Alphawood Online Scholarships: SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art

The Alphawood scholarship will provide for: 

• Tuition fees - scholars’ SOAS tuition fees will be paid in full for the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma programme and the cost of any English Language support; and 
• Maintenance – an allowance will be paid to the scholar to help contribute to the costs of living and studying in their home country (allowance will reflect local living costs). 

‘Asian Art in the Museum’ 2026 (in London) 

In addition to the main scholarship, those enrolled on the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art may be eligible to apply for an additional scholarship to cover the cost of studying the ‘Asian Art in the Museum’ course in London in July 2026. The additional scholarships will cover all the costs associated with this course, including: tuition fees; travel costs; visa fees; accommodation; and maintenance (daily allowance for living costs). 

Details of these scholarships will be provided to those enrolled on the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art in due course. 

Candidate eligibility criteria

To be considered for one of the Alphawood scholarships, you must have received an offer for your programme of study from SOAS by the time that the scholarships are awarded in March 2025.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply to SOAS for a place in the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma programme as a first priority.  

Once you have completed and submitted your application for admission to the Diploma programme, you should then develop your application for an Alphawood scholarship, as set out below. 

The following eligibility criteria apply to all prospective applicants to the Alphawood scholarships scheme this year: 

• You should normally be resident in one of the following countries: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam. 
• Applications will be considered from candidates who are not normally resident in these countries, provided you can demonstrate your intention and capacity to return or relocate to the region to pursue employment, teaching, further study or to otherwise make a direct and positive impact in the countries listed above regarding the objectives of the remit given above. Please include evidence of this in your personal statement. 

English language requirements – Direct entry 

For direct entry to the online PGDip programme, candidates should meet SOAS’ minimum requirements and provide evidence of their English Language proficiency at the point of application. This could be either:  

• an approved English Language test result (IELTS for UKVI or equivalent) together with the date the test was taken (within the last 2-years)  
• an overall IELTS score of 6.5 (minimum of 6.0 in all sub-scores) or equivalent 
• evidence of prior undergraduate study, at an English-language university, where possible   

Details of SOAS requirements are available here: English language requirements | SOAS. 

English language support  

Successful applicants who do not meet the minimum English-language threshold for entry onto the online PGDip programme in 2025/26 will not be eligible to take up an Alphawood scholarship at that time.    

Instead, you may be offered online English Language training depending on your individual needs. Preference for training may be given to applicants that can evidence their proficiency in English Language within the last two years – as indicated by an IELTS or equivalent test result.   

If you are not able to provide such evidence, please give a reason in the relevant section of your application form. 

Candidate assessment 

Applications for award are assessed by a Selection Panel comprised of members of SOAS staff with pertinent academic and professional experience and convened as a function of the SOAS-Alphawood Specialist Scholarships Panel.  

The Panel will assess candidates on the information provided in both the Application for admission to the online PGDip programme (academic references, transcripts, personal statements and other relevant information) and that contained in the Alphawood scholarships application.  

The Panel will assess applicants on the basis of the following criteria: 

• previous degree and experience in Southeast Asian Buddhist and Hindu art and architecture from ancient to pre-modern times, including study of the built environment, sculpture, painting, illustrated texts, textiles and other tangible or visual representations, along with the written word related to these, and archaeological, museum and cultural heritage studies
• interest in (and engagement with) the objectives of the programme of study 
• potential for personal growth and development with the scholarship award 
• intentions following completion of their studies at SOAS
• interest in (and engagement with) the objectives of the Alphawood remit
• perceived potential for direct and positive impact in the field and in the region 
• the potential for of advancing the field of study within the remit
• in consideration of expressed financial need for a scholarship to support Diploma study at SOAS

Note on the use of Artificial Intelligence(AI) / Large Language Models (LLM) 

Applicants for both the Diploma and the scholarship should produce an original text of which they are the sole author. Use of AI or large language models (such as ChatGPT) in preparing your application will be detrimental to your application. Please be aware that all applications will be run through an AI detection tool.   

In the past, we have received several applications that used AI, which were generic and uninspiring, and told us little if anything about the individual applicants. If you make obvious use of AI and LLM to write your scholarship application we will reject your applications and ask you to reapply in a future year. We want to hear your voice and engage with your ideas, reflections and proposals. 

The following section outlines the two step process for making applications for entry to the SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma and the Alphawood scholarship.   

Step 1

Apply for the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art 

First, all candidates considering an application for an Alphawood scholarship are asked to complete their application for admission to the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art programme through the link on the following page: Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art | SOAS 

Please read the relevant guidance on the SOAS site before you start your application.  

As it may take several weeks to assess applications for admission and to offer a place in the relevant programme, we strongly recommended that applicants should complete and submit applications for admission to SOAS as early as possible – and by 15 December 2024 at the very latest.   

Step 2 

Apply for an Alphawood Scholarship 

Second, after submitting an application for admission to the online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma, applicants should then apply for an Alphawood scholarship through the SOAS-Alphawood Online PGDip Scholarship Application Form.  The deadline for applications for an Alphawood scholarship is 12 January 2025. 

Please note that applicants should complete and submit this Application Form in one sitting. It is not possible to save drafts of this form, nor to return to a partially complete form at a later date for revision. 

As such, all applicants are recommended to make note of the questions and work on responses in a separate document until fully satisfied with the responses. Applicants may then return to the Online Application Form to input and submit these final responses. 

Applicants should use the Personal Statement section in their scholarship Application to demonstrate their interest in the objectives specified in the Alphawood remit, as defined above. They should also demonstrate their intention to pursue employment, teaching, further study, research or to otherwise make a positive impact in areas of the remit after studying at SOAS.

Deadlines and notifications  

• 15 December 2024 – Candidates must submit their complete application for admission to SOAS’ Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art using the application form indicated above. 
• 12 January 2025 – Candidates must submit their complete application for a scholarship through the SOAS-Alphawood Online PGDip Scholarship Application Form by this date. 
• February 2025 – The SOAS-Alphawood Scholarships Selection Panel and SOAS-Alphawood Group agree the successful applicant/s for award to support online SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma study commencing within the 2025/26 academic year.  
• March 2025 - SOAS will contact all applicants to inform them of the outcome of their application.  
• September 2025 – online PGDip Module 1 at SOAS begins. 

For more information about the SOAS-Alphawood scholarships at SOAS, please contact: 

• Email: alphawoodscholarships@soas.ac.uk