You can pay your your Zakah money for the scholarship fund. Many of our scholars have categorically stated the permissibility of paying zakah money to support students of knowledge. For example Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazzali, in his Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din, said that the recipients of the Zakah should also be chosen from the people of learning, in order to support his quest for knowledge. In support of his opinion he also narrates the great Imam Abdullah ibn Al-Mubarak as saying:

“I know no rank, after that of Prophethood, superior in merit to the rank of the learned. If one of them became preoccupied with his needs he would not be free to devote himself to knowledge and concentrate on studying. It is therefore better to give them the freedom to pursue learning”

Shaykh Ali Jum’ah, the grand mufti of Egypt, has also stated that:

“The Fuqaha’ (jurists) agree on the permissibility of giving zakah to a student of knowledge. This has been clearly expressed by the (jurist of the) Hanafi, Shafi’i and Hanbali school and it is also the main position of the Maliki school” [Source: Islamonline.net/Arabic]

 

You can also read a essay on the permissibility of giving your Zakah money for such projects Here.