problem you are targeting at a systemic level, that you have a credible pathway to tackling it, and that the specific combination of your chosen Master’s and the Oxford MBA is the right preparation for that path. Every sentence should earn its place.
Apply in the Earliest Possible Deadline Round
While the scholarship itself is assessed after admission to both programmes, applying to the Oxford MBA in Round 1 (September) rather than the January round gives you the best chance of receiving an offer in time. Scholarship consideration requires confirmed admission — not waitlist status — so earlier rounds give more lead time.
Choose Your Master’s Programme Strategically
Your choice of partnering Master’s programme should not be driven purely by preference — it should logically connect to your stated impact vision. If your scholarship essay argues that you intend to reform health financing in sub-Saharan Africa, a Master’s in International Health and Tropical Medicine or Public Policy is far more credible than a Master’s in Music. The coherence of your 1+1 pathway matters to the selection committee.
Tailor Each Application Independently
Because the Master’s admissions team and the MBA admissions team assess your applications separately and without access to each other’s materials, you must write two distinct, tailored applications. Overlapping themes are fine — identical content is not.
Demonstrate Leadership Through Specifics, Not Titles
Leadership on a scholarship application of this level is evaluated by what you have actually done, not by your job title. Specific initiatives you led, specific results you produced, and specific decisions you made under pressure carry far more weight than a long list of committees you sat on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apply for the Pershing Square Scholarship if I am already studying at Oxford?
Yes. Current Oxford Master’s students who are enrolled in one of the 1+1 MBA partnering programmes and have been admitted to the Oxford MBA may also be considered for the scholarship. However, this applies only to students who were not previously considered in the prior year — for example, those who were waitlisted or re-evaluated. These applicants fall into the third priority category for scholarship selection.
Is the scholarship available for the Executive MBA or the standard one-year MBA?
No. The Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarship is exclusively for students on the 1+1 MBA pathway. It does not apply to the standard one-year Oxford MBA or the Oxford Executive MBA. Students on the standard MBA who are interested in scholarships should explore other options at Saïd, including the Skoll Scholarship or the Saïd Foundation Scholarship.
What if my chosen Master’s is not on the official partnering programme list?
Applicants who apply to a full-time one-year Master’s that is not currently listed as an official 1+1 MBA partnering programme may still be considered for the scholarship under certain conditions. These applicants are assessed individually. The MBA admissions team strongly advises contacting them before applying to discuss whether your combination qualifies.
Do applicants on the waiting list qualify for the scholarship?
No. To be considered for the scholarship, you must have received a confirmed admission offer to both the 1+1 MBA partnering programme and the Oxford MBA. Applicants who are waitlisted or under re-evaluation are not considered.
Is there a separate scholarship application form?
No. The scholarship essay is submitted within the funding section of the MBA application. There is no standalone scholarship application — the process is embedded within the 1+1 MBA application itself.
Why the Oxford-Pershing Square Scholarship Matters
Beyond the financial figures and application logistics lies something more significant: a vision for what postgraduate education should produce. The Pershing Square Foundation’s investment in this scholarship reflects a conviction that the world’s most pressing problems — from climate change and public health failures to economic exclusion and governance breakdown — will not be solved by specialists alone, or by business leaders alone. They require people who are both. People who can go deep into a specific domain and then pull back far enough to see the system, lead organisations, and build solutions at scale.
The 1+1 MBA was designed with exactly this in mind. And the Pershing Square Scholarship was created to ensure that financial constraints are never what stops the right person from pursuing that path.
For postgraduate applicants who are serious about global impact, who have the academic and professional credentials to compete at Oxford’s level, and who can articulate a genuine and specific vision for change — this is one of the most powerful opportunities available in the world of fully funded international scholarships.
Start early, apply strategically, and write your scholarship essay like you mean it.
