Top Scholarships in UK for International Students

The United Kingdom funds more international students than almost anywhere else, and more of that funding goes unclaimed than students realise — not because the competition is impossible, but because the calendar defeats people.

British deadlines fall early and they fall apart. Chevening closes in October, a full year before you would start. Commonwealth closes in October too, but through a body in your own country rather than through the Commission. Oxford’s two biggest awards need no application at all, so students hunting for a form never find one and assume they are ineligible.

This page sets out all nine routes, each with its real deadline and its real odds, and links to our full guide on each. We checked every figure against the official pages in October 2026.

October. Chevening and the Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships both close. The Gates Cambridge round for United States applicants closes on 14 October 2026.

December and January. The universities. Gates Cambridge’s international round, Oxford’s Clarendon Fund and the Felix Scholarship all run on the course application deadlines, which fall in December or January depending on your subject.

January. Reach Oxford, the undergraduate award, closes on 26 January 2027 for 2027 entry.

Rolling. GREAT Scholarships and individual university awards follow each university’s own dates.

If you take one thing from this page: the funding deadline usually comes before, or at the same time as, the admission deadline. Students who plan to “apply for scholarships after getting an offer” lose most of this list.

The government schemes

Chevening

The British government’s flagship award, for a one-year master’s, covering fees, living costs and flights.

Status: the 2027-28 round has closed. It opened in August 2026 and closed in October 2026, with the exact date varying by country. Results reach applicants from mid-June 2027, and scholars begin studying in September or October 2027. The next round opens in August 2027.

That makes the coming ten months preparation time rather than application time, which is the best position a Chevening applicant can be in. The essays reward people who have thought about their leadership record for months, not days.

→ Full guide: Chevening Scholarship

Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships

For citizens and refugees from 41 Commonwealth countries, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The Commission particularly welcomes applicants from Small Island Developing States.

The package is substantial: approved return airfare, full tuition, a monthly stipend of £1,712, or £2,000 in London, study travel grants, and a child allowance of £622 a month for a first child.

The rule that stops most people, and it stops them late: you cannot apply to the Commission directly. Every application goes through a nominating body — a national nominating agency or an approved non-governmental organisation in your own country. Students who discover this in the final week have already lost, because the nominating body has its own earlier process.

The deadline for 2027-28 study is 16:00 BST on Tuesday 20 October, with results expected by July 2027.

→ Full guide: Commonwealth Scholarship

The Oxbridge awards

Gates Cambridge

Full funding for postgraduate study at Cambridge, and one of the most competitive awards in the world.

Applications for 2027/8 are open now. The round for United States citizens resident in the USA closes on 14 October 2026, with outcomes by 14 December 2026. Everyone else applies in the international round, which closes on either 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027 depending on the course — check the University Course Directory for your own programme. Outcomes arrive by 8 March 2027.

One detail that catches winners out: you must accept within 72 hours of receiving an offer.

→ Full guide: Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Clarendon Fund, Oxford

The largest fully-funded scheme at either university, and the most misunderstood.

Clarendon offers over 200 new fully-funded scholarships each year, covering course fees and a living grant. There are no restrictions on nationality, ordinary residence or field of study, and every full-time and part-time DPhil and master’s course qualifies.

There is no separate application. Oxford states it plainly: you receive automatic consideration if you apply by the December or January deadline for your course. Students spend weeks looking for a Clarendon form that does not exist, and the thing that actually matters — submitting the course application by the right deadline — receives none of that attention.

→ Full guide: Clarendon Fund Scholarship

Reach Oxford

The rare British award aimed at undergraduates, and the reason it belongs on every list for students from lower-income countries.

It covers course fees, a living grant and one return flight a year for three or four years. Eligibility runs to nationals of countries on the OECD Development Assistance Committee list, and selection weighs academic ability alongside financial need and an inability to study in your own country.

Two hard facts the listing sites leave out. Only two to three awards exist each year, which makes this one of the narrowest competitions anywhere on this page. And medicine is excluded. Oxford also states plainly that it holds no additional funding for strong candidates who miss out.

You need an offer from Oxford first. For 2027 entry the scholarship closes on 26 January 2027, with selection in April and results by the end of May.

→ Full guide: Reach Oxford Scholarship

Felix Scholarship

Postgraduate funding at Oxford, Reading and SOAS, worth 100 per cent of course fees, a living grant of around £19,000, and one return flight. Up to seven awards a year across all three universities.

Eligibility is unusually specific. Indian applicants must be nationals of and ordinarily resident in India, hold a first-class undergraduate or master’s degree from an Indian university, and hold no degree from outside India. Non-Indian applicants must come from countries on the OECD list of Other Low Income or Least Developed Countries, with the same first-class requirement and the same restriction on foreign degrees.

Felix also carries an expectation the other awards do not: scholars are expected to return home after their studies. Treat that as part of the deal rather than as small print.

Like Clarendon, consideration is automatic through the course application by the December or January deadline.

→ Full guide: Felix Scholarship

The partial awards worth having

GREAT Scholarships

Jointly funded by the British Council, the GREAT Britain Campaign and the participating universities, for one-year postgraduate courses.

Each scholarship offers a minimum of £10,000 towards tuition fees — a genuine help, and not full funding. Expect to cover the rest of your fees and all your living costs yourself.

The country list changes each cycle and differs between subject streams. Recent science and technology rounds covered Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Thailand. You apply to the participating university, not to the British Council, so the deadline is the university’s.

→ Full guide: GREAT Scholarships

University of Westminster

Westminster’s current scholarships page lists an International Postgraduate Excellence Award of £3,000 to £5,000, with a deadline of 30 November 2026 for January 2027 entry, and an undergraduate excellence award of £2,500.

One caution, and we would rather give it than leave you to find out alone. Westminster’s larger “Full International Scholarship”, which many sites still advertise as covering tuition, accommodation and living costs, does not appear on the university’s own current scholarships list. Before you build a plan around it, open Westminster’s own page and confirm it exists for your intake. If a scheme has ended, the listing sites will be the last to say so.

→ Full guide: Westminster International Scholarship

One that is not a UK scholarship at all

Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships

Students find QECS on UK scholarship lists constantly, and it does not fund study in the United Kingdom.

QECS funds two-year master’s degrees at ACU member universities in low and middle-income Commonwealth countries. The award is generous — full tuition, a living allowance, return economy flights, an arrival allowance and a research support grant on request — and the minimum requirement is a 2:1 or equivalent at undergraduate level. Applications run in two cycles a year, around November and December, and again around March and April.

So if your plan is Britain, this is not your award. If your plan is a funded master’s anywhere in the Commonwealth, it may be the best one on this page, and far fewer people apply.

One warning the ACU itself publishes: the “Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship Council” is not an official partner. Apply only through the ACU and CSC websites.

→ Full guide: Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships

The mistakes that cost students a year

Waiting for an offer before applying for funding. Most of this list closes before or alongside the admission deadline.

Applying to the Commonwealth Commission directly. It does not accept direct applications. A nominating body in your own country is the only route, and it has its own earlier process.

Hunting for a Clarendon or Felix application form. Neither exists. The course application by the December or January deadline is the whole process.

Treating GREAT as full funding. It is a minimum of £10,000 towards fees. The rest is yours.

Assuming Reach Oxford is a realistic backup. Two to three awards a year, and no medicine.

Trusting a listing site over the official page. Chevening has closed for this cycle, and at least one widely advertised Westminster award is missing from Westminster’s own list.

Frequently asked questions

Which UK scholarship is easiest to get?

None of them is easy, but the odds differ enormously. Clarendon awards over 200 scholarships a year with no nationality restriction; Reach Oxford awards two or three. Apply where the numbers are, not only where the name is.

Can I apply for Chevening now?

No. The 2027-28 round closed in October 2026. The next round opens in August 2027, which gives you ten months to prepare properly.

Do I need an offer before applying for a scholarship?

It depends. Reach Oxford requires an Oxford offer. Clarendon, Felix and Gates Cambridge run through your course application. Chevening and Commonwealth let you apply before you hold an unconditional offer, within their own rules.

What is a nominating body?

For Commonwealth Scholarships, a national agency or approved organisation in your own country that puts candidates forward. The Commission accepts applications only through them.

Which awards cover undergraduate study?

Reach Oxford, and Westminster’s undergraduate excellence award. Most British funding for international students sits at postgraduate level, which is the opposite of what students expect.

Do these cover living costs?

Chevening, Commonwealth, Gates Cambridge, Clarendon, Reach Oxford and Felix all include a living grant. GREAT and the Westminster excellence awards are fee contributions only.

Is IELTS required?

The university sets the English requirement, not the scholarship. Some accept a medium of instruction letter instead; our free MOI generator produces the request letter for your registrar.

How many can I apply for at once?

As many as you qualify for. Clarendon and Felix cost you nothing extra, since both ride on the Oxford course application you were submitting anyway.

What to do this week

If Commonwealth Master’s fits you, find your country’s nominating body today. The deadline is 16:00 BST on 20 October and the nominating body’s own process runs earlier.

If you are aiming at Oxford or Cambridge, work backwards from your course deadline in December or January. That single date carries Clarendon, Felix and the Gates Cambridge international round.

If Chevening is your plan, use the ten months. Read the essay questions now and start collecting the specific examples you will need in August 2027.

When you reach the writing stage, our tools cost nothing and need no account — the personal statement generator, the CV reviewer to check your academic CV line by line, and the email reviewer before you write to a supervisor. The full set sits on our free tools page.

For funded routes elsewhere, see our hubs on scholarships in USA and scholarships in Australia.

We checked every figure on this page against the official sources in October 2026 — Chevening, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, Gates Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the British Council, the University of Westminster and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. Deadlines and award values change between cycles, and listing sites update slowly. If you find something here that no longer matches the official page, write to us at scholarwingofficial@gmail.com and we will correct it.

Sources: Chevening application timeline · Commonwealth Scholarship Commission · Gates Cambridge deadlines · Oxford Clarendon Fund · Oxford Reach Oxford Scholarship · Oxford Felix Scholarships · British Council GREAT Scholarships · University of Westminster scholarships · ACU Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships