Harvard University Scholarships: What International Students Can Apply For

What counts as a Harvard University scholarship for international students

Harvard does not appear in our listings as a single all-purpose scholarship scheme. What we list are specific Harvard-linked opportunities: a doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship run by the Center for International Development, and free online courses from Harvard and other universities hosted on edX.

That distinction matters. The fellowship is a funded research placement in the USA for advanced researchers. The edX courses are open teaching, free to audit, with paid certificates if you want one. Neither is an undergraduate scholarship, and neither is a taught master's award.

If you are searching for Harvard University postgraduate scholarships for international students, the fellowship is the closest match in our list, but it targets doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and mid-career professionals, not taught master's applicants.

How to read this list

The live list below shows every Harvard-related opportunity we currently track. Read it in three passes.

• Check the level first. A doctoral fellowship and a short online course are not interchangeable. If the level does not match where you are now, skip it.
• Check the funding line. Some entries pay a stipend, some are free to take but charge for a certificate, and some are partial. The funding column tells you which.
• Check the deadline status. Where a deadline is annual, plan for the next round. Where it varies, the official course page has the current date.

You can also open the filtered list for this page to see the same results on their own.

The Harvard fellowship we list: Sustainability Science at CID

The Harvard Sustainability Science Fellowships at CID (Doctoral and Postdoctoral) are run by the Center for International Development at Harvard University in the USA. Fellows spend the academic year at Harvard working on a research or writing objective tied to the program's goals.

The listing sets out stipend levels for postdoctoral and pre-doctoral fellows across the ten-month academic year, plus the option to join Harvard's employee health insurance at a subsidized rate. Practitioner, mid-career and senior research fellows have stipends set according to experience.

The fellowship is annual, with a January deadline in the round our listing records. That round has closed, so treat the figures and dates on the listing as a guide to how the programme works, and check the official page for the current round.

Who the fellowship is for

Advanced doctoral students who have passed qualifying exams, recent PhD graduates, and mid-career professionals with at least five years of experience linking science and practice for sustainable development. Your proposed research or writing objective must fit the programme's thematic areas, which the listing describes as energy and sustainability topics.

Free Harvard teaching online through edX

edX Free Online Courses from MIT, Harvard, UC Berkeley and More is not a scholarship in the funding sense, but it belongs on this page because it is the most open route to Harvard-taught material for international students. Harvard is one of about 60+ participating universities on the platform.

Courses are free to audit. Some charge a fee for a verified certificate, and the listing gives example price points for individual courses, professional certificates and executive education programmes. You need a computer with a current browser and an internet connection. There is no nationality restriction and no application round.

A second listing covers the same platform in more detail, including MicroMasters series from universities such as MIT, RIT, Columbia and UPenn: EdX Free Online Courses.

What edX is useful for

Building subject knowledge before a graduate application, testing whether a field suits you, and earning a completion certificate you can list. It is not a degree and it does not fund a degree.

Harvard-linked opportunities at a glance

Every cell above comes from our listings. For current amounts and dates, the official page is the source.

Harvard University undergraduate and master's scholarships: what this page does not cover

We do not list a Harvard undergraduate scholarship or a Harvard master's scholarship for international students. If that is what you need, this page will not give you a deadline or an amount, and we will not invent one.

What you can do here is widen the search. Harvard sits inside a much larger US funding picture, and our Scholarships in United States page is the right place to start. Students who need funding tied to a developing-country background should also read Universities Offering Scholarships for Developing Country Students.

For subject-specific funding, browse by field: environmental management scholarships, social sciences scholarships, natural sciences scholarships, economics and finance scholarships and development studies scholarships.

Who these Harvard opportunities suit, and who should look elsewhere

It suits you if you are finishing a PhD or recently completed one and your research fits sustainability and energy policy. It also suits mid-career professionals in government, NGOs, the private sector or academia with at least five years linking science and practice. And it suits any student anywhere who wants Harvard-taught course content without paying tuition.

Look elsewhere if you are applying for a bachelor's degree, a taught master's, or you need full tuition and living costs for a campus degree. The fellowship is a research placement, not a degree scholarship, and edX courses do not fund study.

If your goal is a funded degree rather than a fellowship or a course, work through the scholarship finder and the guides before you write anything.

How to apply, step by step

The two routes are completely different. Follow the one that matches your level.

1. Pick your route. Fellowship for doctoral, postdoctoral or mid-career research; edX for open online study.
2. Read the official instructions. For the fellowship, read the application instructions and FAQs on the official page before drafting. For edX, open the course page.
3. Check eligibility against the listing. Doctoral applicants must have passed qualifying exams, or completed all required PhD coursework if their programme has no exams. Mid-career applicants need at least five years of relevant experience.
4. Write your research or writing objective. It must connect clearly to the programme's thematic areas in energy and sustainability.
5. Ask referees early. Give them the context of the fellowship so the letters say something specific.
6. Prepare transcripts and language evidence. Chase documents well before the deadline, not in the final week.
7. Submit before the deadline. The fellowship deadline is annual, so confirm the current date on the official page.
8. For edX, create an account and register. Registration is free unless you choose a verified certificate.

Documents and selection

Our fellowship listing points to the official application instructions for the full document set. Expect the usual research-fellowship package: a focused research or writing proposal, academic transcripts, evidence of your PhD status or professional experience, and referee letters. Check any language requirements and test scores well in advance.

Selection turns on fit. The programme wants fellows who will collaborate with other fellows and faculty on an interdisciplinary, problem-driven agenda, so a proposal that only serves your own publication plan is weaker than one that engages the programme's themes. For edX there is no selection at all: you register and start.

Common mistakes

• Treating the fellowship as a master's scholarship. It is not. Applying at the wrong level wastes the round.
• Quoting old dates as current. The round in our listing has closed. Confirm the current deadline on the official page.
• Ignoring the qualifying exam rule. Doctoral applicants must have passed exams, or finished all required coursework if their programme has none, because fellows do not take courses at Harvard.
• Writing a generic proposal. If it does not touch the programme's thematic areas, it will not land.
• Assuming edX is funded study. Auditing is free; a certificate may cost money; neither is a degree.
• Leaving referees to the last week. Letters take time and referees are busy.

Alternatives if Harvard does not fit

Widen the map by country. Our country pages cover Scholarships in United Kingdom, Scholarships in Canada, Scholarships in Germany, Scholarships in the Netherlands, Scholarships in Australia and Scholarships in Switzerland.

If you want to stay in the US, start with the United States page. If your field is the constraint rather than the country, the any field of study list is the broadest filter we have. And if you are still building your profile, the scholarship tips section covers the writing and timing side.