Scholarship funding

We donate 5% of our annual profits to our Youth Access Scholarship Fund, which is divided into two funding ‘pots’.

1. The first is administered by us and is designed to offer financial assistance towards any of our JENZA, BUNAC or USIT programs. It is aimed at new customers who might be considering one of our programs - but who require additional financial support in the form of either a full or partial program contribution and/or flight voucher to help them get their travel plans over the line.

2. The other pot is administered by a different youth non-profit organisation each year, and offers full scholarship opportunities with end-to-end funding for young people in their community to work overseas.

This page is for financial assistance only – number 1.

The JENZA Scholarship Fund is designed for young people who want to experience one of our programs, but for who the program fee or flights may be financially beyond their reach. The fund was founded on trust, with funding being awarded in good faith. Please only apply for funding if you genuinely don’t have the means to pay for one of our programs.

Also, please ensure that you have the financial means to support yourself for the rest of your trip – please see the above FAQ for what additional costs may be involved in doing one of our programs.

At the end of your trip, you'll be required to fill out a program survey - this is for our team to help continually improve our programs.

Plus, provide a minimum 100-word testimonial and minimum 60-second face-to-camera video about your experience, along with 10-20 images of your trip. This content will be used to promote the Youth Access Scholarship Fund and programs, and will be used across our channels to help encourage other young people to apply.

You must be:

• A UK passport holder
• Currently engaged in or have completed a full-time tertiary-level course at a university in the UK
• Have already applied for, but not yet started, a post-graduate course in the USA or Canada
• The postgraduate qualification must be awarded by a US or Canadian institution

Please note, the award is intended for courses of study between three months and three years (consecutively), but the award shall cover a maximum period of the first 12 months and is not available for subsequent years of study. The candidate may not be in employment, including work for a North American employer as part of a UK based course, during the period in which they are to be assisted. They may be (and should be) in receipt of other awards, including teaching assistantships, which are solely for the purpose of study.

Several scholarships are awarded each year from a fund of £60,000. Included in this are the sums of £4,000 available as the Christopher J. Harbour Memorial Scholarship to a candidate looking to do sports-related studies and £2,000 as the John S. Ball Award to a candidate looking to pursue a teaching or geography-related career.

The BEST Scholarships are top-up funds, not a prime source of funding and candidates should be actively looking to secure funding from other sources while in the process of applying to BEST. The individual amounts awarded vary but a typical award is in the region of £5,000 - £15,000.

An online application must be received in addition to:

• One academic reference
• One personal reference
  The academic reference should come from a tutor or Head of Department, and the personal reference from someone who is well acquainted with you but who is not related to you in any way. Applications received after the deadline or without both references as of that date, will not be considered for selection.

Each reference must clearly state whether it is a personal or academic reference otherwise it will not be accepted.

The Academic Reference should be completed by someone who is well acquainted with the applicant but who is not related to them. This should not be a personal reference.