Now Reading: UK pauses three Chevening fellowships for a year over costs
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UK pauses three Chevening fellowships for a year over costs
The UK government has paused three short-term Chevening fellowships for mid-career professionals for the 2027-28 year, citing budget cuts and capacity constraints. The paused programmes are the Chevening Research, Science and Innovation…
The Story in Brief
The UK government has paused three short-term Chevening fellowships for mid-career professionals for the 2027-28 year, citing budget cuts and capacity constraints. The paused programmes are the Chevening Research, Science and Innovation Leadership Fellowship (CRISP), the Chevening Cyber Security Fellowship, and the Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme (SAJP).
CRISP is a 12-week Oxford programme for scientists and entrepreneurs from India and Sri Lanka. The Cyber Security Fellowship runs at Cranfield University for Indians and citizens of the Western Balkans. The SAJP, an eight-week journalism programme at the University of Westminster for journalists from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Maldives, is paused due to host university capacity issues. Chevening Scholarships for full-time Masters degrees remain open for 2027-28. The UK's FCDO allocated £59.4 million to Chevening in 2025-26.
The Indian Opinion
The pause on these Chevening fellowships feeds a lazy narrative that the UK is retreating from global engagement. In fact, Chevening scholarships have been gradually shrinking from 1,650 in 2017-18 to 1,401 in 2024-25, and the FCDO's £59.4 million allocation for 2025-26 shows it still values the programme's soft power. The real test is whether the UK finds corporate sponsorship to resume CRISP and the Cyber Security Fellowship by 2028, or if these cuts become permanent budget savings.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
