We list 3 fully Funded PhD Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Singapore, 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. 6 min read.
This page collects 3 fully funded PhD scholarships in Singapore that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is labelled fully funded, and every one is at doctoral level. Two of the three also carry a Master's option alongside the PhD route, so a Nigerian applicant weighing a research Master's against a direct doctoral place will find both paths described on the same award pages.
The list is short, and that is the point. Singapore does not run the wide scholarship catalogue that the United Kingdom or Germany does. What it offers instead is a small number of research awards attached to specific universities and research institutes, and those awards are concentrated in a handful of fields. On this page, one award sits in Engineering and one in Medicine & Health Sciences.
The three awards come from two providers. One is A*STAR, working in collaboration with NTU, NUS and SUTD. The other is the National University of Singapore, listed once through its NUS Graduate School and once directly as NUS.
That concentration matters when you are planning. A*STAR is Singapore's research agency, and its award places students inside its research institutes rather than only inside a university department. The NUS awards sit within a single university's graduate school structure. If your research interest maps onto a laboratory at NUS, you are looking at two of the three awards on this page. If it maps onto an A*STAR institute, you are looking at the third.
All 3 awards state that they cover tuition. All 3 also state that they cover living costs. That combination is what makes them fully funded in practice: your fees are handled and you receive a stipend to live on.
Beyond that, the cover narrows. 1 award names travel costs, and 1 names a settling-in or arrival grant. So if you are budgeting for a one-way ticket from Lagos or Abuja, a student pass fee, and the first month of accommodation before any stipend lands, check the individual award pages rather than assuming the package includes those. Where an award names travel or an arrival grant, it will say so in its own text.
Two of the awards state stipend figures in their own descriptions, and those figures differ between the awards and between the PhD and Master's routes. Read the numbers on the award page itself, because the amounts are set by the provider and are subject to the conditions printed there.
This is the part most applicants get wrong, so read it carefully. Of the 3 awards on this page, 2 are open to Nigerian applicants. Neither of those two names Nigeria or the West African region anywhere in its text — they simply carry no nationality restriction, which is what makes them open to you. The remaining award does not state its eligibility on the award page, so we cannot tell you here whether you qualify; you would need to check the provider's own terms.
In other words, the route into Singapore for a Nigerian doctoral applicant is not a Nigeria-specific scheme. It is an open international competition where your nationality is not a barrier, and where the deciding factors are your academic record, your research fit and your documents.
The qualification you are bringing is a Master's degree — M.Sc, M.A, MBA or M.Phil — and the level you are entering is PhD and doctoral study. Funded doctoral places and research scholarships in Singapore are frequently tied to a supervisor or a research group, which has a practical consequence: the programme application and the scholarship application often share one deadline. You cannot treat them as two separate exercises with two separate timelines.
The requirements the awards state in writing break down like this:
Three of those four demands are familiar to any Nigerian applicant who has applied abroad before. The letters of recommendation are the usual bottleneck: you need referees who can speak to research ability, not just to attendance, and you need them to respond while you still have weeks in hand. Approach your M.Sc supervisor and one other academic early, and give them your draft research direction so the letter says something specific.
The English test is where Nigerian applicants often have room to move. Two of the three awards state a test score as a requirement. Whether a waiver applies to you — on the basis of a previous degree taught in English, for instance — is decided by the provider, not by this page. Ask the admissions office directly and get the answer in writing before you pay for a test slot.
The minimum degree class requirement appears on 2 awards. Nigerian transcripts carry the class wording you already know — First Class, Second Class Upper, Second Class Lower — and the award pages state what they will accept. Check that against your own transcript before you spend money on transcripts and courier fees.
The research proposal appears on 1 award. Where it is required, it is usually the document that decides the outcome, because it is what a supervisor reads to judge whether your interests fit their group.
One award on this page carries a stated date, 1 is still open, 2 are undated, and 1 recurs. The busiest month is June, with one deadline falling in it.
The award closing soonest is the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) 2026-2027, provided by A*STAR in collaboration with NTU, NUS and SUTD. It closes 1 June. That is the date to build your calendar around.
The NUS awards run on an August intake and a January intake, with deadlines that shift by intake. One of them is the NUS Research Scholarship 2026-2027, offered through the NUS Graduate School, which supports both a research Master's and a PhD. The other is the NUS Research Scholarship 2025–2026, offered directly by NUS, again across both levels. Because these two are tied to intakes rather than to a single fixed date, confirm the current deadline on the award page before you plan backwards from it.
The awards state their durations in their own text. One runs for 4 years. One runs for up to 4 years at PhD level or 2 years at Master's by research level, and is renewable. One runs for 2 years at Master's level and 4 years at PhD level.
Four years is the realistic horizon for a Singapore PhD, and it is worth planning your funding around that number rather than around the first year's stipend. Renewal is not automatic on every award — where an award says it renews, it renews subject to the conditions the provider sets, which typically include satisfactory progress.
Start with the June deadline. Open the SINGA award page and read the eligibility and document list in full, because it is the award on this page with the earliest closing date.
Then work through the two NUS awards and note which of them matches your level and your field. The NUS Research Scholarship 2026-2027 and the NUS Research Scholarship 2025–2026 both cover tuition and living costs, and both run across the research Master's and PhD levels.
Before you pay for anything, settle three things. First, confirm whether the English test requirement applies to you or whether a waiver is available. Second, check your degree class against the stated minimum on the awards that set one. Third, identify a supervisor or research group whose work matches your proposal, because on the award that asks for a research proposal, that match is what the application turns on.
Transcripts and courier fees from Nigeria take time and money. Order them once you have confirmed you meet the stated requirements, not before.
Are you an ambitious student from Pakistan or any part of the world seeking world-class education in a global hub? Singapore, one of Asia’s top education destinations, offers a wide range of fully funded scholarships for international students. Known for its academic excellence, innovation-driven institutions, and multicultural environment, Singapore has become a top study abroad choice, especially for students looking for research and tech-based careers.
This blog explores the best fully funded scholarships in Singapore, their benefits, eligibility criteria, and application procedures – with a special focus on opportunities for international students.
Why Study in Singapore?Here are a few reasons why Singapore is an ideal study destination:
Home to top-ranked universities like NUS, NTU, and SMU. Strong focus on STEM education, business, and innovation. Scholarships that cover tuition, stipend, airfare, and living costs. English is the main language of instruction. Safe, modern, and culturally diverse environment. Top Fully Funded Scholarships in Singapore for International Students Step-by-Step Application Process Choose the scholarship Select based on your degree level and field of interest (SINGA, NUS, NTU, etc.) Check eligibility Revi...A browser notification when a scholarship you can apply for is added or about to close. No account needed.
