We list 4 fully Funded Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Saudi Arabia, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 3 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants.
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
Singapore
4
France
3
Netherlands
3
New Zealand
3
Norway
3
Sweden
3
Turkey
3
Austria
2
Qatar
2
Spain
2
Written from the 4 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 6 min read.
This page collects 4 fully funded scholarships in Saudi Arabia that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is labelled fully funded by the provider, so the question is not whether money is attached but what the money covers and who is allowed to apply.
The four awards come from four different institutions: King Abdulaziz University, the Islamic University of Madinah, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Each appears once on the list.
Three of the four are open to Nigerian applicants. None of those three names Nigeria or the West African region in its eligibility text; they are open because they carry no nationality restriction at all. For the fourth, eligibility is not stated on the award page, so you will need to confirm it directly with the provider before you spend money on a courier.
The list leans towards postgraduate study. All four awards are open at master's level, and three of the four also take PhD candidates. Two of the four include undergraduate entry, which matters if you are applying with WAEC or NECO results rather than a degree.
These groups overlap. A single award can appear at more than one level, so the counts above do not add up to four separate scholarships.
One award on the list states its duration in full: four years for undergraduate study, two years for a master's and three years for a PhD. Where a provider does not publish a duration, treat the funding as running for the standard length of the programme you are admitted to, and confirm that in writing.
Fully funded does not mean the same thing at every institution. These are the benefits that appear in the awards' own text:
Read those figures as what the awards say in writing, not as a guarantee of what lands in your account. A stipend described as covering living costs may be paid monthly, quarterly or on arrival, and the amount is often set by the institution rather than published on the scholarship page. Before you accept an offer, ask for the monthly figure, whether accommodation is a room on campus or an allowance, and whether travel is a single ticket at the start of the programme or a return ticket at the end.
None of the four awards on this page publishes a cash value or a number of awards available. That information is not on the list, so budget on the assumption that you will need your own money for the gap between arrival and the first payment.
Three of the four awards are open to Nigerians, and they are open because they do not restrict nationality. That is a different thing from a scholarship that names Nigeria as a priority country. No award on this page names Nigeria or the region in its eligibility text.
For the remaining award, eligibility is not stated on the award itself. If that is the one you want, write to the admissions or scholarship office and ask directly whether international applicants from Nigeria are considered, and whether the answer changes by faculty.
Your degree class will be checked. Two of the four awards state a minimum degree class as a requirement, so a Second Class Upper or its equivalent is likely to be the floor for those. If your class falls below what is stated, the application is usually screened out before anyone reads your statement.
You should also expect to submit certified copies of your degree certificate and transcript, and to pay for the transcript and courier yourself. Start that process early: Nigerian universities can take weeks to produce a transcript, and scholarship portals rarely wait.
The requirements across the four awards are consistent enough to plan around:
Recommendation letters are the one item every award asks for, so line up your referees first. Ask a lecturer who taught you at final-year level and, if you have worked, a supervisor who can speak to your output rather than your attendance. Give them your CV, your transcript and a short note on what you intend to study, and give them at least three weeks.
On the English test: three awards state a score requirement. If you studied your previous degree in English, ask whether a waiver is available before you pay for a test date. Some institutions grant one; some do not. The award page will tell you which, and if it does not, the admissions office will.
Work experience is named by one award only, so if you are applying straight from your degree, that award is the one to check carefully before you commit time to it.
None of the four awards carries a fixed closing date on this list. All four are undated, and none is marked as currently open. Two describe themselves as open all year or ongoing, which usually means applications are reviewed in batches rather than against a single cut-off.
Two do name dates. The KAUST award lists January 11 and October 1, which reads as two intake rounds rather than one deadline. The KFUPM award directs you to its details page for the deadline. Treat both as dates you must confirm on the award page itself, because a date printed on a listing can be overtaken by the provider's own calendar.
Because there is no single deadline to work towards, the practical approach is to pick your two strongest matches and work backwards from their stated dates. If an award is genuinely open all year, applying earlier still helps: review panels fill places as they go.
Open each of the four award pages and read the eligibility section before anything else. Three of them are open to you on nationality grounds; confirm the fourth directly with the provider.
Then decide which level you are actually applying for. If you hold a B.Sc or HND, the master's route is the one that fits, and all four awards are open there. If you are applying with WAEC or NECO, two awards take undergraduate entry, and the four-year duration stated by one provider is the timeline to plan around.
After that, work on the two items that will slow you down: your referees and your documents. Request transcripts, certify your certificates and book an English test only once you have confirmed whether a waiver applies. None of this is quick, and none of it is free, so start with the award whose deadline is nearest and let the others follow.
For context on the destination itself, UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 1,338 Nigerian students in Saudi Arabia in 2024, placing Nigeria fourteenth among sending countries. That is a small community by international standards, which usually means fewer Nigerians competing for each place — and less informal information available to you. Read the award pages closely, and ask the providers your questions in writing.
Saudi Arabia is rapidly becoming one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education among international students. With top-ranked universities, Islamic culture, and generous government support, it offers some of the best fully funded scholarships in the Muslim world. These scholarships are ideal for students who want to pursue Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD programs in a welcoming academic environment with full financial coverage.
The Saudi government and various universities offer scholarships that cover tuition, living costs, accommodation, healthcare, travel, and more. These programs aim to attract talented individuals from Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan, and offer opportunities to grow academically and professionally.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2024.
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