anil joseph pinto assistant professor department of english and coordinator for centre for publications at christ university bangalore shares information on scholarships for postgraduate programmes in humanities in the new global economic order the ambition of pursuing higher education abroad in humanities has definitely come under strain the phenomenal increase in tuition fees in countries like the uk has primarily affected the softer disciplines of humanities thankfully scholarships are quite a breather in such cases rhodes scholarship rated among the most prestigious by the likes of time magazine rhodes scholarship has shaped some of the household names among the indian middle class including girish karnad montek singh ahluwalia and sagarika ghose the scholarship named after cecil john rhodes and started in 1903 is offered to aspirants to study at oxford university in addition to covering tuition fees the scholarship also pays a monthly stipend to meet boarding and lodging expenses the scholarship also covers to and fro economy airfare it is meant for one year or two years and is extendable for a third year too applications for rhodes scholarships open during the spring and summer of the preceding year for more information students can log on to wwwrhodeshouseoxacuk fulbright fellowships the other prestigious award is the fulbright fellowship the fulbrightnehru masters fellowships are for pursuing masters degree programmes at selected us colleges and universities in the areas of arts and culture management including heritage conservation and museum studies environmental studies higher education administration public health urban and regional planning and womens studies gender studies three years professional work experience and commitment to contribute to communities back home are a must to see through the application the fellowships are for one to two years the fellowship provides j1 visa support roundtrip economy class air travel from the fellows home city to the host institution in the us funding for tuition and fees living and related costs and accident and sickness benefits more details can be found at wwwusieforgin erasmus mundus erasmus mundus offers scholarships to study 19 different humanities masters programmes in various european universities another prestigious scholarship is the commonwealth scholarship and fellowship plan the details of this plan can be found at wwwcsfponline org besides the two major english speaking countries which have the traditional destinations for humanities postgraduate education there are other destinations such as canada and germany which although less known offer several fullyfunded and partiallyfunded scholarships and fellowships with courses taught in english more information can be found at wwwdaadde apart from these scholarships set up either by the state or a foundation universities generally offer partial or full tuition fee waivers for traditional humanities courses falling applications from natives and rising economic status of india have made many universities look at the east to keep their programmes running through a range of scholarships a good track record in academic performance community service clear indication of contribution to sociopolitical issues in india wellwritten statement of purpose coupled with good recommendation letters