A scholarship you cannot apply to directly
This is a scholarship you cannot apply to. The Foundation funds partner institutions, and those institutions run the admissions and make the decisions. So the useful question is not “when does the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program close” but “which partner institutions offer what I want to study, and when do they close”. The Foundation’s own FAQ says this in as many words. Anyone telling you there is a single application form or a single date is guessing.
The scale behind this programme
The numbers here are unusually large for a scholarship programme: the Foundation states it has committed over 58,000 scholarships to date, with 71% going to young women, and more than 20,000 alumni already through the programme. It has disbursed $6.5 billion toward education and transitions programmes in Africa since the programme began in August 2012, and it’s aiming to reach 100,000 scholarships committed by 2030 across its 62 global partners. That scale is part of why the programme runs as a network of independent partner institutions rather than a single centralised award: no single institution could administer a programme this size on its own.
Where the barrier-reduction options actually help, and where they don’t
Partner institutions are mostly in Africa, with others in North and Central America, Europe and the Middle East. Because the African partners are universities in the region, several of them do not require SAT or TOEFL scores, which the Foundation points out specifically as a route for candidates who cannot afford those tests. For applicants targeting North American partners where those tests are required, the Foundation suggests asking a school counsellor for a letter of support to accompany a strong academic record, or seeking test-fee support through EducationUSA, rather than assuming the cost is simply unavoidable. If a partner does charge an admission fee, that fee is reimbursed if you are selected, though not if you are not.
Two limits worth stating plainly
Two limits are worth stating plainly, because aggregator listings often blur them. PhD study is not currently funded. And getting into a partner university is a separate step from getting the scholarship: the Foundation says explicitly that admission does not guarantee selection. You can apply to as many partner institutions as you like, but each is a full application. For a wider view of scholarships built specifically for applicants from developing countries, see the guide to funding for students from developing countries.