Skoll Scholarship 2027

Who can apply

Minimum of three years' experience building and leading a social venture, with demonstrated evidence of significant social impact
Demonstrates curiosity, humility, and persistence in addressing the systemic roots of a social or environmental challenge, with lived or long-term engaged experience of the issue
A clear intention to pursue a career aligned with long-term, systemic social or environmental impact, and a specific account of how the Oxford MBA and Skoll Centre community would advance that
Must be accepted by Saïd Business School for the Oxford MBA; scholarship essays are submitted as part of that same application
Nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar or Sudan should check the UK government's current "visa brake" policy on gov.uk before applying: since 26 March 2026 it refuses Student visa applications made from outside the UK by nationals of those four countries, even where an offer or scholarship is already secured, and it is reviewed periodically rather than indefinite

There is no separate application

There is no separate Skoll Scholarship application. You apply to the Oxford MBA itself, through any of its four admissions stages, and upload responses to the Skoll Scholarship’s own essay questions as part of that same application. Only candidates accepted for the MBA are then automatically considered for the scholarship, so a weak MBA application cannot be rescued by a strong scholarship essay attached to it. If you clear that bar, selection runs through a first-stage online interview and then a final online interview with the Skoll Scholarship Selection Committee, plus a Logistics and Reference Form for anyone shortlisted.

The eligibility bar is track record, not credentials

The eligibility bar is about track record, not credentials: a minimum of three years actually building and leading a social venture with real, demonstrated impact, not merely working adjacent to one. The Skoll Centre is explicit that it wants people with lived or long-term engaged experience of the problem they’re addressing, and a clear account of how an Oxford MBA specifically, not an MBA in general, advances that work.

What “unverified” funding figures elsewhere actually means

On funding, this site is publishing a more conservative figure than some secondhand summaries claim. The Skoll Centre’s own FAQ says the scholarship covers course fees plus “a contribution towards living expenses,” and separately confirms up to four scholarships are awarded a year, but nowhere on its own pages does it commit to a specific stipend amount. Treat any number you see quoted elsewhere as unverified until the Skoll Centre publishes one itself. For a wider view of how MBA funding actually works across programmes, see the guide to funding an MBA.

Launched in 2003 on a grant from eBay’s first president

The Skoll Centre itself dates to 2003, launched with a founding grant from the Skoll Foundation, established by Jeff Skoll, eBay’s first employee and first president, as an intellectual hub for social entrepreneurship inside Saïd Business School. The first Skoll Scholars arrived in 2004, the same year the Centre hosted its first Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual convening it still runs today. That two-decade track record is part of why recent cohorts include founders already running real ventures, such as the 2025-26 cohort’s founders of Get Up and Go Colombia, Saajha, and Savannah Innovation Labs, rather than early-career applicants aiming to break into the field.