We list 2 fully Funded Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Qatar, 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.
United States
26
United Kingdom
25
China
12
Australia
11
Canada
10
Italy
9
Japan
8
Switzerland
8
Belgium
7
Germany
7
United Arab Emirates
7
Russia
6
Thailand
5
Brazil
4
Denmark
4
Saudi Arabia
4
Singapore
4
France
3
Netherlands
3
New Zealand
3
Norway
3
Sweden
3
Turkey
3
Austria
2
Qatar
Spain
2
Written from the 2 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 6 min read.
This page collects 2 fully funded scholarships in Qatar that are open to international applicants. Both are taught in English, both are based in Qatar, and both cover living costs according to the award text. That is the whole list. It is short because Qatar runs a small number of large, centrally funded programmes rather than dozens of small bursaries, and only two of them appear here as fully funded.
If you are applying from Nigeria with a WAEC or NECO result, a B.Sc or HND, or an M.Sc already in hand, this page tells you what each award pays for, what it asks of you, and when it closes. Nothing here is a promise of admission. It is a description of what the two awards say in writing.
The Qatar Airways programme is the broader of the two in level, since it names undergraduate, master's and PhD study. The Doha Institute award is a graduate award only. Both are listed as fully funded.
Across the two awards, the benefit most often named in the award text is living costs, which appears in both. Tuition is named by one award, as are travel, accommodation, health insurance, and research or training costs. Read that carefully. It means one of the two awards spells out tuition in its own wording; the other does not, at least not in the text we hold. It does not mean the second award leaves you paying tuition. It means the award text does not say.
Where an award names a benefit, treat it as a commitment the provider has put in writing. Where it does not, ask the provider directly before you build a budget around it. Nigerian applicants are usually carrying transcript fees, courier charges and English-test costs before they ever reach a visa stage, so the difference between "tuition covered" and "tuition not stated" matters to your family's planning.
Both awards sit at master's level. One also covers bachelor's, and one also covers PhD. So if you are finishing a B.Sc or HND and want a taught master's, both awards are relevant to you. If you are applying straight from secondary school with WAEC or NECO, only the Qatar Airways programme names undergraduate study.
The fields named across the two awards are:
Each field is named by one award. These are social science and policy-leaning disciplines, which is consistent with the Doha Institute's graduate focus. If your background is in engineering, medicine or the pure sciences, check the individual award pages before you spend money on a transcript.
On both awards, the eligibility position is that nationality is not stated on the award. That is the honest reading of what we hold: neither award text names Nigeria or a regional restriction, and neither states a no-nationality-restriction clause either. The eligibility simply is not spelled out on the award as we have it.
What that means in practice is that you cannot assume you are excluded, and you cannot assume you are included. You have to open each award page, read the eligibility section, and where nationality is not addressed, email the provider's admissions office and ask directly. Keep the reply. Qatari institutions generally handle international admissions through a central office, and a written answer is worth more than a forum post.
For context on how small the Nigerian presence in Qatar is: the UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 63 Nigerian students in Qatar in 2024. That is the scale of the community you would be joining. It is not a warning, but it does mean you should expect to explain your qualifications carefully to people who may not have seen a Nigerian transcript before.
Across the two awards, the requirements stated in the award text are these:
The admission-offer-first requirement is the one that catches Nigerian applicants out. It means the scholarship application is not the first step; the university application is. You apply to the institution, you receive an offer, and only then does the funding application become live. That sequence sets your whole timeline, and it is why the December and January deadlines below are tighter than they look.
Both awards asking for IELTS or TOEFL means you should budget for the test early. Check each award page for whether a waiver applies to your case — for instance where your previous degree was taught in English — because the two awards may treat waivers differently. Do not assume a waiver; confirm it in writing.
The minimum degree class and the recommendation letters belong to one award each. If you hold a Second Class Upper or above, you are in the range most graduate awards in this region ask about, but read the specific award page for the exact wording it uses.
Both awards on this page carry a date, and both are still open. Both are also recurring, meaning the cycle returns each year rather than being a one-off.
The busiest months are December and January, one award closing in each. In order of what closes soonest:
Eighty-four days is enough time to sit an English test, request transcripts and chase two referees, but only if you start now. Nigerian transcript requests from federal universities routinely take weeks, and courier delivery to Qatar adds more. Work backwards from 31 December and you will see that the university application — the one that has to produce an admission offer before the scholarship application counts — needs to go in almost immediately.
One award states a duration of four years for undergraduate, two years for master's, and a third figure that is cut off in our record. Check the award page for the full duration before you plan around it.
Open both award pages and read the eligibility section line by line. Confirm three things for each: whether your nationality is addressed at all, what the exact degree class wording is, and whether an English-test waiver applies to a degree you already hold.
Then start the university application, not the scholarship application. Both awards require an admission offer first, so the institution's deadline governs you, and it usually falls before the funding deadline. Request your transcripts and your recommendation letters in the same week. Book your IELTS or TOEFL date so that the result lands before the funding deadline, not after.
Where an award does not state a benefit you need — tuition, for example — email the provider and ask. Where nationality is not stated, email and ask. Keep every reply. With only two awards on this page and 63 Nigerian students recorded in Qatar in 2024, the applicants who get through are the ones who read the fine print and asked the questions the page could not answer.
Qatar has rapidly emerged as a regional education hub, offering world-class academic programs, modern campuses, and generous fully funded scholarships for Nigerian students. for Nigerian students, Qatar presents an excellent opportunity to pursue undergraduate, master's, or PhD studies at top-tier universities like Qatar University, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and institutions within Education City (including branches of U.S. universities). These scholarships are highly competitive and cover tuition fees, accommodation, monthly stipends, travel expenses, and more.
Below is a detailed guide to some of the best fully funded scholarships in Qatar for international students for the academic year 2026–2027:
*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.
