Alpha Asso­ci­a­tion of Phi Beta Kappa Alumni in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia funds and admin­is­ters a schol­ar­ship pro­gram for for­eign stu­dents engaged in grad­u­ate study in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. The Asso­ci­a­tion feels that less money is now avail­able to aid for­eign stu­dents than in other recent times and that many for­eign stu­dents are in need of finan­cial assis­tance. The Asso­ci­a­tion also feels that spe­cial ben­e­fits accrue to Amer­i­cans affil­i­ated with col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties from expo­sure to for­eign students.

Awards to for­eign stu­dents are granted to those who are con­duct­ing grad­u­ate stud­ies in aca­d­e­mic insti­tu­tions in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia with Phi Beta Kappa Chap­ters. The Asso­ci­a­tion expects that awards will be given to stu­dents who are coun­ter­parts of Phi Beta Kappa schol­ars in the Amer­i­can sys­tem, that is, for­eign grad­u­ate stu­dents of aca­d­e­mic excellence.

Appli­ca­tions are screened by the respec­tive col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties as to aca­d­e­mic qual­i­fi­ca­tions and need. The Association’s Inter­na­tional Schol­ar­ships Com­mit­tee, in coor­di­na­tion with the school rep­re­sen­ta­tives, cur­rently admin­is­ters the pro­gram and deter­mines the awards.

In grant­ing schol­ar­ship awards, the Association’s Inter­na­tional Schol­ar­ships Com­mit­tee con­sid­ers both need and merit. The best stu­dents are awarded schol­ar­ships, that is, those with high aca­d­e­mic per­for­mance and other qual­i­ties nor­mally thought of as require­ments for mem­ber­ship in Phi Beta Kappa. Finan­cial need, how­ever, is also weighed heavily.

It is not an absolute require­ment of each award that the stu­dents must return to their home coun­tries, but it is gen­er­ally hoped that they will. The Asso­ci­a­tion under­stands that some stu­dents will not be able to return to their home coun­tries for eco­nomic or polit­i­cal rea­sons. More­over, sub­stan­tial ben­e­fits accrue from a for­eign stu­dent schol­ar­ship because of Amer­i­can expo­sure to the for­eign stu­dents, even though the for­eign stu­dents never return to their home coun­tries. In all events, the Asso­ci­a­tion wishes to fol­low the activ­i­ties of schol­ar­ship recip­i­ents fol­low­ing their award in order to deter­mine their loca­tions and activities.

Awards under the pro­gram are not lim­ited to per­sons who come from under­de­vel­oped or devel­op­ing coun­tries. As a gen­eral rule, at least one schol­ar­ship will be awarded to each insti­tu­tion in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia which has a Phi Beta Kappa Chap­ter and from which a Schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tion is received.

Beyond that, the com­mit­tee admin­is­ter­ing the awards has broad dis­cre­tion to make deci­sions based upon the merit and need of the stu­dents involved. In mak­ing these deci­sions, the com­mit­tee weighs the fact that there is not a sig­nif­i­cant grad­u­ate pro­gram in some of the involved insti­tu­tions and that there are very large grad­u­ate pro­grams at other insti­tu­tions involv­ing sub­stan­tial num­bers of for­eign students.

In the usual case, only one award is given to any stu­dent, regard­less of the num­ber of years that he or she is attend­ing a col­lege or uni­ver­sity in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. In the nor­mal case, recip­i­ents of awards are in the final year of their pro­gram, seek­ing degrees which are con­sid­ered “ter­mi­nal” in their field. Awards are made with­out dis­crim­i­na­tion on the basis of sex, color, age, or creed.

Application materials for the International Scholarships are obtained through the schools which participate in the program (Claremont Graduate School, UCI, UCLA, UCR, and USC), usually through the Graduate Division or the International Students Office.

For more information, please contact your university's chapter office. You may also email intlscholarship@pbksocalalumni.com for general inquiries, but our association is not involved in the application process.