About Scholar Avenues

Primus Wainkem Bofukuo, founder of Scholar Avenues

Last updated: November 2026

Hi, I’m Primus Wainkem Bofukuo. I started Scholar Avenues, and I write most of what you read here.

I’m from Cameroon. Today I’m doing a master’s in Italy on a merit-based scholarship. It took me seven years of applying to get here, and along the way I made almost every mistake this site now warns you about.

How it started

In 2018 I was about to begin my final year of economics at the University of Bamenda. My father, a professor there, put the Commonwealth Scholarship call in front of me and told me to apply. I said I hadn’t even finished my degree. He pointed to the line saying I only had to finish before the course started.

So I taught myself to write a CV, a personal statement and a leadership essay from samples I found online. I applied to five UK universities and got offers. Then the Ministry of Higher Education called: my file couldn’t be nominated because I didn’t have a passport.

The next year, I spent three months on the Schwarzman Scholarship in China. I wasn’t invited to interview, again because of my passport, held up by a wrong date on my ID card. In 2020, COVID-19 cut short a Korean government scholarship application. In 2024 I won a tuition scholarship in the United States and still didn’t make it there. I emailed potential PhD supervisors in Australia and applied for PhDs in Finland and Denmark.

In 2025 I stopped spreading myself thin. I focused on Germany and Italy, got offers in both, and chose Italy.

Why this site exists

Most of my setbacks had nothing to do with grades. They came from missing information: a document I didn’t know I needed, an eligibility rule I misread, and an interview I didn’t prepare for. Scholar Avenues is the guide I wish I’d had in 2018.

It’s written mainly for African and Asian students applying for scholarships and for master’s or PhD places abroad. That’s especially true if you’re doing it without an agent or without anyone in your family who has done it before.

I also help students with their applications directly. Since 2024, students I’ve worked with have gone on to study in Italy, Canada, the United States, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Russia and China. Their awards include Italy’s MAECI government scholarship, merit scholarships at the universities of Padova, L’Aquila and Calabria, ARES in Belgium, DAAD in Germany and Open Doors in Russia. What I learn from their cases ends up in these guides, with names left out.

How I write these guides

  • Every guide starts from the official source: the scholarship provider, the university or the government portal. I link to it in the article so you can check it yourself.
  • I use AI tools to help with research and first drafts. I then check the facts against the official pages, rewrite them in my own words, and add what I’ve learned from my own applications and my students’.
  • When advice comes from experience rather than an official rule, I say so.
  • Deadlines and rules change every year, and I update articles when they do. Always confirm the final details on the official page before you apply.

What Scholar Avenues is not

Scholar Avenues is independent. It isn’t affiliated with any university, scholarship provider, embassy or government mentioned here. I don’t award scholarships, make admission decisions or issue visas, and nobody can honestly guarantee you any of those. If someone asks you to pay to “secure” a scholarship, read my guide to scholarship scam red flags first.

Advertising

The site may show ads, including Google AdSense, to cover its running costs. Ads don’t decide what I write or recommend. If an article ever contains an affiliate or sponsored link, I’ll label it clearly.

Spotted a mistake?

Tell me through the Contact page. I read every message and fix confirmed errors.

— Primus