Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Ireland 2026-2027

What this page lists

This page collects 4 masters scholarships in Ireland open to Nigerian students. Every award here is at masters level, and every one is offered by an Irish provider: the Government of Ireland, Maynooth University, University College Dublin, and Dublin City University Business School. Each provider appears once, so the four awards come from four different sources rather than four variations of the same scheme.

The list is short by design. Ireland does not run the same volume of named masters funding as some larger destinations, and what exists tends to sit inside individual universities or inside one national scheme. That makes this page easier to work through than a list of fifty, but it also means each entry deserves a careful read rather than a quick scan.

What the awards pay for

Funding splits unevenly. 1 award is fully funded and 3 are partially funded. The fully funded entry is the Government of Ireland Scholarship, which covers both masters and doctoral study.

When you look at what the awards actually say in their own text, 2 name tuition as something they cover and 1 names living costs. Those are the benefits written into the award descriptions. They are not a promise that every cost is handled, and they are not a guarantee of a particular amount. Read each award page for the wording the provider uses.

Partial funding in an Irish context usually means a contribution toward fees rather than a full package, but the brief does not carry amounts for any of these four awards, so treat the label as the starting point and the award page as the detail.

Who can apply

Of the four awards, 1 is open to Nigerian applicants on the terms recorded here. Within that, no nationality restriction is stated. For the other three, eligibility is not stated on the award itself, which means you will need to check the provider's own conditions before assuming you qualify or do not.

That distinction matters. An award that does not mention nationality is not the same as an award that excludes you, and it is not the same as one that welcomes you. It simply means the information is not on the award text we hold. Where a scheme is run by a single university, eligibility often turns on admission to that university first.

The brief records 539 Nigerian students in Ireland, based on 2022 data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That places Nigeria 28th among sending countries. It is a modest presence, and it tells you something practical: you are unlikely to find a large Nigerian cohort already in place at any one department, so you will be navigating the application largely on your own.

The Nigerian qualification that leads in

You hold a first degree or HND. The qualifications that feed into this level are B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS and HND.

These awards are for taught and research masters. Where an award states a minimum class of degree, the phrase to watch for is "upper second" — on a Nigerian transcript that corresponds to Second Class Upper, or 2:1. If your transcript reads Second Class Lower, do not assume the door is shut on every award here, but do read each entry's wording rather than the page as a whole.

Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page. That is worth repeating because HND holders often ask. The answer sits with the admissions office of the institution running the scholarship, and it can differ from one university to the next.

What the applications demand

The requirements recorded across these four awards are:

• 3 awards state a minimum degree class
• 2 awards ask for letters of recommendation
• 1 award asks for an English test score, IELTS or TOEFL
• 1 award asks for work experience

Two things follow from this. First, a minimum degree class is the most common stated requirement, so your transcript is central. Second, only one award names an English test in its own text — which does not mean the others waive it. It means the requirement is not written on the award. Universities set their own English conditions, and waivers are sometimes available to applicants who studied in English, but that is a decision for the institution, not something this page can confirm.

Recommendation letters take time in Nigeria. Lecturers move, departments are busy, and a referee who agreed in September may need chasing in November. Start those requests early, and ask for more referees than you need.

How the deadlines fall

All 4 awards carry a date, all 4 are still open, and all 4 recur, so a missed cycle is not necessarily the end of the road. The busiest months are October, June and April, with one award closing in each.

The four closing dates, in order:

• Government of Ireland Scholarship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) — closes 10 October
• University College Dublin MBA Scholarships 2026-2027 — closes 30 April
• Maynooth University Scholarships 2026-2027 — closes 30 June
• John Thompson Scholarship 2026-2027 Ireland — closes 30 July

The Government of Ireland award is the nearest deadline and the only fully funded entry on the page. The other three sit months later, which gives you room to prepare documents properly rather than rushing a single application.

What you are applying for

Durations vary. One award runs for 1 year, another for 1–2 years, another for up to 2 years, and one covers a 1–2 year research masters alongside a 3–4 year PhD programme. If you are weighing a taught masters against a research route, that last entry is the one that spans both.

Fields are narrow here. 1 award is in Business & Management, and the University College Dublin and Dublin City University Business School entries sit in that space. The John Thompson Scholarship is run by Dublin City University Business School. If your intended masters is in engineering, health sciences or the humanities, check the individual award pages rather than assuming this list covers your field.

What to do next

Start with the Government of Ireland Scholarship. It is fully funded, it closes soonest, and it covers both masters and doctoral study, so it is worth the effort even if you are still deciding on a course.

Then work through the other three in deadline order. For each one, confirm two things before you invest time: whether the award requires you to hold an offer of admission from that university first, and what the funding actually covers. The brief records tuition for 2 awards and living costs for 1, but not amounts, so the award page is where the real numbers live.

Gather your documents in parallel. A transcript, a degree certificate, two or three reference letters and, where required, an English test result. In Nigeria these take weeks, not days, and courier costs add up. Budget for them at the start rather than midway through an application.

Finally, treat the recurring deadlines as a plan rather than a single shot. If October passes, April, June and July remain on this page, and the same schemes return in the next cycle.