We list 10 fully Funded Scholarships Open to Nigerian Students in the United Kingdom, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
Written from the 10 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This collection gathers 10 fully funded scholarships in the United Kingdom that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is labelled fully funded by the provider, and every one of the 10 sits in the United Kingdom. Nothing on this page is partially funded, and nothing here is restricted to a country other than Nigeria or a region that excludes Nigeria.
The list is built for students who already hold a Nigerian qualification and are looking at what comes next. That means WAEC or NECO holders looking at a first degree abroad, B.Sc and HND holders looking at a master's, and M.Sc holders looking at doctoral study. The mix reflects that: master's awards are the largest group, doctoral awards follow, and there is a small opening at undergraduate and fellowship level.
All 10 awards on this page are open to Nigerian applicants. Of those, 2 name Nigeria or the wider region in their own eligibility text, and 8 carry no nationality restriction at all. That split matters when you are shortlisting. An award that names Nigeria or an African region is usually built with applicants like you in mind, and the selection panel expects Nigerian transcripts. An award with no nationality restriction is open to everyone, so the competition is wider and your statement has to work harder.
No award on this page leaves eligibility unstated. Where an award does not spell out nationality, it is because the scheme is open by design, not because the information is missing.
Nigerian students are not a marginal presence in the United Kingdom. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 71,756 Nigerian students were studying in the country in 2023, the highest number from any single country. You are applying into an established pipeline, not a novelty route.
Fully funded means different things at different universities, so read each award's own text rather than assuming. Across the 10 awards, here is what the providers state in writing:
Those figures describe what the awards say, not what they guarantee. If an award names tuition and living costs but not travel, budget for your own flight and your own visa costs. If it names accommodation separately from living costs, check whether the stipend assumes you have already paid rent. This is the part Nigerian applicants most often skim, and it is the part that decides whether a "fully funded" offer is actually affordable for you.
The requirements across this list are ordinary and predictable, which is good news: you can prepare most of them before you have chosen a course.
Two things stand out. First, only 2 awards state an English test requirement, so check each page for a waiver before you pay for IELTS. Many United Kingdom universities waive the test where your degree was taught in English, and a Nigerian B.Sc or HND may qualify. Second, only 1 award requires an admission offer before you apply, which means most of this list can be started without waiting on a university decision.
Recommendation letters are the most common ask, so line up your referees early. Give them your CV, your draft statement and the award's selection criteria, and give them weeks rather than days. Courier costs for transcripts are real money, so order only what each award actually requires.
Four awards carry a stated date, 3 are still open, and 6 are undated on the page. Three of the schemes recur annually, so a missed cycle is not always a closed door.
The busiest months across this list are October, March and April, with one award falling in each. Three deadlines are close enough to plan around now:
Treat the 23-day deadline as the one to act on first if it fits your course. The 90-day and 174-day deadlines give you room to request transcripts, sit a test if needed, and get referees to respond without panic.
The providers on this page include some of the most applied-to institutions in the country. The University of Oxford appears 3 times. The University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, the University of Westminster and Sheffield Hallam University each appear once.
That spread is useful. Oxford and Cambridge awards are heavily contested, but the list also includes London institutions and a modern university, which means there is a realistic target here for a strong applicant who is not an automatic fit for Oxbridge. Business and Management is the only field named more than once, appearing on 2 awards. The remaining awards are not field-restricted in the way this page records them, so read each one for subject eligibility.
Duration varies by award and by level. Where the page records it, one award runs for 3 years, one covers 2 years at master's level or 3 years at doctoral level, and two run for 3.5 years, one of them full-time with part-time pro-rata. If you are applying for a doctorate, check the funded duration against your expected completion timeline before you accept. A 3.5-year award and a 3-year award are not the same offer if your research runs long.
Start with the three dated awards above and confirm which of them matches your level and subject. Then work through the full list of 10 and sort them into two groups: the 2 that name Nigeria or the region, and the 8 with no nationality restriction. Apply to both groups, but expect the second group to demand a sharper personal statement.
Before you write anything, gather your documents. Request transcripts from your Nigerian institution early, because the internal processing and courier time is on you, not the university. Ask your referees now rather than after you have drafted. Check whether each award waives the English test for your degree, and only book IELTS or TOEFL if the award or the university actually requires it.
Then read each award's funding text line by line and write down what it covers: tuition, living costs, travel, accommodation, research costs, arrival grant. Compare that against your real budget, including flights, visa fees, the NHS surcharge and your first month in the country before any stipend lands. A fully funded award that covers tuition and living costs is a strong position. Knowing exactly where the gaps are before you apply is what stops a funded place from becoming an unaffordable one.
Studying in the UK is a dream for many international students, offering world-class education, global exposure, and prestigious degrees. But the cost can be a major barrier. Thankfully, numerous scholarships are available specifically for Nigerian students that can fund tuition, living expenses, and even travel. In this post, we’ll explore the Top UK scholarships for international students in 2025–2026, including eligibility, benefits, deadlines, and how to apply.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2023.
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