Scholarships

General Principle

The WISE Scholarship Programme exists to recognise academic achievement and to encourage broad participation in the WISE Scholarship Examination. It is not means-tested.

The Programme is open to candidates in the lower classes, prior to the examination years in which the qualification-level examination fees apply.

A scholarship under this page takes the form of a discount against the fees payable for the academic session in which it is awarded. It is not a cash payment.

The Scholarship Examination

The WISE Scholarship Examination is conducted by WEQSC annually. Dates are published by the Secretariat and communicated through the Portal not less than sixty days in advance.

The examination is conducted online, is of sixty minutes duration, and comprises one hundred multiple-choice questions. Its components are:

• Mathematics;
• English;
• General Knowledge;
• Reasoning.

Participation in the Scholarship Examination is free of charge to every candidate. No school may charge a fee in respect of participation, whether styled as a registration fee, an examination fee, an administrative fee, or any other name.

A candidate may sit the Scholarship Examination once per academic session.

Merit Scholarship

The Merit Scholarship is awarded on the basis of performance in the Scholarship Examination. Bands are established by percentile within the cohort of all candidates sitting the examination in the same academic session, across all accredited schools.

The discount applies against the examination fees payable for the following academic session.

Where a candidate is in a class in which no examination fee is otherwise payable, the Merit Scholarship is recorded as an award and applied to the first examination fee that becomes payable in a subsequent academic session.

A Merit Scholarship is personal to the candidate to whom it is awarded. It may not be transferred, assigned, or exchanged for cash.

Participation Scholarship

A Participation Scholarship of ten per cent of any applicable examination fee is awarded automatically to every candidate who sits the Scholarship Examination in a given academic session, regardless of the score obtained.

The Participation Scholarship is not a substitute for the Merit Scholarship. A candidate who qualifies for a Merit Scholarship receives the Merit Scholarship discount, not the Participation Scholarship discount, in respect of the same session.

Where a candidate is awarded the Participation Scholarship and, in the following academic session, is also awarded a Merit Scholarship, the two do not stack. The higher of the two discounts applies.

Application and Award

No separate application is required for the Participation Scholarship. It is awarded automatically upon the candidate's sitting the Scholarship Examination.

No separate application is required for the Merit Scholarship. It is awarded automatically upon publication of the examination results, on the basis of the candidate's performance.

Awards are recorded in the candidate's record in the Portal, and the discount is applied automatically to the relevant fee. No manual intervention by the school or by the parent is required.

Continuation and Deferral

A Merit Scholarship is awarded for one academic session and does not automatically renew. A candidate who wishes to hold a Merit Scholarship in a subsequent session must sit the Scholarship Examination in that session.

Where a candidate is awarded a Merit Scholarship and no examination fee is payable in that session, the discount is held in the candidate's record as a credit, and is applied to the first examination fee that becomes payable in a subsequent academic session.

Where a candidate is unable to sit the Scholarship Examination in a given academic session on medical or compassionate grounds, the school may apply to WEQSC for the candidate to sit a deferred sitting. Application must be made within thirty days of the original examination date and must be supported by documentation.

Suspension and Withdrawal

A scholarship under this page may be suspended or withdrawn in the following circumstances:

• Attendance falls below the seventy per cent threshold for the academic session in which the scholarship is held, without an exemption;
• The candidate is found to have committed an Examination Irregularity;
• The scholarship was awarded on the basis of information which is subsequently found to be materially false;
• The candidate withdraws from the school, save where the withdrawal is with transfer to another accredited school.

Relationship with Other Support

A scholarship under this page is awarded in addition to any support under the Girl-Child Universal Support page, the Student Incentive Program page, or the National-Level Elite Support page, subject to the coordination rules set out in those pages.

Breach — Consequences

The following are classified as indicated, unless the contrary is established:

Conclusion

The WISE Scholarship Programme is a fundamental element of the commitment of WEQSC to academic excellence and educational equity. All scholarship procedures not expressly set out in this portal must follow the Secretariat's official bylaws.