Scholarships for Nigerian Students in Brazil 2026-2027

What this page lists

This page collects 4 scholarships in Brazil that are open to Nigerian students. Every one of the four is labelled Fully Funded by the body offering it. They are not a single programme with a single deadline; they are four separate funding routes, run by different institutions and agencies, each with its own call and its own paperwork.

The awards sit at three study levels. All 4 cover Master's study, 3 cover PhD study, and 2 cover postdoctoral research. If you are applying with a B.Sc or HND and looking for a taught or research Master's, all four are relevant to you. If you already hold an M.Sc and want to continue to a doctorate, three of the four are.

You can open each one directly:

• PEC-PG Scholarship
• CAPES Scholarships
• CNPq Scholarships
• GCUB-Mob Scholarships

What the awards pay for

All four awards state that they cover tuition, and all four state that they cover living costs. That combination matters for a Nigerian applicant, because it means the two largest lines in any study-abroad budget are addressed by the award itself rather than by your family.

Two of the four also name travel in their own text, and two name research or training costs. Where an award names research or training costs, that usually refers to money tied to the project you are admitted to carry out, not a general allowance you can spend freely.

The awards describe their stipends in Brazilian real. PEC-PG lists a monthly figure for Master's and a higher monthly figure for PhD, and CAPES and CNPq describe comparable monthly stipends at the same two levels, with postdoctoral amounts described as higher and dependent on the programme and research area. GCUB-Mob describes its package as tuition plus stipend plus academic facilities without publishing a monthly figure on the listing.

Read each award's own page for the exact wording. What is written on the award is what the award says; it is not a promise that every cost you will face is covered.

Whether a Nigerian applicant qualifies

None of the four awards states a nationality restriction in the text captured here. None of them names Nigeria or the West African region either. For all four, the eligibility position on nationality is simply not stated on the award as listed.

That is a practical instruction rather than a reassurance. It means you cannot settle the question from this page. You settle it by opening the award, finding the eligibility section, and reading whether the call is restricted to nationals of particular countries or to applicants from particular partner institutions. Where a call is silent, the correct next step is to write to the coordinating body and ask directly, before you spend money on transcripts or courier fees.

Brazilian graduate admissions also run in Portuguese at most institutions. If a programme's language of instruction is Portuguese, you will be asked to show proficiency, and that requirement sits alongside the scholarship application rather than being waived by it. Check the language requirement on the specific programme, not only on the funding call.

What the applications demand

The application load across these four awards is consistent, and it is document-heavy. All four state that they require a research proposal. All four state that they require letters of recommendation.

For a Nigerian applicant, that means two things start early. First, your proposal has to be written before you apply, not adapted from a statement of purpose. It should name a topic, a question, a method and a reason the work belongs in a Brazilian research group. Second, your referees need notice. Lecturers in Nigerian departments are asked for these letters constantly, and a request made two weeks before a deadline is a request that may not be answered in time.

Beyond those two items, expect the usual set: academic transcripts, degree certificates, and a valid international passport. Transcripts from Nigerian universities take time to produce and often require a physical visit to the registry, followed by couriering. Budget for both the fee and the delay.

How the deadlines fall

None of the four awards on this page carries a fixed date in the listing. All four are recorded as undated, which means the deadline is set by each call rather than published once and left standing.

What the listings do tell you is the pattern. PEC-PG says its deadline varies by call and generally opens mid-year. CAPES says deadlines vary by programme and call and are announced annually on its portal. CNPq says the same, announced annually on its website. GCUB-Mob says its call is announced annually, usually between April and June.

The workable conclusion is that you cannot treat any of these as a single date to diarise. You follow the coordinating body's announcements, and you prepare your documents in advance so that when a call opens you are assembling a submission rather than starting one.

How many Nigerians study in Brazil

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 187 Nigerian students were recorded in Brazil in 2024, placing Nigeria 45th among the countries sending students there.

That is a small number against the size of Nigeria's outward student flow, and it is worth understanding why. Brazil is not an English-speaking destination, its graduate applications run largely in Portuguese, and its funding calls are published in Portuguese first. The four awards on this page are the ones that reach an English-reading Nigerian audience. The figure of 187 is not a limit on anything; it is context for how unusual this route currently is.

What to do next

Start with the award whose level matches where you are now, and read its eligibility section before anything else.

• Open PEC-PG if you are applying for a Master's or PhD and want a call that runs mid-year.
• Open CAPES if you want the widest level coverage, including postdoctoral.
• Open CNPq if your work is research-led and you want a postdoctoral route.
• Open GCUB-Mob if you want the broadest choice of host institutions, since it runs across a network of Brazilian universities.

Then do three things in parallel. Draft your research proposal, because all four awards ask for one. Ask your referees now, because all four ask for letters of recommendation. And confirm the nationality position in writing with the coordinating body, because none of the four states it on the award as listed here.

Do the document work before the call opens. The transcript queue and the courier timeline are the parts you control, and they are the parts that most often decide whether an application leaves Nigeria on time.