Clarendon is the rare major scholarship with no application. Apply for a Master's or DPhil at Oxford by the December or January deadline for that course, and you are considered. There is no form, no extra essay and no separate deadline to miss, which also means there is no way to strengthen a Clarendon case beyond the course application itself.
Over 200 new scholarships are awarded each year, and around 700 scholars from roughly 70 countries are on course at any time. That makes it one of the largest fully funded graduate schemes anywhere, though Oxford is direct that it remains highly competitive.
The award covers course fees in full, at the Home or the Overseas rate, and adds an annual living grant of at least the UKRI minimum doctoral stipend rate, £20,780 in 2025-26. Part-time scholars receive a study support grant instead, set at a sixth, a third or half of that rate according to the course.
Three eligibility limits decide most questions. There are none on nationality or ordinary residence, and none on subject. The course must be a new one, so a deferred offer cannot be considered, and a current student cannot use Clarendon to fund a year of the degree already under way. Someone finishing an Oxford Master's who applies for a DPhil or a second Master's is applying for a new course and is eligible.
Funding runs for the period of fee liability, which is the span during which the University charges course fees. Continuation charges levied after that period sit outside the scholarship.
The calendar is fixed. Departments nominate, the divisions shortlist in February or March, and most offers land by the end of April. Unsuccessful candidates hear nothing at all, and Oxford asks anyone still waiting in mid-June to assume the answer is no.
The Clarendon Fund pages were checked on 16 September 2026.