We list 3 fully Funded Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in New Zealand, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 2 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
Written from the 3 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 3 fully funded masters scholarships in New Zealand that are open to Nigerian students. Each one is a university award, not a government scheme or an agency arrangement, and each comes from a different institution: the University of Waikato, the University of Otago and Lincoln University.
All three are listed as fully funded, and all three are listed at masters level. Two of the three also cover bachelors study, and one of the three also covers PhD study, so a Nigerian applicant searching for postgraduate funding will find that the masters route is the one every award on this page supports.
New Zealand is the only country represented here. If you are comparing destinations, this is a small, focused list rather than a broad one, and it is worth reading each entry in full before you decide where to send documents.
All 3 awards on this page are labelled fully funded. That label describes how the award is presented, not a promise about your particular offer, and the detail matters.
Of the three, 3 name tuition in their own text, 1 names living costs, and 1 names health insurance. Where an award does not name a benefit in writing, treat it as something to confirm with the university before you build a budget around it.
This is the practical point for a Nigerian applicant paying for transcripts and courier fees out of pocket. Tuition is the largest single figure in a New Zealand masters, and it is the benefit most clearly stated across this list. Living costs and health insurance appear less often, so if you need those covered, read the individual award pages closely and ask the scholarships office directly.
This is the question most readers arrive with, so here is the position as the awards state it.
Of the 3 awards on this page, 2 are open to Nigerian applicants. Within those two, 0 name Nigeria or the African region specifically, and 2 carry no nationality restriction at all. In other words, the route open to you is not a Nigeria-specific quota. It is an open competition where your nationality is not the barrier.
For 1 award, eligibility is not stated on the award itself. That does not mean you are excluded. It means you have to check the terms with the university, and you should do that before you spend money on a courier.
The qualifications that lead into this level are a first degree or HND: B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND. These are taught and research masters, and awards usually state a minimum class of degree. An upper second corresponds to Second Class Upper (2:1) on a Nigerian transcript. Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, so ask rather than assume.
The brief is short on requirements, and that itself is useful information. Of the three awards, 2 state a minimum degree class. That is the only formal academic requirement recorded across the list.
Nothing in the brief records English-test requirements, references, research proposals or statement-of-purpose word counts for these awards. Do not read that as an absence of those requirements. Read it as a gap you must fill from the individual award pages and from the university's international office.
Two things are worth planning for regardless. First, a minimum degree class means your transcript is the document that decides whether you clear the first gate, so order it early. Second, an English-test waiver is sometimes available to applicants who studied in English, but whether that applies to you is a question for the university, not for this page.
Each provider appears once, so there is no institution on this page offering more than a single entry. That keeps the comparison simple: three universities, three sets of terms, and no overlap to untangle.
Deadlines across this list are uneven, and one of them is close.
1 award carries a fixed date, 1 is still open, 1 is recurring, and 2 are undated. January is the busiest month, with 1 deadline falling in it.
The award closing soonest is Lincoln University Scholarships 2026-2027, which closes 31 January. That is 115 days from now. If Lincoln is on your list, that is your working deadline and everything else fits around it.
The University of Waikato award is open year-round, which sounds relaxed but is not. Rolling deadlines reward early applications, because funding decisions are made as applications arrive. The University of Otago entry is undated here, so you will need to check the award page for its current cycle.
Two of the three awards are undated on this page. Treat an absent date as a task, not as a reprieve.
According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 129 Nigerian students were studying in New Zealand in 2024, ranking the country 51st as a destination for Nigerian students.
That is a small number, and it tells you something practical. Nigerian applicants are not a large, well-worn cohort in New Zealand the way they are in the United Kingdom or Canada. You are unlikely to find a long chain of seniors who have walked this exact route, which means your own paperwork, your own correspondence with the university, and your own reading of each award's terms carry more weight.
It also means the competition for these particular awards is not dominated by Nigerian applicants. The two awards with no nationality restriction are genuinely open.
Start with the closing date, not the funding figure. The Lincoln award closes 31 January, so if it interests you, open that page first and work backwards from the deadline through transcripts, references and any test you may need.
Then confirm the two open questions that this page cannot answer for you. For the award where eligibility is not stated, ask the university whether Nigerian applicants qualify. For every award where living costs or health insurance is not named, ask what the award actually covers in your case.
Order your transcript early. A minimum degree class is stated by two of the three awards, and your transcript is the document that settles it. If you hold an HND, ask each university directly whether it is accepted for masters entry, because that decision sits with the institution and not with any central rule.
Finally, read all three award pages rather than only the one with the nearest deadline. Waikato is open year-round and Otago covers three study levels, so the right fit for your qualification may not be the one closing first.
Are you planning to study abroad in 2026 and searching for fully funded opportunities? New Zealand is one of the most sought-after study destinations among international students, offering world-class education, globally ranked universities, and a safe, welcoming environment. The best part is that a number of fully funded and partially funded scholarshipsare now open for international students in New Zealand for the 2025–2026 academic year. These scholarships are available for undergraduate, master’s, and PhD degree programs and offer financial assistance in the form of tuition fee waivers, monthly stipends, accommodation support, travel allowances, and medical insurance.
Whether you’re aiming to pursue higher education in engineering, business, social sciences, life sciences, environmental sciences, or any other field, New Zealand provides generous funding opportunities through government-sponsored programs and university-specific scholarships. Below is a comprehensive guide to some of the top scholarships available for international students in New Zealand, along with their benefits and how to apply.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2024.
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