Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Widening access to higher education

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program strives to provide access to quality and inclusive education to young people from Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2030, as part of an ambitious new strategy (Young Africa Works), the Foundation aims to enable 30 million young Africans to secure dignified and fulfilling employment.

Since 2017, Sciences Po is the only institution in continental Europe to partner with the Mastercard Foundation. Since then, it has been an instrumental member of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, offering a world-class education in the humanities and social sciences that pairs rigorous academic standards with proven expertise in preparing students for the globalised job market.

For its second strategic phase (2024 – 2034), the goal of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Sciences Po is to support 1,450 students and young professionals who demonstrate academic excellence, strong leadership potential and a commitment to achieving change in Africa, but who face significant social or financial barriers to higher education.

Training change-makers

The Program shares and promotes the values of inclusion, leadership and access to education championed by the Mastercard Foundation. To do so, it builds on Sciences Po's historic commitment to excellence, social diversity and equal opportunities.

By opening the doors to top academic programmes and equipping each Scholar with transferable personal skills they can take into the job market, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program aims to train a new generation of change-makers. Graduates of the Program are driven by a desire to make a real and lasting impact on the foremost issues facing the African continent.

Leadership: students should demonstrate leadership potential. Whether through their own initiatives or those offered at Sciences Po, students are encouraged to instigate or contribute to projects, events and activities.

Impact: students are encouraged to think about how their actions can have a lasting, positive influence on their community and society. Every year, the Program’s Impact Award gives students the opportunity to harness their entrepreneurial flair and think practically about a real-world project to be funded by the Program.

Collective thinking: community spirit is a core value of the Program. We encourage Scholars to put the collective before the individual and to mutually support one another through joint projects, activities, mentoring and more.

Offering world-class programmes

To respond to the diversity of career paths and the complexity of the situations encountered, we offer a wide range of training programs: 

• Sciences Po’s seven Graduate Schools, open to students holding a Bachelor’s degree and aiming to earn a Master’s degree.
• The Executive Master Potential in Africa - Development Policies and Management, aimed at young professionals wanting to earn a higher degree in entrepreneurship.
• The Sciences Po Summer School, for Scholars currently studying in a partner institution of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program who want to gain an introduction to the core theories and methodologies of the humanities and social sciences.
• Short, custom programmes run in collaboration with partner universities from the Mastercard Foundation’s network in Africa, for students studying online or on campus at African universities.
• A bridging programme for Bachelor’s degree-holders with refugee or displaced status or backgrounds, who aim to apply for a Master’s programme at Sciences Po or another university.

Supporting and fostering equal opportunities

The help and support provided by the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Sciences Po begins from the moment candidates apply and lasts until they secure their first job. Our goal is to remove the many barriers to higher education and enable scholars to study without additional pressure, in the best possible conditions.

A comprehensive grant from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Scholarships cover the full cost of tuition and living expenses in France, throughout the recipient’s time studying at Sciences Po.

Tailored support

In addition to funding tuition, Sciences Po provides Scholars with a range of tailored resources to support their studies and facilitate their transition into employment. Specifically, Scholars have access to:

• Support in the run-up to leaving for France, tailored support when they arrive, and an official welcome programme to help them integrate in their first few weeks.
• Housing in Paris reserved for Mastercard Foundation Scholars.
• Personalised support throughout their studies, ensuring every student has the best possible experience at Sciences Po.
• Careers support: guidance to help students identify their professional aspirations; a careers fair focusing on employment and internship opportunities in Africa; access to the university’s business incubator (FR) and its network of employers and alumni working in Africa; opportunities to attend careers support workshops, conferences, etc.
• A mentoring programme co-run with the Africa Division of Sciences Po Alumni.
• Access to the wide range of general resources Sciences Po provides to guide students through every step of their studies.

How to apply?

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation works with over 130 forward-looking organizations in Africa, America and Europe to provide greater access to education, training and financial services for economically disadvantaged people to Africa’s youth.

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program aims at ensuring that all young people, whatever their background, have the same opportunities to get a quality education and fulfill their potential. Since launching in 2012, it has supported nearly 40,000 young people in Africa to pursue their secondary or tertiary education. 

The program’s partners are committed to improving access to inclusive education, but also strives to create the conditions that will enable young people to attain inclusive and relevant education, transition smoothly into dignified and fulfilling work, and lead transformative lives. By 2030, the Foundation sets out an ambitious goal and action plan (Young Africa Works Strategy), to enable through its work, 30 million young people in Africa to secure employment they see as dignified and fulfilling.

Sciences Po is the first university in continental Europe to join the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.