We list 8 fully Funded Masters Engineering Scholarships Open to Nigerian Students, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. Most are held in China (3), Australia (2) and the Netherlands (1). Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
These awards do not restrict the field of study, so engineering applicants can apply too.
Written from the 8 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 6 min read.
This page collects 8 fully funded masters scholarships in engineering that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is labelled fully funded by the body offering it, and every one of the eight is open at masters level. Engineering is the field for all eight.
The list is not only for engineering students. Seven of the eight are also open at PhD level, and four are open at bachelors level, so the same award may appear on other pages of this site under a different study level. If you are applying for a taught masters or a research masters in civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, petroleum or computer engineering, the eight entries below are the ones to work through.
The eight awards sit in five countries:
China carries the largest share, which matters if you are weighing cost of living, flight distance from Lagos or Abuja, and how quickly a visa appointment can be secured. Australia follows with two. The remaining three countries hold one award each.
The providers named in the listings include Stanford University, the University of Groningen, the University of Tasmania, participating Australian institutions, Beijing universities and Shanghai universities. Where an award is offered by a group of universities rather than a single institution, the individual entry tells you to check the list attached to it.
All eight awards are open to Nigerian students. For one of them, Nigeria or the wider region is named directly in the eligibility text. For the other seven, no nationality restriction is stated, which means the award is open on the terms written in the listing rather than restricted to a named set of countries. None of the eight leaves eligibility unstated.
That distinction is worth understanding before you spend money on a courier. An award that names Nigeria or a region has already told you that you fit. An award with no nationality restriction is open in principle, but the university still applies its own admission rules on top, and those rules decide whether you are offered a place. Read the individual entry before you commit to transcript fees.
Fully funded means different things at different institutions. Of the eight awards, here is what the award text itself names:
These are the benefits the awards state in writing, not a promise that every award covers every item. Some awards describe their package in general terms without listing each component, and this page does not guess at what those cover. Where an award gives a figure, the figure appears in the individual entry. The University of Tasmania Scholarship, for example, states a stipend rate in Australian dollars and notes that the rate is indexed annually on 1 January.
If your budget depends on a specific line — say, whether flights are paid or whether you must fund your own accommodation for the first month — check the individual entry rather than assuming.
The requirements stated across the eight awards fall into a small number of categories:
Letters of recommendation are the most common ask, so line up your referees early. Two referees is the usual number, but confirm from the individual entry. Where an award states a minimum degree class, the wording is normally "upper second". On a Nigerian transcript that corresponds to Second Class Upper, or 2:1. If your class of degree falls below that, the award text is the place to check whether there is any leeway, because this page cannot tell you.
Two awards ask for an English test score. If you studied your first degree in English, check the individual entry — some universities waive the test for applicants from Nigeria, and some do not. Do not assume a waiver. Confirm it in writing with the admissions office before you pay for a test slot.
Two awards ask for a research proposal, which points to research masters rather than taught programmes. A research proposal is a different document from a statement of purpose: it sets out a question, a method and a reason the work matters. Start it early, because it usually needs a supervisor's input.
One award requires that you already hold an admission offer before you apply for the funding. That reverses the usual order. If you are targeting that award, the university application comes first and the funding application second, and the university deadline will fall well before the funding deadline.
Four of the eight awards carry a stated date. Four are still open at the time of writing. Four are undated, meaning the listing does not give a fixed closing date, and four recur annually. The busiest months across the set are October, with two deadlines, then April and December with one each.
The awards closing soonest are:
Two of the Chinese awards work differently. The Shanghai Government Scholarship runs between January and June of each year, and the Beijing Government Scholarship directs you to its details for the deadline. Neither gives a single closing date, so treat them as rolling and check the entry for the current cycle.
The qualification that leads into this study level is a first degree or an HND. The awards on this page sit at masters level, covering both taught and research masters. Your transcript will carry one of B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND, and the award text will tell you which of those it accepts.
Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page. If you hold an HND and are aiming at a masters in engineering, read the individual entry carefully and, where the entry is silent, ask the admissions office directly. A short email now is cheaper than a rejected application later.
Two practical points. First, transcripts and courier fees come out of your pocket, and some universities want transcripts sent directly from your institution, which adds weeks. Request them the moment you decide to apply. Second, where an award asks for a minimum degree class, the phrase "upper second" is the one to look for, and it maps to Second Class Upper on your transcript.
Start with the two awards closing soonest if the dates still work for you, and work backwards from the deadline. A realistic order is: confirm your eligibility in the individual entry, request transcripts, brief your referees, then draft the research proposal or statement if one is asked for.
If the nearest deadline has passed, the recurring awards on this page will open again. Use the gap to gather documents rather than to wait. The four undated awards can be approached at any time, but their university admission cycles still run to a calendar, so check the entry before you plan around them.
Work through all eight entries before you decide where to apply. The requirements differ enough that one award may fit your documents far better than another, and the only way to see that is to read each listing in full.
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