Scholarships for International Students in the UK

Start with the part most pages leave out: most international students in the UK do not receive a scholarship, and very few receive full funding. The major awards are genuinely excellent and genuinely rare. Understanding which category you fall into is worth more than a long list of schemes you cannot apply for.

Three different kinds of funding

• Government scholarships — a small number of prestigious, fully-funded awards, decided nationally and extremely competitive.

• University scholarships — far more numerous, usually partial fee reductions rather than full funding. This is where most students who get funding actually get it.

• External and charitable funding — smaller schemes, often tied to a country, subject or background.

Chevening Scholarships

Chevening is the UK government’s international scholarship programme, funding one-year master’s degrees. Chevening states that the awards are fully funded, and describes the process plainly as competitive and challenging.

Its published eligibility criteria include:

• Citizenship of a Chevening-eligible country or territory.

• At least two years’ work experience after your undergraduate degree, equivalent to 2,800 hours.

• An undergraduate degree that qualifies you for a UK master’s, completed at least two years before the application deadline.

• A commitment to return to your home country for at least two years after the scholarship ends.

• Applications to three different eligible UK courses, with an unconditional offer from at least one of them by Chevening’s stated deadline.

You are not eligible if you hold British or dual British citizenship (with limited exceptions), are resident in the UK when you apply, or have previously studied in the UK on a UK government-funded scholarship.

That fifth criterion catches people out every year: Chevening requires you to already hold a university offer by their deadline. The university applications have to be running in parallel with — often ahead of — the scholarship application. Applicants who start thinking about admissions after applying to Chevening have usually left it too late.

Eligibility and dates are set by Chevening and change between cycles. Always check chevening.org for the current criteria and timeline. Criteria above checked 23 August 2026; applications were open on that date.

Commonwealth Scholarships

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission funds master’s study for candidates from eligible low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries. Published requirements include a first degree of at least upper second-class (2:1) standard — or a lower second with a relevant postgraduate qualification — and being unable to afford UK study without the award.

Financial need is assessed as part of eligibility, not treated as a tie-breaker. Rounds open and close annually and a closed round stays closed until the next cycle. Check cscuk.fcdo.gov.uk for the current round. Checked 23 August 2026.

GREAT Scholarships

GREAT Scholarships are run by the British Council with participating UK universities, offering awards toward one-year postgraduate study for students from selected countries. The countries, universities and subjects change each year, so the current list on the British Council’s Study UK site is the only reliable version.

University scholarships — where most funding actually happens

If you are going to receive funding, this is the most likely source. Most UK universities offer scholarships to international students, usually as a partial fee reduction. They are less prestigious and far more attainable than the national schemes.

Three things are worth knowing. Many are awarded automatically on academic merit with no separate application — you are considered when you apply. Others need a short separate application with its own deadline, frequently earlier than the course deadline. And they are usually attached to a specific course or department rather than the university as a whole, so what your friend received at the same university may not exist for you.

We check what is available for the specific courses you are applying to, because that is the level at which it is decided.

PhD funding works differently

Everything above is about taught courses. Research degrees are funded on a different logic, and applying to a PhD as though it were a master’s with a scholarship attached is the most common mistake we see.

A funded PhD is usually a position, not an award. Much UK doctoral funding is attached to a specific project, department or doctoral training programme, and is advertised as a vacancy you apply to — often with the supervisor and research topic already defined. Where that funding covers fees and pays a stipend, you are closer to being appointed than to winning a scholarship.

That changes the order you do things in. For a taught master’s you find the course, then look for funding. For a PhD it is frequently the reverse: you find the funded position, and the project comes with it. Applicants who write a proposal first and hunt for money afterwards usually have a harder time.

Where the funding comes from. UK Research and Innovation funds doctoral training across universities, individual universities offer their own studentships, and some funding is tied to a specific supervisor’s research grant. Eligibility for international students varies between these — some are open to international applicants, some are not, and it is set per scheme rather than nationally. Check the eligibility statement on the specific advert rather than assuming either way.

Self-funded PhDs are possible and are a serious financial commitment. A PhD runs three to four years full-time. An unfunded place with modest fees can easily cost more in total than a funded place with higher fees, once several years of living costs are counted. If you are considering self-funding, work out the total across the full duration before you commit, not the annual figure. Our guide to affordable UK universities for international students covers how to build that total.

The supervisor matters more than the university brand. A PhD is an apprenticeship with a specific academic. A well-matched supervisor at a mid-ranked department is usually a better outcome than a poor match at a famous one, and supervisors have real influence over whether funded places go to you.

Our PhD admission guide covers how proposals, supervisors and applications actually fit together.

If you do not qualify for any of these

For many students that is the position, and it is better to know early than to build a plan on a scholarship that does not arrive.

The realistic options are choosing universities whose total cost you can actually meet — fees vary widely and the difference between institutions is often larger than any scholarship would have been; considering cities outside London, where living costs are materially lower; and planning around a genuine funding source rather than a hoped-for one.