Western Union Global Scholars

An evolution of the evergreen WU Global Scholars, this initiative targets international students studying in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom – some of the world’s leading destinations for international scholars.

Accredited post-secondary higher education institutions in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States are invited to nominate up to five of their international students for whom help is needed the most to cover tuition and fees, books, health insurance, housing, and other living expenses.

To be considered for a award, nominated students must:
• Be an international student (non-citizen or permanent resident of the country in which they are studying) in their penultimate or final year of studies.
• Be studying in an accredited post-secondary higher education institution in: Australia or New Zealand; Japan or Singapore; the U.S. or Canada; the United Kingdom; or Europe.
• Be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate (Bachelor’s) degree program for for the coming Academic Year or a corresponding timeframe for universities with other semester systems.

Nominations are not currently being accepted. Nominations and applications for Academic Year 2025-26 are expected to open in Spring 2025.

Thank you for your interest in submitting nominations for the Western Union Foundation Global Scholars Program.

The process for applying for a Western Union Foundation Global Scholars Award is comprised of two steps. First, university administrators identify up to 5 students per university and nominate them for an award. Second, IIE will reach out to nominated students so that they can submit a completed application to IIE.

Nominations are a critical piece of the Western Union Foundation Global Scholars application process, so we encourage you to give us as much detail as possible.  Your remarks on the student’s challenges, achievements, campus leadership and personal motivation help us to understand the individual in more depth.  In many ways, your nomination functions as a letter of recommendation for the students you nominate.

You may nominate up to 5 students, ranking them from 1 (highest recommendation) to 5.  Upon submitting your nominations, the nominated students will receive an email from our application system asking them to submit their own application.  Note: we recommend following up with your nominees and informing them to look for our email.  Some university spam filters may not deliver this message to their inbox.

If you have any questions about the Western Union Foundation Global Scholars Program or the nomination process, please contact us at WUFoundation@iie.org. 

On behalf of the Western Union Foundation and the Institute of International Education, we thank you for your commitment to supporting international students on your campus!

Launched in 2020 in partnership with Western Union’s Black Advisory Council, this initiative supports BIPOC students in the U.S., the majority studying at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in various STEM and business fields. Since its inception, 39 students at 14 universities around the United States have been a part of the Project Finish Line awards.

IIE is not currently accepting new nominations for Project Finish Line.