We list 16 social Sciences Scholarships for Nigerian Students, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 10 of them are fully funded. Most are held in the United States (5), Australia (2) and Canada (2). 11 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
United States
5
These awards do not restrict the field of study, so social sciences applicants can apply too.
Written from the 16 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 16 scholarships in the Social Sciences that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is tagged to the Social Sciences field, and the list spans undergraduate, master's, doctoral, fellowship and postdoctoral study. Ten of the 16 are labelled Fully Funded by the provider. One is labelled Partially Funded. The remaining five do not state their funding position either way, so treat those as unknown until you read the award page itself.
Social Sciences is the largest single field on this site, with 16 awards. For comparison, Arts & Humanities carries 11 and Business & Management carries 8. If your degree sits at the edge of the social sciences — economics, public policy, development studies, education — it is worth checking the related collections as well, because some awards are cross-tagged.
The United States accounts for 5 of the 16. Australia and Canada each carry 2, and the United Kingdom carries 2. China, the Netherlands, Qatar, Romania and Switzerland each carry 1.
That spread matters when you are pricing the application. A US award usually means a longer, more document-heavy process. A European or Asian award may mean a shorter course and a different visa timeline. Read each award page for what it actually states rather than assuming a pattern.
Some awards accept more than one level, which is why the counts add up to more than 16. The master's and PhD numbers are where most Nigerian applicants will land, but the undergraduate and high school entries are worth a look if you are applying straight from secondary school or helping a younger sibling.
These figures come from the wording on the awards themselves, not from a general promise. Of the 16, 7 name living costs and 7 name travel. 6 name tuition and 6 name accommodation. 4 name health insurance, and 3 name research or training costs.
Read that list carefully before you budget. An award that names tuition and accommodation but not travel still leaves you paying for a flight. An award that names living costs but not tuition may still expect you to cover fees. Where an award does not name a benefit in its own text, do not assume it is included. Five awards on this page do not state their funding at all, and nothing on this page should be read as describing what those five cover.
Of the 16 awards, 11 are open to Nigerian applicants. Within that group, 1 names Nigeria or the region explicitly, and 10 carry no nationality restriction at all. Those two figures are parts of the same 11, not separate pools.
A further 5 awards do not state their eligibility on the award page. That is not a yes and it is not a no. It means you have to open the award and read the eligibility section yourself, or contact the provider, before you spend money on a transcript or a courier.
Where an award names a minimum degree class, that is stated in writing and you should check your own result against it before applying. Only one award on this page states a minimum degree class requirement, and only one states a work experience requirement. Most of the filtering here happens on documents, not on class of degree.
Letters of recommendation are the single most common requirement, and they are also the slowest thing to arrange from Nigeria. A lecturer who has moved institutions, a supervisor on sabbatical, a former employer who needs reminding — each one adds days. Start those requests before you start the form.
The English test figure is worth noting: 6 of 16 ask for IELTS or TOEFL. That means the majority do not state it as a requirement. If you studied your degree in English, check the award page for a waiver before you pay for a test. Three awards ask for a research proposal, which is mostly a doctoral and research-master's concern. Three require you to hold an admission offer before you apply for the funding, so the funding deadline is not your real deadline — the university admission deadline is.
Twelve of the 16 awards carry a stated date, and all 12 of those are still open. Four are undated. Twelve recur annually, so a deadline you miss this cycle will come round again.
The busiest month is December, with 3 deadlines. October carries 2 and April carries 1. If you are planning a cycle, build your document preparation around a December cluster rather than treating it as a quiet month.
The awards closing soonest are:
One further award worth noting is the Doha Institute For Graduate Studies Scholarship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) in Qatar, which closes 15 January.
Work backwards from the deadline, not forwards from today. If an award requires a letter of recommendation, an English test score and a certified transcript, you are looking at weeks of lead time, not days. Transcripts from Nigerian universities and courier delivery are the two steps most likely to slip.
Start with the awards that name Nigeria or the region, then move to the ten with no nationality restriction. Read the eligibility section on each one before you commit money to documents. Where eligibility is not stated, ask the provider directly rather than guessing.
Finally, check the related collections. Arts & Humanities carries 11 awards, Business & Management carries 8, and Public Policy & Development carries 1. If your research sits between two fields, an award filed under a neighbouring subject may still be open to you.
A browser notification when a scholarship you can apply for is added or about to close. No account needed.
