We list 4 partially Funded PhD Scholarships for Nigerian Students, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. Most are held in Australia (1), Singapore (1) and Thailand (1). 3 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
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 partially funded PhD scholarships open to Nigerian students. Every award here is at doctoral level, and every one of them is labelled partial funding rather than full funding. That label matters. A partial award pays for part of what a doctorate costs, and you cover the rest from your own pocket, from a supervisor's research budget, or from another award you win separately.
The awards sit in four countries: Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. The providers named in the listings include Charles Darwin University, S P Jain School of Global Management, and a group described as leading universities worldwide. The Asian Institute of Technology award in Thailand does not name a separate provider in its listing.
Because the page is small, you can read every entry properly rather than skimming. That is an advantage when you are paying for transcripts and courier fees and cannot afford to apply blindly.
Of the 4 awards, 3 are open to Nigerian applicants. Within that group, none names Nigeria or the West African region specifically, and all 3 carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining award does not state its eligibility on the listing, so you would need to check the award's own page before spending money on documents.
No award on this page names Nigeria or the region as a target. That is not a barrier. It means you are applying as an international candidate under a general rule rather than under a country-specific scheme, and you should read each award's eligibility clause in full before you commit.
The qualification that leads into this level is a master's degree. The brief lists M.Sc, M.A, MBA and M.Phil as the qualifications that fit. If you hold an HND plus a master's, or a B.Sc with a strong research record and a master's on top, the master's is the credential that matters here.
Read the funding line on each award before anything else. Across the 4 listings, the benefits named in the awards' own text break down like this:
These are what the awards say in writing, not a promise of what you will receive. A single award may name more than one of these benefits, so the numbers above describe how many awards mention each item, not how many awards exist.
The practical point for a Nigerian applicant is the gap. If an award covers tuition and research costs but says nothing about living costs, you are funding your own rent, food, health cover and flights in Australia, Singapore, Thailand or the United States. Work out that figure before you accept a place, not after. A partial award that covers tuition in a high-cost city can still leave you short each month.
The requirements stated on these listings are modest, but they are real:
Only one award states an English test requirement outright. That does not mean the others waive it. Where an award is silent, the university's own admission rules usually decide, and many institutions accept a degree taught in English as grounds for a waiver. Confirm this with the admissions office in writing before you pay for a test you may not need.
The award that asks for an admission offer first is the one to plan around. It means the scholarship application cannot succeed on its own. You must be admitted to the doctoral programme before the funding is considered, which pushes your timeline back by months. Start the programme application and the funding application as one project, not two.
Doctoral funding is often tied to a supervisor or a research group. Where that is the case, the programme application and the scholarship application frequently share a single deadline. Approach a potential supervisor early, with a clear research proposal and your transcripts, rather than submitting a cold application and waiting.
The deadline picture on this page is uneven, and you should treat it as such:
November is the busiest month on this page, with one award closing then. The award closing soonest is the Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowships 2027, which closes on 8 November and is listed for the United States. If that date is close when you read this, decide now whether you can assemble a complete application in time.
Three of the four awards carry no date in the listing. For those, the deadline sits on the award's own page or on the provider's site, and it can shift between cycles. Do not assume an undated award is open indefinitely. Check the source, note the date in your calendar, and work backwards from it.
One award runs on a recurring cycle and one is open all year. Recurring awards are worth diarising a year ahead, because a missed cycle costs you twelve months.
You will be paying for transcripts, courier fees and possibly an English test out of your own pocket. That changes how you should work through a list of 4.
Order the awards by what they cover and by how close the deadline is. An award that names living costs or travel is worth more to you than one that names tuition alone, because tuition is often the part a university can discount or waive. Then check eligibility on the award's own page before you spend anything. One award here does not state its eligibility, and you should not assume it is open to you.
Request transcripts early. Nigerian universities can take weeks to process them, and courier delays add more. If an award asks for an admission offer first, the transcript request is the first step in a chain that ends with funding, so start it before you finalise your research proposal.
Ask your referees well in advance. One award states letters of recommendation as a requirement, but most doctoral applications expect them regardless. Give your referees your proposal, your transcripts and the award's own criteria, so their letters speak to the right things.
Start with the award that closes soonest. The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowships 2027 closes on 8 November, and it is one of the awards on this page open to Nigerian applicants.
Then work through the other three listings, checking each one's own page for the deadline and the eligibility clause:
For each one, confirm three things before you apply: whether Nigerian applicants are eligible, what the award pays for and what it leaves to you, and the exact deadline for the current cycle. Write the answers down in one place.
Finally, plan the money. A partial award is a contribution, not a full ride. Add up tuition, living costs, travel, accommodation and health cover for the country you are targeting, subtract what the award names, and see whether the remainder is something you can carry. If it is not, look for a second award or a funded research post before you accept a place. Four awards is a short list, so treat each application as one you intend to complete properly rather than one of many sent out at random.
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