We list 5 undergraduate Social Sciences Scholarships for Nigerian Students, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 2 of them are fully funded. Most are held in Australia (1), Canada (1) and Romania (1). 4 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
These awards do not restrict the field of study, so social sciences applicants can apply too.
Written from the 5 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 5 undergraduate scholarships in the social sciences that are open to Nigerian students who want to study abroad. Every award here is at bachelors level, and every one sits in the social sciences rather than in engineering, medicine or the natural sciences.
The awards come from five providers: Participating Australian Institutions, Boston University, Romanian Universities, University of Stirling and University Canada West. Between them they cover five countries — Australia, Canada, Romania, the United Kingdom and the United States. One award per country, which means the list is spread rather than concentrated in a single destination.
If you are finishing secondary school or have already sat your WAEC, NECO, NABTEB or SSCE exams and you want a first degree abroad in a social science subject, this is the list to work through. Each award page quotes its own entry requirement, so read the individual page before you decide whether you qualify.
Two of the five awards are labelled fully funded. Those two are the Romania Government Scholarships and the Australia Awards Scholarships, both of which also appear at master's and PhD level. For an undergraduate applicant, a fully funded award is the difference between a plan that needs a sponsor and a plan that does not.
Where the awards state their benefits in writing, the pattern is:
These are the benefits the awards themselves name. They are not a promise that every cost you will face is covered, and they are not a guarantee of a particular amount. Three of the five awards do not label their funding either way on this page, so treat those as unknown until you open the award page and read the terms.
Four of the five awards on this page are open to Nigerian applicants. Of those four, one names Nigeria or the region in its own eligibility text. The other three carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining award does not state its eligibility on the award page, so you would need to confirm directly before spending money on an application.
That is a useful split to understand. An award with no nationality restriction is open to you on paper, but it is also open to every other international applicant, so the competition is broad. An award that names Nigeria or the region is narrower and often tied to a government or development programme with its own priorities. Read the eligibility section of each award carefully before you commit to transcripts, courier fees or test bookings.
The requirements stated across these awards are fewer than you might expect, but each one costs money or time.
The admission offer requirement matters most for planning. If an award asks you to hold an offer before you apply for the scholarship, your timeline starts with the university application, not with the scholarship deadline. University admission windows and scholarship windows are not the same thing, and the University Canada West entry on this list is dated by university admission deadlines rather than by a scholarship closing date.
On English tests: only one award states a test requirement in its own text. That does not mean the others waive it. Many universities accept a WAEC or NECO English result, or issue a waiver, but that is a decision each institution makes and each award page states its own position. Do not assume a waiver. Check.
The durations stated on these awards vary by country and by the level the award covers.
A four-year undergraduate degree is the common shape. The three-to-six-year range reflects systems where a bachelors programme can run longer depending on the institution and the subject. If you are budgeting for a degree that runs beyond the funded period, plan for the years the award does not cover.
Four of the five awards carry a date, and all four of those are still open. Four are recurring, meaning they come round again on a similar schedule. One award is undated on this page.
The busiest months across this list are April, December and March, with one award closing in each. The soonest deadlines are:
The fifth award, University Canada West Scholarships 2027, is tied to university admission deadlines rather than a fixed scholarship closing date, so your timing depends on the admission round you are applying into.
Note how the deadlines are spaced. December, then March, then April, then June. If you miss one, the next is weeks away rather than days, which gives you room to prepare documents properly instead of rushing a courier.
Your entry point is your senior secondary result. The pathway into this level is straightforward: you finished secondary school, you hold WAEC, NECO, NABTEB or SSCE results, and you are applying for a first degree. Most awards at this level ask for those results plus an admission offer, and each award page quotes its own entry requirement.
The practical costs sit outside the scholarship. Transcripts, courier fees, test bookings and document verification all come out of your pocket before any award decision is made. With five awards spread across five countries, you can prioritise rather than apply everywhere. Two fully funded awards, four open to Nigerian applicants, and four with dates still ahead of you is a workable shortlist.
Start with the two fully funded awards, since they cover the most and are the ones most likely to change what is possible for you. Then work through the remaining three in deadline order.
The four dated awards are still open. The first closes on 1 December, and the rest follow through March, April and June. Pick the ones that fit your subject and your finances, and start on the documents this week.
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