Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in the United Kingdom 2026-2027

What this page lists

This page collects 30 masters scholarships in the United Kingdom open to students who already hold a first degree. Of those 30, 19 are labelled fully funded and 9 are labelled partially funded. Two awards do not state their funding either way, so treat those as unknown until you read the award page itself.

The list is not only for masters study. The same collection also carries 8 bachelors awards, 6 PhD awards and 1 fellowship, because several providers run one competition across more than one level. If you are applying for a taught masters, filter to the 30 masters entries and work from there.

Fully funded and partially funded: what the difference means in practice

A fully funded award is one where the provider says the money covers the cost of study. A partially funded award covers part of it, and you carry the rest. That distinction matters more than the label suggests, because "partially funded" can mean a tuition waiver with nothing for rent, or a fixed sum paid towards fees only.

Across the 30 awards, here is what the award text itself says it covers:

• Tuition: named by 20 awards
• Living costs: 11
• Travel: 8
• Accommodation: 5
• Research or training costs: 3
• A settling-in or arrival grant: 2

Read those as what the awards state in writing, not as a promise. An award that names tuition but not living costs will leave you funding your own rent in a UK city, and that is the number you should price before you accept a place. Where an award lists neither tuition nor living costs, this page does not know what it covers, and neither should you assume.

Can a Nigerian applicant apply?

For 15 of the 30 awards, the brief confirms that Nigerians may apply. That group splits two ways: 3 awards name Nigeria or the region in their eligibility text, and 12 carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining 15 awards do not state their eligibility on the award page as we hold it. That is not a refusal. It means the condition sits somewhere else, usually in the university's own funding pages or in the terms of the specific faculty running the award.

Where an award does state a restriction, it is normally a citizenship or residency clause, and it is worth checking before you spend money on a transcript courier. Where it states nothing, write to the scholarships office and ask directly. A short email costs nothing and settles the question faster than reading the page again.

Your qualification and the class of degree

The route into these awards is a first degree or an HND: B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND. These are taught and research masters, and awards usually state a minimum class of degree. On a Nigerian transcript, "upper second" corresponds to Second Class Upper, the 2:1. A lower second, or Third Class, will close some of these doors and leave others open, so check each award's stated minimum rather than applying blind.

Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page. Some UK universities treat a good HND with relevant work experience as equivalent to a degree; others do not. Ask the admissions office of the specific course before you build your application around it.

What the applications ask for

Across the 30 awards, the requirements stated in writing break down like this:

• A minimum degree class: 6 awards
• Letters of recommendation: 6
• Work experience: 5
• An admission offer first: 5
• An English test score (IELTS or TOEFL): 4
• A research proposal: 2

The admission-offer-first requirement is the one that catches people out. It means the scholarship clock starts only after a university has offered you a place, so the course application has to go in months earlier than the funding deadline suggests. Recommendation letters are the other practical bottleneck. Ask your referees in the same week you decide to apply, give them your CV and your personal statement, and follow up once. Nigerian referees are used to these requests and generally respond well to a clear deadline.

Only 4 awards state an English test requirement in their own text. That does not mean the other 26 waive it, because the English condition usually sits with the university rather than the scholarship. If you studied your degree in English, ask the admissions office whether a waiver applies to your case.

Deadlines: how the year falls

Eleven of the 30 awards carry a stated date. Eleven are recurring competitions that open again each cycle. Nineteen carry no date on the award page as we hold it. The busiest months for the dated ones are May with 4, then June and January with 2 each.

The awards closing soonest are:

• B.A. Krukoff Fellowship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) — Queen Mary University of London, closes 31 October, 23 days away
• Oxford Pershing Square Scholarship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) — University of Oxford, closes 6 January, 90 days away
• AfOx Graduate Scholarship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) — University of Oxford, closes 6 January, 90 days away
• Hatfield Lioness Scholarship 2026-2027 — Durham University, closes 31 March, 174 days away
• Kingston University Scholarships 2026-2027 — Kingston University, closes 10 May, 214 days away

Two of the next five close on the same day, 6 January, and both are at Oxford. If you intend to apply to either, the course application has to be in well before that date.

Who provides these awards

The University of Oxford accounts for 5 of the 30. The University of Cambridge accounts for 2, and the University of Edinburgh for 1. Some entries are listed against a group of UK universities rather than a single institution, and those are marked as such on the individual pages. The rest sit with named universities, including Queen Mary University of London, Durham University and Kingston University.

By subject, the awards cluster where you would expect. Business and Management accounts for 4, Arts and Humanities for 2, and Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, and Social Sciences for 1 each. The remaining awards are general or open across fields.

On duration, 5 awards run for 1 year, 2 run for 2 years, 1 runs for not more than 1 year depending on the course selected, and 1 is stated as 1 year for a postgraduate course. Most UK masters courses are one year, so plan your budget around a single academic year unless the award says otherwise.

Nigerian students in the UK

Nigeria sends more students to the United Kingdom than any other country, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. In 2023, 71,756 Nigerian students were studying in the UK, the highest figure for any single country. You are not applying into an empty room, and the scholarship offices at these universities handle Nigerian applications every cycle.

What to do next

• Decide your subject and shortlist three to five courses before you look at funding.
• Read each award page in full and note whether it requires an admission offer first.
• Check the stated minimum degree class against your transcript before you spend on anything.
• Request transcripts and recommendation letters early; both take weeks, not days.
• Email the scholarships office where eligibility is not stated, and keep the reply.
• Work backwards from the deadline: course application, then funding application.
• Budget for the costs the award does not name, especially living costs and travel.
• Apply to more than one award. Nothing on this page guarantees an outcome.

Start with the five awards closing soonest if any of them fit your subject. If none do, work through the full list of 30 and pick the ones whose eligibility text names Nigeria or states no nationality restriction.