We list 20 scholarships for Nigerian Students in Canada, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 10 of them are fully funded. 10 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
United Kingdom
40
United States
37
Australia
27
Canada
China
12
Italy
10
Sweden
10
Germany
9
United Arab Emirates
9
Belgium
8
Japan
8
Switzerland
8
Netherlands
6
Russia
6
Thailand
6
Denmark
5
New Zealand
5
Saudi Arabia
5
Singapore
5
Austria
4
Brazil
4
Ireland
4
Turkey
4
France
3
Norway
3
Qatar
3
Spain
2
Written from the 20 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 20 scholarships in Canada open to Nigerian students, gathered in one place so you can compare them without opening twenty separate tabs. Ten of the awards are labelled fully funded and one is labelled partially funded. The remaining nine do not state their funding either way, so treat those as unknown until you read the award page itself.
The awards span several study levels. Bachelors is the largest group at 14, followed by Masters and PhD at 8 each, then Fellowship at 4. There is one postdoctoral award, one high school award and one short course. Some awards appear under more than one level, which is why the level counts add up to more than 20.
Canada is the only country on this page. Every award listed is tenable at a Canadian institution.
Ten of the 20 awards are open to Nigerians. Of those ten, none names Nigeria or the African region in its eligibility text, and all ten carry no nationality restriction at all. In other words, the route in is not a Nigeria-specific quota; it is an award that simply does not exclude you by passport.
For the other ten, eligibility is not stated on the award as we hold it. That is not a refusal. It means the award page does not spell out nationality terms in the text we have, and you will need to check the provider's own requirements before you spend money on a transcript or a courier.
Canada is a familiar destination for Nigerian students. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 12,072 Nigerian students in Canada in 2023, the third-largest group of Nigerian students in any country. You are not applying into a vacuum.
Read these as what the awards state in writing, not as a promise of what lands in your account. Of the 20, four name tuition, three name travel, two name living costs, one names accommodation, and one names research or training costs. Where an award is labelled fully funded, that label usually bundles several of these, but the exact composition differs by provider and you should confirm it on the award page.
Nine awards do not label their funding at all. We are not going to guess what those cover. Open them and read the terms.
Where durations are stated, they range from a single year of study up to four years. One award runs for three years, one for four years, one for three to four years depending on the programme selected, and one for a maximum of three years.
The most common requirement on this list is a letter of recommendation, named by eight awards. That is the single item most likely to slow a Nigerian applicant down, because it depends on a supervisor or lecturer who has to write and sometimes post it. Ask early, give them a deadline that is two weeks before the real one, and give them your CV and personal statement so they are not writing blind.
Three awards name an English test score, such as IELTS or TOEFL. Three name a minimum degree class. Two ask for a research proposal, which applies to the doctoral and fellowship awards. One requires an admission offer first, meaning the scholarship follows the admission and not the other way round.
If you are applying from Nigeria, the practical sequence is usually: confirm whether the award needs an admission offer, sit or waive your English test, request transcripts from your institution, then request your recommendation letters. Transcripts and courier fees are yours to pay, and they take time. Build that into your calendar rather than discovering it in the final week.
Not every award on the page restricts itself to a subject, but where a field is named, the spread is small and specific:
If your field is not named, that does not automatically rule you out. It means the award does not name a field restriction in its text, so check the provider's terms.
The providers on this page are Canadian universities and one national doctoral scheme. The University of British Columbia appears twice under that name and once as UBC, so three awards trace back to that institution. The University of Toronto, York University and McGill University each provide one. One award, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, is hosted by a Canadian institution with a quota to host Vanier scholars rather than by a single named university.
That mix matters for how you apply. University awards usually run through the institution's own admissions or graduate funding office. The Vanier route runs through a host institution that holds a quota, so your first step is finding a supervisor and a department willing to put you forward.
Two awards on this page carry a stated date, two are listed as still open, and 18 are undated in the text we hold. Two are recurring. Among the dated ones, the busiest months are January and February, with one award closing in each.
The two closing soonest are worth naming now:
Other awards on the page carry deadlines described as "see details" or an anticipated window rather than a fixed date. The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship 2027 is listed as closing before November 2026, anticipated on the 2026-2027 competition cycle. The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship Program 2027 at the University of Toronto and the UBC Four Years Doctoral Fellowship Program (4YF) 2027 both point you to their details page for the deadline. York University Scholarships 2027 lists a Fall 2026 admission deadline of 15 February 2026.
Because 18 of the 20 are undated here, do not treat this page as a calendar. Treat it as a shortlist. Open each award you are interested in and confirm the current cycle's date on the provider's own page.
Start with the two dated awards if either fits your level, because they are the ones you can plan around today. If you are an undergraduate, the UBC award is the nearer deadline. If you are going into a Master's or doctoral programme, the Saskatchewan award gives you more room.
Then work through the rest by level. If you are finishing a B.Sc or HND and looking at a Bachelor's or Master's, the 14 Bachelor's awards and 8 Master's awards are your pool. If you already hold a Master's and are chasing a PhD, look at the 8 doctoral awards and the 4 fellowships, and note that two of them ask for a research proposal.
Before you pay for anything, confirm two things on each award page: whether Nigerians are eligible, and whether the award needs an admission offer before you can apply. Those two answers decide the order in which you do everything else.
Looking to study in Canada without the burden of tuition fees? Great news for aspiring international students! Canada offers a wide range of fully funded scholarships for Nigerian students in 2026-2027, making world-class education accessible and affordable. These scholarships cover tuition, living expenses, health insurance, and even travel costs—opening doors to top-ranked Canadian universities. Whether you're applying for undergraduate, master's, or PhD programs, this guide lists the best funding opportunities available. Studying in Canada not only provides academic excellence but also a multicultural environment, permanent residency pathways, and globally recognized degrees. Read on to explore the top scholarship programs in Canada for international students and learn how to apply successfully.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2023.
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