Warning about attempted fraud

People sometimes pose as scholarship programmes, universities, or "agents" in order to take money from applicants. This page explains how EXCEL-PHARM actually communicates, so you can recognise an attempted fraud and report it.

We will never ask you for money

• There is no application fee, processing fee, registration fee, shortlisting fee, or "administrative charge" — applying and being assessed is free from start to finish.
• We never ask you to pay for a visa, a permit, travel, or accommodation in order to secure a scholarship.
• We never ask you to send money to an individual, by bank transfer, mobile money, gift card, cryptocurrency, or any other method.
• No one can sell you a scholarship, guarantee your selection, or offer to "speed up" your application. Anyone who says otherwise does not represent EXCEL-PHARM.

We will never ask you for these details

• Your bank account, card numbers, or mobile money PIN.
• Passwords to your email or any other account.
• Payment details of any kind as part of an application or an award.

How to check that a message is really from us

• Scholarship applications are submitted only on this website, excel-pharm.org. Check the address in your browser before entering anything.
• Our emails come from addresses ending in @excel-pharm.org. We do not run the programme from free webmail accounts.
• Outcomes are sent by email and the names of successful applicants are published on this website. An award you cannot find here is worth questioning.
• If you save a draft, the resume link we email is personal to your application. Do not share it or forward that email.
• When in doubt, do not reply to the message. Write to us directly at info@excel-pharm.org and ask whether the message is genuine.

Reporting an attempted fraud

If someone contacts you claiming to represent EXCEL-PHARM, the consortium, or the European Union and asks you for money or personal banking details, please do not pay and do not send the details. Forward the message — with the sender's address and any phone number used — to info@excel-pharm.org. Reporting it helps us warn other applicants. If you have already lost money, report it to your local police as well as to us.

EU funding and fraud

EXCEL-PHARM is co-funded by the European Union under the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme, managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union, EACEA, nor the consortium charges applicants for scholarships. Attempted fraud that misuses the name or the emblem of the European Union may also be reported to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).