Who We Are

Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. Up to forty Scholars are selected each year to study at graduate level at an UK institution in any field of study. Each scholarship is held for two years.

As future leaders, with a lasting understanding of British society, Marshall Scholars strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions. Marshall Scholars are talented, independent and wide-ranging, and their time as Scholars enhances their intellectual and personal growth. Their direct engagement with Britain through its best academic programmes contributes to their ultimate personal success.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

To enable intellectually distinguished young Americans, their country's future leaders, to study in the UK.
To help Scholars gain an understanding and appreciation of contemporary Britain.
To contribute to the advancement of knowledge in science, technology, the humanities and social sciences and the creative arts at Britain's centres of academic excellence.
To motivate Scholars to act as ambassadors from the USA to the UK and vice versa throughout their lives thus strengthening British American understanding.
To promote the personal and academic fulfilment of each Scholar.

Marshall Aid Commemoration Act

Founded by a 1953 Act of Parliament, and named in honour of US Secretary of State George C Marshall, the Scholarships commemorate the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan and they express the continuing gratitude of the British people to their American counterparts.

Marshall Scholarships are mainly funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and are overseen by the Marshall Commission. The Secretariat is provided by the Association of Commonwealth Universities. In the US the selection process is managed by the regional Consulates General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and in Washington DC by the British Council on behalf of the British Embassy.

The Marshall Commission is appointed by the British Government and consists of 10 Commissioners:

Dr Frances Dow (Chair)

Baroness Tessa Blackstone

Professor John Caughie

Professor David Eastwood (Deputy Chairman)

Ms Diane Flynn

Ms Lucy Heller

Ms Carol Madison-Graham

Mr Simon Morris

Mr James Naughtie

Mr James Ross

Alumni Observers