On the very auspicious occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 86th birthday, the Dalai Lama Trust is delighted to announce its scholarship for the year 2021. We are looking forward to ushering in a new year of applications and engaging with young minds brimming with potential. 

The Dalai Lama Trust Scholarship, previously known as the Songtsen Scholarship was brought to life by the Dalai Lama Trust in collaboration with the Department of Education in 2004, on the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This scholarship is meant to facilitate the higher education of some special sections of Tibetan children and young adults who might be facing some obstacles while pursuing higher education. 

In 2012, the Trust began to manage all the scholarship related works directly as this scholarship program has become a full- time project of the Dalai Lama Trust, except scholarship announcement and candidate selection, which was handled by the Department of Education. 

In 2021, the Dalai Lama Trust Scholarship and all its operations are being handled by the Dalai Lama Trust including the announcement and the candidate selection. We have moved the majority of the application process online to make the application process easier for students. The Dalai Lama trust will be appointing a selection committee of qualified individuals to assess each candidate and ultimately select the final candidates for the year. 

The number of scholarships offered has also risen a few times over the last few years due to the rise of applicants. Currently the Trust is providing a scholarship to 105 new students each year excluding the existing scholarships each year. 

The objective of the Trust in providing this Scholarship is to facilitate financial support to the needy and deserving candidates qualified with any of the three following conditions to pursue a higher course of academic study so that they can become self-reliant and contributing members of Tibetan Community in future. 

The three criteria are:

A. Students who are generally good at studies but couldn’t perform well during the Class 12 Board Examinations.

B.  Students who embody social responsibility, sincerity, honesty and good conduct.

C. Students who are orphaned, semi-orphaned, or belong to destitute families. 

The Dalai Lama trust is honoured to help students achieve quality higher education in the face of difficulties and financial obstacles. We are excited to officially open our applications for the year 2021 and wish all the students applying the best of luck in this new phase of their lives. 

The scholarship announcement is available at https://dalailamatrust.org/scholarship_information/