We list 4 fully Funded Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Brazil, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms.
Written from the 4 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 4 fully funded masters scholarships in Brazil open to Nigerian students. Every award here is listed as fully funded, and every one is at masters level. Brazil is the only host country on the page.
The awards come from three Brazilian federal or national bodies and one university network: the PEC-PG programme, CAPES, CNPq, and GCUB-Mob. Three of the four also fund doctoral study, and two of those three extend to postdoctoral research, so a Nigerian reader who is not yet ready for a masters, or who wants to continue afterwards, will find the same providers reappearing further up the academic ladder.
What the four have in common is that they are government-linked or network-linked funding, not privately marketed scholarships. That shapes everything else on this page: how they are advertised, when they open, and what they ask of you.
All four awards state that they cover tuition and living costs. That is the floor, and it is worth reading carefully, because a tuition waiver alone would not keep you in Brazil.
Two of the four also name travel, and two name research or training costs. So the picture is uneven. Some awards will move you to Brazil and support your fieldwork; others will not say so in writing. Where an award does not name a benefit, treat it as unconfirmed and ask the programme directly before you build a budget around it.
The three federal programmes — PEC-PG, CAPES and CNPq — describe their packages in similar terms: a monthly stipend, healthcare, and research support, with the masters stipend set at one rate and the doctoral stipend at a higher one. GCUB-Mob describes tuition, a stipend and academic facilities. None of the four is a partial award dressed up as a full one, but the practical value of each depends on the city you end up in and what your department expects you to fund yourself.
You need a first degree or HND to enter a masters. On the Nigerian side that means B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND.
These are taught and research masters. Awards usually state a minimum class of degree, and where an award says "upper second", that corresponds to Second Class Upper (2:1) on a Nigerian transcript. If your transcript reads 2:2, read each award's own eligibility text rather than assuming you are excluded — but do not assume you are included either. Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by the scholarship body, so that question goes to the Brazilian institution you are applying to.
On nationality, the position is open rather than restrictive. None of the four awards states a nationality restriction, and none names Nigeria or the West African region as a target group. For all four, eligibility is simply not stated on the award as we hold it. That is not the same as saying Nigerians are barred, and it is not the same as saying you are automatically eligible. It means the nationality question is answered in the full call document, which you should read before you spend money on transcripts.
For context on how unusual this destination is: the UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 187 Nigerian students in Brazil in 2024, ranking Brazil 45th as a host country for Nigerian students. You will not be joining a large Nigerian cohort. That cuts both ways — less competition from people who look like you on paper, and fewer people who have already done the paperwork you are about to do.
The requirements here are consistent, and they are the reason to start early rather than the reason to hesitate.
That is the whole of it, and it is a demanding whole. A research proposal is not a personal statement. It needs a question, a method, a reason the work belongs in Brazil, and a named supervisor or department willing to take you. Writing one for a country whose academic literature you may not have read is slow work. Give it weeks, not evenings.
Letters of recommendation mean Nigerian academics who know your work and will write in English, on letterhead, and on time. Ask them early, tell them what the award is, and give them the deadline in writing. If your referee has supervised you through a project or dissertation, that letter will carry more weight than one from a lecturer who taught you in a large class.
Neither requirement is about money. Both are about time, and time is the resource most Nigerian applicants underestimate.
None of the four awards carries a fixed date on this page. All four are undated here, and none is marked as still open, so we cannot tell you that any of them is currently accepting applications.
What the listings do say is that timing varies by call. PEC-PG generally opens mid-year. CAPES announces annually on its portal. CNPq announces annually on its website. GCUB-Mob is usually announced between April and June. Treat those as the shape of the year rather than as dates you can diarise.
Because the calls move, the practical move is to open each award page, read the current call, and note the date yourself. The four pages are:
GCUB-Mob is the one to watch if you want a single application to reach many institutions: it runs through a network of 58 or more Brazilian universities. PEC-PG and the two federal agencies place you at accredited Brazilian universities and research institutes, which means your proposal has to fit a department that exists.
Work backwards from a call you can actually see. Start with the four pages above, confirm which calls are open, and read the eligibility text in full before anything else. If an award does not state a nationality restriction, that is a reason to read further, not a reason to stop.
In parallel, get your documents moving. Nigerian transcripts, degree certificates and courier fees take real money and real weeks, and you will need them whether you apply to one award or four. Ask your referees now, while you are still deciding. Draft the research proposal before the call opens, so that when it does you are adapting a document rather than writing one from scratch.
Four awards is a small list. That is the honest position for Brazil at masters level with full funding. Read each one properly rather than skimming all four, and let the eligibility text, not this page, decide whether you apply.
Brazil is rapidly emerging as an attractive study destination for Nigerian students, including those from Pakistan. With its world-class universities, affordable living costs, and vibrant culture, Brazil offers a unique academic experience. What's even more exciting is the growing number of fully and partially funded scholarships available for international students at undergraduate, master’s, and PhD levels.
In this guide, we explore the Top 10 Best Scholarships in Brazil for international Students, including government-funded, university-specific, and international collaborative scholarships. Whether you’re interested in environmental sciences, public health, engineering, or social sciences, Brazil offers diverse opportunities for high-achieving students.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2024.
A browser notification when a scholarship you can apply for is added or about to close. No account needed.
