Postgraduate funding
The UK government runs a variety of scholarship programmes to financially support international students who are looking for help funding their studies in the UK.
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Commonwealth Scholarships
Commonwealth Scholarships are UK university scholarships given to talented individuals with the potential to make a positive impact on the global stage.
Wider UK government funding
The UK government offers hundreds of scholarships, bursaries and additional financial support to students from a large number of countries.
You can visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website to find out more about the funding available if you are studying in the UK as a postgraduate student, including whether or not you are eligible to apply for a scholarship. Just scroll down to the relevant section of the webpage.
UKCISA is the UK’s national advisory body serving the interests of international students and those who work with them.
Postgraduate studentships
Many universities offer fully-funded postgraduate studentships for PhD programmes.
Institution-specific scholarships
Many UK higher-education institutions offer their own scholarship programmes.
These are offered based on a number of factors, which can be broadly split out into the following categories:
Academic, merit and excellence scholarships – These are usually awarded to students with a strong academic background, including achieving strong grades in their school exams.
Performance-based scholarships – These are usually awarded to those who have exceptional ability in an extracurricular activity such as sports, music or performing arts like drama or dance.
Subject-specific scholarships – These are often offered by individual departments for students studying a particular course or subject.
Equal access or sanctuary scholarships – These scholarships can take the form of a tuition fee reduction or waiver or maintenance award and are offered to refugees and asylum seekers who have fled persecution from their home countries.
Disability scholarships – These scholarships support international students with a disability, long-term mental health condition, learning difficulty or other special needs.
Always check out different institutions’ websites to discover what is available, and take a look at specialist websites like Postgraduate Studentships and Prospects for curated information that covers different institutions.
Undergraduate funding
While undergraduate scholarships and bursaries for EU and international students studying in the UK are less common than they are for postgraduate studies, they do exist. You just need to know where to look for them.
Funding for EU and international undergraduate students in the UK can generally be split into two categories: those offered by UK universities themselves and those offered by third parties – usually governments or organisations in your home country.
You can visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website to find out more about the funding available if you are studying in the UK as an undergraduate student, including whether or not you are eligible to apply for a scholarship. Just scroll down to the relevant section of the webpage.
You can also visit the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service in the UK (UCAS)’s page about scholarships, grants, and bursaries: EU and international students for more detailed information on what to look out for and where.
