The contest for the academic year 2024/25 (to start studies on September 1st, 2024) began on October 1st, 2023. Applications were considered from October 1st till November 5th, 2023. Following the pre-selection tests (November 2023) the selection interviews were held in January 2024. The scholarship offers for the year 2024 were finalised at the end of February — the beginning of March 2024. Please refer to the Contest Schedule for details. New applications are not considered until the next context is announced in October 2024 (to start studies in September 2025).
Starting in autumn 2023, the application pack will be completed and submitted through the HMCP student/parent portal after registration with the country coordinator for Ukraine.
The Scholarship Programme to win a two-year scholarship in the Sixth Form of a British boarding school will run as usual during the war and coronavirus lockdown. All the changes in the organization of the selection process will appear on ConcordiaUA website.
HMC (Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference) is an association of the Headteachers of many of the leading independent schools in the United Kingdom. HMC Projects is a British charitable trust which organises two scholarship programmes targeted at talented 16/17 year-olds from non-affluent backgrounds in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It takes about 90 scholars each year and places them in some 60 boarding schools in all parts of the UK, so that they can study for the full two-year Sixth Form programme and take internationally recognised qualifications (A levels, the International Baccalaureate or Scottish Highers).
Click here to read or download the HMC Projects Brochure.
For more information, please refer to the detailed description of the programmes (HMC Projects – How the Scholarship Programmes Work) and visit www.hmc.org.uk/projects.
HMC Projects Scholars come from 14 countries in all: Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. Since HMC Projects started in 1993 some 2000 young people have received scholarships from a range of boarding schools in the UK and in some cases abroad. Over 70 Ukrainian scholars have won HMC Projects scholarships since 2009.
Scholarships are advertised nationally each autumn (normally in October) and the advertisements will carry details of the persons and addresses to be contacted. Applications are made through your HMC Projects Country Coordinator – Ukrainian-American Concordia University around November time. Selection Interviews take place in January or February. Those awarded scholarships start the new school year in September.
In Ukraine, the HMC Projects Scholarship Programme started in Kirovohrad (Kropyvnytskyi) around the 90s under the patronage of a resident of Great Britain of Ukrainian descent. In Kropyvnytsky, the scholarship is still known under the name “Elworthy-HMC”. Between 2008–2017, the contest was organised by the Ukrainian Schoolheads’ Association. Since September 2017, Ukrainian-American Concordia University is responsible for administering the programme nationally acting as HMC Projects Country Coordinator for Ukraine, organising student interviews and providing support and advice for the scholars before their departure to the UK.
HMC Projects will select students who, in addition to being very good in their academic studies, are sociable, adaptable, interesting and interested in other people and in ideas; they need to have charm and be ready to give of themselves to their new communities.
There are two parallel scholarship programmes for students who join the Lower 6th initially for one year, although it is now the normal practice for schools to invite students to stay on for the second year of the Sixth Form:
HMC Projects Full Scholarships are intended to benefit those whose parents cannot afford to pay full United Kingdom boarding school fees. Schools participating in the Scheme consider this to be part of how they offer public benefit. Scholars offered a full scholarship are placed by HMC Projects in a school which has offered a firm place on the programme. To be eligible to apply your parents’/family’s income (annual) must not exceed the equivalent of £30,000.
Students who perform very strongly in the selection process, but who cannot be offered a full scholarship may have their names added to a list of reserves. These candidates are offered the opportunity to apply for a reduced fee scholarship along with the small number of those specifically selected by the interviewers because parental income is between £30,000 – £80,000 per annum. Schools which have offered a place/places will then choose their preferred applicants from those who apply. Reduced fee scholars pay partial fees to the school: typically, 20–25% of full fees (from £5,000 to 10,000 per annum). HMC Projects cannot guarantee that all recommended students who apply will be offered a place.
Applications for the academic year 2024/2025 are considered from the date the contest is announced (October 1st, 2023) till November 5th, 2023. The contest has two stages, Pre-selection (local/regional) and Selection Interviews (national):
To get more information on the organisation of the contest in Ukraine please visit our Facebook group “HMC Projects – Ukraine” or contact Tetiana Nyzhnyk at +380 95 008 5850 or at hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua.
Before you apply, the applicants and their parents are strongly advised to read the documents and instructions carefully. If the parents cannot read in English fluently, the applicants are supposed to translate the information for them:
For preliminary registration (before submitting the completed Application Form) please tap on the “Quick Registration” button and fill in the required information. You can also pre-register by sending a brief email with your personal details (full name in Ukrainian and English, date of birth, full name of school in Ukrainian and English, current form, city, your contact telephone number and email, names and contacts of your parent or parents) to hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua. On receiving your data, we will contact you via email in order to confirm your registration data. Please keep in mind that ‘registration’ does not equal ‘application’. It is at this stage that you might receive a letter of rejection in case you are not eligible for participation in the programme (please check the section “Eligibility for HMC Projects Scholarships”). You can skip the preliminary (quick) registration if you include the above-mentioned registration data in the application letter (see below).
In order to apply, you should email the Country Coordinator for Ukraine – Ukrainian-American Concordia University at hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua. In your letter, please write that you are wishing to apply for the scholarship and attach a scan of your passport or ID card showing your photo and information including your date of birth. This year, we are charging an administrative fee payable to the Country Coordinator (390 UAH). After confirming the registration data, you will get a link to the Student/Parent Portsl of HMC Projects, where you will have to create an account and start completing the online application form, along with the full application instructions.
The Pre-selection tests are held in November. There are two test sessions you will have to sit:
Based on your pre-selection test results, we will make the final list of candidates for selection interviews with HMCP representatives from the UK. This list will be posted in our Facebook group. These people will receive a follow-up email from the Country Coordinator (UACU) confirming that you have been selected for interview.
Following the receipt of the confirmation letter, you will have to upload to the Student/Parent Portal the Checklist Items, incl.:
The Country Coordinator will provide further instructions and inform you of the interview dates assigned.
If yoy have any questions, please contact your regional agent or Country Coordinator (Ms Tetiana Nyzhnyk, +380 95 0085850, hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua).
The schedule of activities for the current contest (to start studies in September 2024):
Contact person / Programme Supervisor:
Ms Tetiana Nyzhnyk
E-mail: hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua
Tel.: +380 95 008 5850
Ukrainian-American Concordia University Postal address: 8-14 Turhenievska Street, Office 1-4, Kyiv, 01054 Tel./Fax: +380 44 236 9085, tel.: +380 44 236 1916 Rector: Prof. Oleksandr Romanovskyi
The coordinating centre in Kyiv is supported by the regional agents:
Kyiv Region (Bila Tserkva)
Contact person: Olena Bukhrashvili, e-mail: shvili09@gmail.com, tel.: +380 98 541 8332
Gymnasia №1 of Bila Tserkva (Persha Bilotserkivska Himnaziia) Postal address: 54 Yaroslava Mudroho Street, Bila Tserkva, Kyivska Oblast, 09107 Website: http://www.gimnasi1-biltse.com.ua Tel./Fax: +380 45 635 1977 E-mail: 1gimnasi-bts@ukr.net Headmaster: Borys SmutokWestern Ukraine (Zalishchyky)
Contact person: Iryna Luchyn, e-mail: iraluchyn@yahoo.com, tel.: +380 97 660 9751
Zalishchyky State Gymnasium Postal address: 68 Stepana Bandery Street, Zalishchyky, Ternopilska Oblast, Ukraine, 48600 Website: http://klasnashkola.eu/zal-der-gimn/pro-shkolu/ Tel.: +380 35 54 21383 Headmistress: Oleksandra VoichyshynEastern Ukraine (Dnipro)
Contact person: Maryna Pyvovarova, founder of SIMPLEX.UA
E-mail: pyvovarova.m@simplex.ua
Tel.: +380 67 631 6320 (+Telegram/Viber)If a regional agent does not respond, please contact Ms Tetiana Nyzhnyk at +380 95 008 5850 or at hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua
This progamme is administered in the city of Kropyvnytskyi & Kirovohrad region only and supported by Michael Clarkson Webb, а grandson of the Elworthy family.
Contact person:
Andrii Bondar, Anastasiia Svoboda
E-mail: hmc.krop@gmail.com
Tel.: +380 66 274 9794, +380 96 998 6446
Contest webpage: http://eti.kr.ua/konkurs-elvorti-nmc
Robert Elvorti Economics and Technology Institute Street address: 3 Chykalenko Street, Kropyvnytskyi
All candidates are supposed to pay a small administrative fee of UAH 390 to the Country Coordinator. This fee is not refundable.
Full Scholarships
The full scholarship awarded by the school will cover all tuition fees and residential boarding fees (incl. meals and laundry during term time). HMC Projects charge an administrative fee of £1,000, payable to HMC Projects by parents of all HMC Projects scholars as a necessary contribution to the funding of such expenses as interviews, initial student bursaries and half term support. The latest date for payment is 1st July, 2024. Thereafter, this fee is not refundable.
Reduced Fee Scholarships
Reduced fee scholars do not pay an administrative fee and so receive no bursary or any other benefits from HMC Projects. Your family will have to pay reduced school fees – typically between £5,000 and £10,000 each year.
You will have to pay your travel costs to and from the UK, to and from school to the nearest airport (incl. main and half term holidays). All HMCP students are expected to travel home during the main school holidays. If you have friends/relatives in the UK, it is fine for your son/daughter to stay with them over the half term holiday.
Your family will also have to pay visa and healthcare costs (incl. UK health insurance).
The expenses calculator will help you to roughly estimate the costs.
There are likely to be some extras that will be added to a termly bill presented to parents by the school at the end of each term, to be paid before the start of the following term. This might include such things as weekend trips away from the school site, certain stationery requirements and specialist activities which are not part of the school’s core curriculum (£50–£100 per term). Students will receive advice and guidance both from their school and from HMC Projects as to how they can keep such costs to an absolute minimum.
The current HMC Projects Country Coordinator for Ukraine is Ukrainian-American Concordia University (previously named Wisconsin International University (USA) Ukraine).
Ukrainian-American Concordia University and HMC Projects in Central and Eastern Europe signed the Memorandum of Cooperation with the intent to efficiently realise the scholarship programme for gifted Ukrainian secondary school pupils, offering them an opportunity to study for the full two-year Sixth Form programme in boarding schools of the United Kingdom and take internationally recognised qualifications.
Starting from 2018, the HMC Projects Country Coordinator – Ukrainian-American Concordia University – operates at the pre-selection stage nationally through the system of regional agents. If your school / educational institution is eager to assist us in administering the programme locally, please contact us at hmcprojects@uacu.edu.ua.
Ukrainian-American Concordia University as the Country Coordinator for Ukraine will act in accordance with the policy for data collection, security, use and retention defined by HMC Projects in Central and Eastern Europe in compliance with the legal requirements of the general data protection requirements (GDPR) in the UK.