We list 3 fully Funded PhD Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Turkey, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 3 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants.
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 PhD scholarships in Turkey open to Nigerian students. All three are labelled fully funded in their own text, and all three sit at PhD level. Two of them also admit master's applicants, and one of the three runs from undergraduate through to PhD, so a doctoral applicant is reading a list that was not built only for them.
The providers are Koc University, Bilkent University, and a group listed as Various Universities for the Turkey Government Scholarship. Between them they cover the two routes most Nigerian doctoral applicants take into Turkey: a named private university with its own graduate funding, and the national government scheme that places students across institutions.
All 3 awards are open to Nigerian applicants. None of the three names Nigeria or a region as a condition, and none of the three carries a nationality restriction in its own text. That is the practical point: you are not looking for a Nigeria-specific quota here. You are applying to open competitions.
The qualification that leads into this level is a master's degree. In Nigerian terms that means an M.Sc, M.A, MBA or M.Phil. If your master's is still running, or your result is pending, check the individual award page before you spend money on a transcript, because the requirement is stated per award and not by this page.
Doctoral funding in Turkey is often tied to a supervisor or a research group. Where that is the case, the programme application and the scholarship application frequently share a single deadline, so a late supervisor conversation can cost you the funding as well as the place.
All 3 awards state that they cover tuition, living costs, travel, accommodation and health insurance. 1 of the three also names research or training costs.
Read that as what the awards say in writing, not as a promise of a fixed monthly figure. None of the three publishes a value on this page, so there is no naira or dollar amount to compare. What you can compare is the shape of the package: tuition handled, a living allowance, a flight, a place to stay, and health cover. Research or training costs appear in one award only, which matters if your PhD depends on fieldwork, lab consumables or conference attendance. If it does, that is the page to read closely.
The requirements below are counted from what the awards themselves state.
The English test is the one that catches Nigerian applicants most often. All three awards ask for IELTS or TOEFL. A Nigerian degree taught in English does not automatically remove that requirement here, so budget for the test, the test date, and the score send fee before you plan anything else.
Two awards state a minimum degree class. Two ask for a research proposal. Two ask for recommendation letters. One requires that you already hold an admission offer before you apply for the money. That single award changes your sequence: you apply to the university first, wait, then apply for funding. The other two do not state that condition.
The research proposal is not a formality at doctoral level. Two awards want one, and it is the document that lets a supervisor decide whether your project fits a group that already exists. Write it for a named supervisor, not for a general committee.
Two of the three are single-institution awards where the university funds you directly. The third places you across institutions under a national scheme, which is why its provider is recorded as various universities and why its level range runs wider than the other two.
None of the three awards carries a single fixed closing date on this page. All three are recorded as undated in that sense, and none is marked as still open. What you get instead are windows and cycles.
Bilkent shows three dates: March 18, June 6 and November 4. Three dates in one cycle usually means separate rounds, and applying in the earliest round you can manage is the safer choice when a round can close early.
The Turkey Government Scholarship shows a window of January 10 to February 20, 2026. That is a defined opening and closing period rather than a single day, and it is the earliest fixed point on this page.
Koc shows no date at all, only "see details". Treat that as a page to open rather than a date to diarise, and check it before you assume anything about timing.
Because the dates do not line up, you can work on more than one application without a clash, provided you start early enough to get documents out of Nigerian institutions in time.
Turkey is not a marginal destination for Nigerian students. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 3,669 Nigerian students were studying in Turkey in 2023, making Nigeria the 5th largest source of international students there.
That figure is worth holding on to for a practical reason. A Nigerian applicant to a Turkish doctoral programme is not an unusual case for these admissions offices. They have seen Nigerian transcripts, they know the degree classification system, and they have processed the document trail before. It does not make the application easier, but it means you are not explaining your background from scratch.
Start with the English test, because all three awards ask for it and the booking and score turnaround set your real timeline. Then decide which route fits you: a single university with its own funding, or the national scheme that places you across institutions.
If you are applying to the award that requires an admission offer first, work backwards from that. University application, then offer, then funding application. For the other two, the research proposal and recommendation letters are the documents that take longest to assemble, so request the letters early and give your referees the proposal to read.
On transcripts and courier costs, plan for more than one copy. Three applications can mean three sets of documents leaving Nigeria, and the awards do not reimburse that. Confirm the degree class requirement on each award page before you pay for anything.
Open the three pages linked above and read the requirements in full. This page tells you what the awards have in common; the individual pages carry the detail that decides whether you qualify.
Are you a Nigerian student dreaming of pursuing higher education abroad without financial burden? Look no further! Turkey is emerging as a top destination for international students, and the Turkish Government and many universities offer fully funded scholarships specifically for international students, including internationals. These scholarships cover tuition fees, living expenses, airfare, health insurance, and more.
Why Study in Turkey?Turkey bridges Europe and Asia and offers a unique cultural, academic, and geographical environment. Some reasons to study in Turkey include:
High-quality education with globally ranked universities. Affordable living and tuition (even without a scholarship). Friendly visa policy and student-friendly atmosphere. Growing number of programs taught in English. Rich Islamic history and cultural familiarity for international students.*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2023.
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