What is the Luce Scholarship?
National Deadline:
October 1, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Contact the Office of Fellowships for support at least one month before this deadline.
Established in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, provides stipends, language training, and individualized professional placement in Asia for 18 Luce Scholars each year in a variety of fields. The program welcomes applications from college seniors, graduate students, and young professionals, with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and is especially interested in attracting those who have had limited exposure to the countries, cultures, and people of Asia.
The Luce Scholar year is a 13-month commitment beginning with the orientation in June through the wrap-up meeting in July of the following year. After a series of virtual sessions that begin in April and a five-day in-person orientation in Asia in late June (all designed to build community and prepare for a year of living and working in Asia), Luce Scholars spend July and August engaged in intensive language training in their respective placement countries. (Language study is a program requirement and is fully funded through the intensive two-month period with additional funds available to each Luce Scholar for continued training throughout the Luce year.)
Individually tailored professional placements begin in early September and are arranged for each Scholar based on their professional interest, background, and qualifications. These assignments, where Luce Scholars contribute their talents to NGOs, government agencies, private companies, universities, think tanks, and museums, and work alongside Asian colleagues, are the heart of the Luce Scholar experience. In the past, placements have been made in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Timor Leste. See where Luce Scholars were placed last year. Read Scholar Stories.
