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Scholarships that require IELTS and the band they ask for

Most scholarships in our list ask for IELTS Academic 6.5 overall, and 81% ask for 6.0–6.5. Only 30 of 194 ask for 7.0 or more. Where a scholarship sets a minimum for each skill, it is usually 5.5–6.0. The scholarship’s official page and your university’s course page set the figure that counts.

Oleksii Vasylenko
Oleksii VasylenkoIELTS 8.0
Founder & IELTS Preparation Specialist

Requirements last checked against each scholarship’s listed source: March 2026 – April 2026. Rules and deadlines change every cycle, so confirm on the official page before you apply.

Most common overall band
6.5Asked for by 106 of 194 scholarships in our list.
Typical range
6.0–6.581% of the scholarships in our list ask for a band in this range.
Minimum in each skill
5.5–6.0Most common rule among the 138 scholarships that publish one.
Accept General Training
16 of 194The rest ask for IELTS Academic.

Find a scholarship

Search 194 scholarships by name, destination, study level or your band. Each name opens a page with the award’s coverage, per-skill rules and source link.

14 of 194

ScholarshipIELTS
Chevening ScholarshipsUnited Kingdom · Postgraduate · Per skill 5.56.5
Fulbright Foreign Student ProgramUnited States · Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 6.06.5
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation ScholarshipCanada · PhD · Per skill 6.57.0
Australia Awards ScholarshipsAustralia · Undergraduate, Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 6.06.5
Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters ScholarshipsEuropean Union · Postgraduate · Per skill 5.56.5
MEXT (Monbukagakusho) ScholarshipJapan · Undergraduate, Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 5.0Accepts General Training5.5
Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship ProgrammeGlobal · Postgraduate · Per skill 6.06.5
Gates Cambridge ScholarshipUnited Kingdom · Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 7.07.5
Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship ProgramUnited States · Postgraduate · Per skill 5.56.0
Lester B. Pearson International ScholarshipCanada · Undergraduate · Per skill 5.56.5
Destination Australia ScholarshipsAustralia · Undergraduate, Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 5.56.0
DAAD ScholarshipsGermany · Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 5.56.0
Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC)China · Undergraduate, Postgraduate, PhD · Per skill 5.56.0
ADB-Japan Scholarship ProgramGlobal · Postgraduate · Per skill 6.06.0

Bands are the overall minimum each scholarship lists. “Per skill” is the lowest band allowed in any one skill; a dash means none is listed.

Requirements by destination

The most common band and the typical range for each destination, calculated from the scholarships in our list. Open a destination or a study level to see those scholarships.

DestinationMost common band
United KingdomScholarships: 286.56.0–7.0
United StatesScholarships: 286.56.5–7.0
CanadaScholarships: 226.5
AustraliaScholarships: 246.56.0–6.5
EuropeScholarships: 406.56.0–6.5
AsiaScholarships: 296.06.0–6.5
GlobalScholarships: 236.56.0–6.5

Before you apply

Deadlines move every year

Most scholarships open once a year and close months before the course starts. Dates on the scholarship pages come from the last cycle we checked, so confirm this year’s window on the official page.

The official page decides

Eligibility often depends on nationality, work experience and the university that admits you, and some awards set their own English rules on top of the university’s. Read the official page before you book a test.

Book IELTS Academic

Degree admission uses IELTS Academic. General Training is designed for work and migration, and universities generally do not accept it for degree entry.

Studying in the UK: IELTS or IELTS for UKVI?

For a degree course, the university can assess your English itself and usually accepts the standard IELTS Academic test. For courses below degree level, such as a foundation year, you normally need a Secure English Language Test, which means IELTS for UKVI (Academic) at an approved centre. Your offer letter says which one you need.

FAQ: IELTS Scholarships

What IELTS score do I need for a scholarship?

Most scholarships in our list ask for 6.5 overall (106 of 194), and 81% ask for 6.0–6.5. 30 ask for 7.0 or more, among them Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Clarendon Scholarship, and Cambridge Trust Scholarships.

Can I get a scholarship with IELTS 6.0?

Yes. 58 scholarships in our list ask for 6.0 or less overall. Set “Your overall band” to 6.0 in the list above to see them, then check the per-skill rule on each one.

Do scholarships accept IELTS General Training?

Rarely. 16 of the 194 scholarships in our list accept General Training; the rest ask for IELTS Academic. Book Academic unless the official page says otherwise.

Does IELTS itself offer scholarships or fee waivers?

The British Council IELTS Award is in the list above with its requirements. We do not track test-fee waivers, so ask your test centre or the scholarship provider whether the fee is covered.

Where these numbers come from

Each scholarship’s IELTS figure comes from the source linked on its page, usually the provider’s official site. The numbers above are calculated from those listings. Requirements and deadlines change every cycle, so treat them as a starting point.

Universities Accepting IELTSIELTS for Immigration

Open data

Cite this dataset

The data on this page is available as a download under CC BY 4.0. Use it freely; credit IELTS.international with a link to this page.

IELTS.international. (2026). Scholarship IELTS requirements (Version 2026-04) [Data set]. https://www.ielts.international/scholarships-requiring-ielts#cite-dataset

Download CSVJSON
Version
2026-04
Last checked
April 2026
Rows
181
Licence
CC BY 4.0
  • 181 of 196 scholarship records qualify (92%).
  • Left out: 2 discontinued, 1 that set no IELTS minimum of their own, 12 whose only source is an aggregator site, 0 with no check month, 0 with no deadline statement.
  • Deadlines as of 11 October 2026: 17 passed, 1 upcoming, 107 recurring windows without a year, 16 rolling, 40 varying by programme.
  • Records were last checked from March 2026 to April 2026. Scholarship cycles open and close every year; confirm on the official page before applying.

Column definitions and all datasets

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