Go Abroad Fund eligibility criteria

The Go Abroad Fund provides financial support for students to undertake a short-term international experience abroad over the summer. Please note that due to recent funding restrictions, only students flagged as Widening Participation will be eligible to apply for the Go Abroad Fund in 2026.

In order to be eligible for the funding, your proposed international activity and destination must:

  • take place outside of the UK, which includes crown dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man)
  • take place entirely between (or including) 27 May and 31 August 2026
  • be a minimum duration of seven days (which can include travel days)
  • be educational either academically, professionally, or personally (but does not have to be related to your degree programme)
  • be deemed safe (as per the country-specific safety webpage linked below)
  • NOT take place in your registered country of domicile.

See country-specific safety information


Your activity must have an educational component. Activities which take place in a student's registered country of domicile will not be eligible. 


In order to be eligible for the funding, you must:

  • be registered at the University of Edinburgh and enrolled in studies leading to a recognised degree or another tertiary level qualification (up to and including the level of doctorate), or graduating with a University of Edinburgh degree in summer 2026
  • not have been a recipient of the Go Abroad Fund in 2020 to 2025
  • be a student flagged as Widening Participation. We work directly with the Widening Participation and the Scholarships teams to determine who is flagged as Widening Participation and therefore eligible to apply.

Candidates will need to submit an application. The application will include your personal details and your proposed activity details. It will also include a personal statement. 

Within their personal statement, successful candidates will need to:

  • present a well-researched and coherent proposal for the international activity, explaining what they will be doing on their activity and why this is important to them
  • demonstrate strong motivation for undertaking an international experience
  • show the extent to which they will benefit (academically and personally) from both the funding and the international experience.

If you are selected, and successfully complete a risk assessment, you will receive one lump sum of £850 to be used towards your travel and subsistence expenses. 


Go Abroad Fund Application 2026

Applications for the Go Abroad Fund are currently closed. Applications will open in January 2026. Please note that only students who are flagged as Widening Participation are eligible to apply to the Go Abroad Fund in 2026. 

Widening Participation

The applications team will work directly with the Widening Participation (WP) and Scholarships teams to determine who is flagged as WP and therefore eligible to apply. 

The WP team will email all students deemed eligible directly by mid-January 2026, encouraging them to apply for the Go Abroad Fund.

Please note that the University's WP criteria only applies to undergraduate students.

Widening Participation status is generally only applied to students meeting the WP eligibility criteria who had established UK residency at the time they commenced their Undergraduate studies. 

Edinburgh's Development Trust

We gratefully acknowledge that the University of Edinburgh Development Trust provides part of the funding for the Go Abroad Fund. Without this ongoing support, we would not be able to fund these projects, which do so much to improve the quality of the student learning experience at the University of Edinburgh.

We want to thank all alumni, staff and other donors who support the Development Trust, including through its unrestricted Edinburgh Fund.  

University of Edinburgh's Development Trust and the Edinburgh Fund

 

Go Abroad Fund

Contact details: goabroadprojects@ed.ac.uk

If you want to know more about the Go Abroad Fund, please visit our frequently asked questions page:


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