Scholarships Keeping Myanmar Students in Higher Education Since 2021
By Muntasir • Published May 06, 2026 • Updated Aug 08, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Study in Southeast Asia
Since the 2021 coup, foreign governments and foundations have kept thousands of Myanmar students in higher education through refugee, diversity and country-specific scholarships, though one major US-funded program covering about 400 enrolled students was canceled in February 2025.
🎓 DAFI, run by UNHCR, funds Myanmar refugee students studying at university in their country of asylum, such as Thailand or Malaysia.
💵 Prospect Burma has funded Myanmar students to study abroad since 1992, starting with Aung San Suu Kyi's Nobel Peace Prize money.
Open Society Foundations has backed more than 5,000 Myanmar students with full scholarships since 1994.
📩 The USAID-funded Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program, which held about 400 Myanmar students, lost its funding on Trump administration orders in February 2025.
Why scholarships matter more since 2021
Collapsed public university enrollment inside Myanmar pushed many students to look for scholarship-funded study abroad or at private institutions after the 2021 coup. A mix of refugee-focused, diversity-focused and Myanmar-specific programs has kept thousands of students in higher education since, though funding for some of the largest programs has proven unstable.
DAFI Tertiary Scholarship Programme (UNHCR)
The Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative, known as DAFI, funds undergraduate study for refugee students, including Myanmar refugees living in host countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. UNHCR ran the program for 7,890 refugee students worldwide across 54 countries of origin in 2024, with only about 879 new scholarships confirmed that year against far higher demand, according to UNHCR . Apply through the UNHCR office or partner organization in your country of asylum, since DAFI operates through host-country UNHCR offices rather than applications filed from inside Myanmar.
Prospect Burma
Prospect Burma has funded Myanmar students to study abroad since 1992, when Aung San Suu Kyi seeded the program with her Nobel Peace Prize award money. The UK-registered charity funds university scholarships outside Myanmar and supports networking for graduates once they return or move on, according to Prospect Burma . The program kept operating through the post-coup disruption, giving students an established route to study abroad even as domestic options narrowed.
Open Society Foundations scholarships
Open Society Foundations has supported more than 5,000 Myanmar students with full scholarships at international universities since 1994, according to Open Society Foundations . Open Society Myanmar has operated as a registered, independent national foundation since 2017 and funds local grantees such as Thabyay Education Foundation, which runs its own scholarships and education services for Myanmar youth.
USAID-funded programs: Lincoln Scholarship and DISP, canceled in 2025
The US government funded two major Myanmar-focused scholarship tracks through USAID: the Lincoln Scholarship, running since 2019 for Myanmar students, and the Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program (DISP), launched in March 2024 with 45 million dollars earmarked to reach around 1,000 students over five years, prioritizing ethnic and religious minorities, women and displaced students. About 400 students were enrolled under DISP at universities in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia when the Trump administration terminated the program under a January 20, 2025 executive order, with the cancellation confirmed in early February 2025, according to Radio Free Asia . Students already enrolled faced sudden funding gaps mid-program, and some who could not continue faced conscription risk if they returned to Myanmar.
Where these scholarships place students
Many of these programs place Myanmar students at universities inside the ASEAN region rather than sending everyone to the US, UK or Europe. DISP scholars studied at universities in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia before the program lost funding in 2025, and DAFI similarly funds Myanmar refugees to study in their country of asylum, commonly Thailand, Malaysia or Bangladesh. Prospect Burma and Open Society scholarships lean more toward universities in the UK, other parts of Europe and the US, reflecting their history of funding study outside the region.
What to check before you apply
Confirm a program is still funded and accepting applications before you invest time in an application, since 2025 showed established programs lose funding with little notice.
Refugee-status programs like DAFI require you to already hold refugee registration in a host country, so check your registration status with UNHCR first.
Foundation and charity scholarships such as Prospect Burma and Open Society usually require a completed application with academic transcripts and a personal statement explaining your situation since 2021.
Ask any program directly what happens to your funding if it loses a grant partway through your degree, since real students faced exactly this in 2025.