Fully Funded Scholarships for Africans 2027: The Complete Updated List

Last updated: 28 October 2026

If you are an African student looking for fully funded scholarships for Africans 2027, start here: this list covers 24 verified programmes for 2027 entry, from Chevening and Erasmus Mundus to DAAD, the Swedish Institute and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. Every programme below was checked on its official funder or university page on 28 October 2026. Each entry tells you what it covers, who can apply, the real deadline or status, and how to apply. Some big October deadlines have already closed; we say so plainly, because a list that hides closed deadlines wastes your time.

Key takeaways
– 24 programmes are listed, organised by region. Six are still open or opening soon for 2027 entry: Commonwealth Shared (10 Nov–8 Dec 2026), Mastercard Foundation at Edinburgh (closes 19 Nov 2026), DAAD In-Country/In-Region (12 Nov 2026), Gates Cambridge (Dec 2026/Jan 2027), the Swedish Institute (Feb 2027) and Türkiye Burslari (expected Jan–Feb 2027).
– “Fully funded” should mean tuition plus living costs as a minimum. Every entry states exactly what is covered, so you can spot the gaps (for example, Eiffel does not pay tuition itself).
– Nigeria’s BEA scholarship is suspended. Any page telling you to apply for BEA in 2027 is out of date.
– Nomination matters: Lester B. Pearson, Commonwealth Master’s, Stipendium Hungaricum and Eiffel all require someone (a school, a national agency, a sending partner or a French university) to put your name forward. You cannot do those applications alone at the last minute.
– Deadlines marked “to be confirmed” follow the previous cycle’s pattern and are not yet officially announced. Check the official page before you plan around them.

What “fully funded” actually means

Scholarship pages use “fully funded” loosely, so use a stricter test before you spend weeks on an application. A genuinely fully funded award covers, at minimum: full tuition for the whole programme, a living allowance or stipend for each month of study, and health insurance. The strongest awards on this list also pay for your flight, visa costs, settling-in expenses and books.

Three things are usually not covered, even by generous awards: money for dependants (Chevening, for example, funds the scholar only), application fees charged by universities (a few programmes reimburse or waive them: McGill’s Mastercard route gives pre-screened applicants a fee waiver), and your costs before the first stipend lands. Budget a small personal buffer for passport renewal, document authentication, medical checks and local travel to interviews or embassies.

Finally, read the return-home conditions. Chevening requires you to return home for at least two years. Commonwealth scholars commit to returning home at the end of the award. Fulbright grants carry exchange-visitor conditions. These are good programmes, but they are built to send skills back home. Apply with that plan in mind.

From our editorial team: The document that delays applicants most often, in our experience, is the academic transcript: schools and ministries issue them slowly, and funders reject substitutes. Request yours the day you shortlist a programme, in the exact format the funder asks for, not the week you plan to submit.

Deadline summary: every programme at a glance

Programme	Where	Level	Deadline / status for 2027 entry
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships	UK	Master’s	Opens 10 Nov 2026, closes 8 Dec 2026
Mastercard Foundation Scholars, Edinburgh	UK (and online)	Master’s, PGDip	Closes 19 Nov 2026, 5pm UK time
DAAD In-Country/In-Region	Africa	Master’s	12 Nov 2026 (to be confirmed)
Gates Cambridge	UK	Master’s, PhD	8 Dec 2026 or 6 Jan 2027 (by course)
Clarendon, Oxford	UK	Master’s, DPhil	Your course’s Dec 2026/Jan 2027 deadline
France Excellence Eiffel	France	Master’s, PhD	Institutions submit by 6 Jan 2027
Stipendium Hungaricum	Hungary	Bachelor’s–PhD	Expected mid-Jan 2027 (not yet announced)
Türkiye Burslari	Türkiye	Bachelor’s–PhD	Expected 10 Jan–20 Feb 2027 (to be confirmed)
Swedish Institute	Sweden	Master’s	Apply to programmes by 15 Jan 2027; scholarship 8–24 Feb 2027
Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters	Europe (2+ countries)	Master’s	Per programme, mostly Dec 2026–Jan 2027
DAAD EPOS	Germany	Master’s, PhD	Per course: check the DAAD 2027/2028 course list
VLIR-UOS ICP Connect	Belgium	Bachelor’s, Master’s	Overall 28 Feb 2027; many programmes earlier (country list to be confirmed)
Lester B. Pearson, Toronto	Canada	Bachelor’s	Nominees only: scholarship form by 6 Nov 2026
UBC International Scholars	Canada	Bachelor’s	15 Nov 2026 (to be confirmed)
Chinese Government Scholarship	China	Bachelor’s–PhD	Per agency/university, from Dec 2026 (to be confirmed)
Global Korea Scholarship (graduate)	South Korea	Master’s, PhD	Expected Feb–Mar 2027 (to be confirmed)
MEXT (university recommendation)	Japan	Master’s, PhD	Per university, many Oct–Dec 2026 (to be confirmed)
Chevening	UK	Master’s	Closed 6 Oct 2026; next cycle Aug 2027
Commonwealth Master’s & PhD	UK	Master’s, PhD	Closed 20 Oct 2026; next cycle Sep 2027
Rhodes	UK	Master’s, PhD	Closed Aug 2026; next cycle June 2027
Knight-Hennessy, Stanford	USA	Graduate	Closed 6 Oct 2026; next cycle summer 2027
Mastercard Foundation Scholars, McGill	Canada	Master’s	Fall 2027 cycle closed; check Spring 2027
Australia Awards Africa	Australia	Master’s	2027 intake closed 30 Apr 2026; next expected Feb 2027 (to be confirmed)
Schwarzman Scholars	China	Master’s	Class of 2027-28 closed 9 Sep 2026; next opens Apr 2027
Fulbright (per country)	USA	Varies	Country-specific: check your Commission/Embassy (to be confirmed)

United Kingdom

The UK hosts the densest cluster of fully funded scholarships for African students, and the earliest deadlines. If you are reading this in November 2026, two of the biggest UK rounds have just closed, one is about to open, and two run into December and January.

1. Chevening Scholarship

Funder: UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Level: one-year taught master’s, any subject, any UK university.

Chevening is the UK government’s flagship award for future leaders. It covers full tuition, a monthly stipend, an arrival and homeward allowance, visa and Immigration Health Surcharge costs, and an economy flight to and from the UK. For the 2027/28 cycle, applications opened on 4 August 2026 and closed on 6 October 2026. This is now a “prepare for August 2027” programme, not a live one.

Eligibility is stricter than most lists admit. You must be a citizen of a Chevening-eligible country (most African countries qualify), have finished your undergraduate degree at least two years before the deadline, show at least two years of post-degree work experience (2,800 hours), apply to three eligible UK courses, and commit to returning home for two years after the award. Successful candidates need an unconditional offer from one of their three courses by 8 July 2027.

How to apply next cycle: apply free on chevening.org from August 2027, and apply to your three universities separately and early. If you are planning a UK master’s for 2027 entry through another route, read our guide to UK student visa proof of funds from Nigeria before you budget: the maintenance figures most blogs quote are out of date.

2. Commonwealth Master’s and PhD Scholarships

Funder: Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC), funded by the FCDO. Level: master’s and PhD at UK universities, under six development themes.

These awards cover approved airfare to and from the UK, full tuition, a monthly stipend, a warm-clothing allowance, thesis grant and study travel. Eligible countries are low- and middle-income Commonwealth members: in Africa that includes Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia.

The crucial detail most listings bury: you do not simply apply to the CSC. For Master’s and PhD awards you apply through a nominating agency in your country, and that agency may set an earlier deadline than the CSC’s. For 2027/28, applications opened 8 September 2026 and closed at 16:00 BST on 20 October 2026. Results are expected by July 2027 for study starting September/October 2027. The next round should open in September 2027. Use the year to find your nominating agency and prepare a development-focused study plan.

3. Commonwealth Shared Scholarships: still open

Funder: CSC jointly with UK universities. Level: one-year taught master’s on selected courses.

Shared Scholarships are the Commonwealth route you can still catch for 2027 entry. Applications open on Tuesday 10 November 2026 and close at 16:00 GMT on Tuesday 8 December 2026. The package mirrors the main Commonwealth award: full tuition, return airfare, a monthly stipend and allowances, shared between the CSC and your university.

The route is different, though: you apply for an approved course at a participating UK university and complete the CSC Central application. There is no national nominating agency for this scheme. Only the listed courses at listed universities count, and the 2027 course list is published ahead of the opening date, so check the CSC page in the first week of November and start your university application immediately.

4. Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Funder: Gates Cambridge Trust. Level: postgraduate degrees at the University of Cambridge (PhD and eligible one-year courses such as master’s and MLitt).

Gates Cambridge offers around 70 full-cost scholarships a year to citizens of countries outside the UK: course fees, a maintenance allowance, airfare and visa/IHS costs. There is no separate scholarship form: you apply through the Cambridge Graduate Application Portal and complete the Gates Cambridge section inside it.

For 2027/8 entry, applications opened 11 September 2026. If you are not a US citizen resident in the USA, your deadline is your course’s funding deadline: 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027, 11:59pm UK time, references included. Find your course in Cambridge’s Course Directory, note which of the two dates applies, and brief your referees a month ahead, because late references cannot be added.

5. Clarendon Scholarships, University of Oxford

Funder: Clarendon Fund, University of Oxford. Level: master’s and DPhil, all subjects.

Clarendon awards more than 200 new fully funded scholarships every year, covering full course fees plus a grant for living expenses for the period you are liable for fees. There is no nationality restriction and no separate application: everyone who applies for an eligible Oxford graduate course by that course’s December or January deadline is automatically considered.

That simplicity is the trap. Oxford course deadlines fall in December 2026 or January 2027 depending on the course, and applications sent for later deadlines are not considered for Clarendon. Pick your course now, work backwards from its deadline, and treat the personal statement and references as your scholarship application, because for Clarendon, they are.

6. Rhodes Scholarship, University of Oxford

Funder: Rhodes Trust. Level: postgraduate degrees at Oxford.

The Rhodes is the oldest international scholarship in the world and one of the most competitive: it covers Oxford course fees, college fees, a living stipend, airfare and visa/IHS costs. Africans apply through constituencies: West Africa (including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone and others), East Africa, Southern Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe each run their own selection with their own rules on age, citizenship and residency.

For October 2027 entry, West Africa applications opened 1 June 2026 and closed 27 August 2026; Southern Africa closed 3 August 2026. This cycle is closed. The next opens around June 2027, and the age limits are strict (for Southern Africa, for example, most candidates must be under 25 on 1 October 2027, with narrow exceptions for late graduates and medical graduates). Check your constituency’s “Information for Candidates” document on the Rhodes Trust site before assuming you qualify.

7. Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Funder: Mastercard Foundation, delivered by partner universities. Level: undergraduate and master’s, depending on the partner.

This is not one application: it is a family of fully funded awards at partner universities in Africa, Europe and North America, each with its own dates and rules. Awards typically cover tuition, accommodation, travel, a stipend and study materials, plus leadership and mentoring support. Two partner routes matter most for 2027 entry:

University of Edinburgh (postgraduate): still open. For 2027/28, Edinburgh offers on-campus master’s scholarships and online postgraduate scholarships for young Africans who have faced significant barriers to education and can show leadership, community service and a commitment to tackling the climate crisis. You must be a resident and citizen of an African country (or hold refugee status there) and be 35 or under in the year your programme starts. Note the gated process: attendance at a mandatory information session came first, the Applicant Declaration Form closed on 26 October 2026, and the main application closes at 5pm UK time on 19 November 2026.

McGill University, Canada (master’s): Fall 2027 cycle closed. McGill’s programme is for African citizens living in Africa, aged 35 or younger, who have never registered for or completed a master’s degree and can show financial barriers, service and leadership. Its Fall 2027 applications closed on 21 August 2026, and McGill advises prospective applicants to check back in Spring 2027 for the next recruitment cycle.

Other partners (including African universities such as Ashesi, Makerere and the University of Cape Town, and Sciences Po in France) run their own calendars. Always apply through the partner university’s own Mastercard page, never through an agent.

Europe (outside the UK)

8. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters

Funder: European Union (Erasmus+). Level: master’s only: a joint degree studied in at least two countries.

Erasmus Mundus is the most distinctive award on this list: you study one master’s programme delivered by a consortium of universities in different countries, and graduate with a joint or multiple degrees. The official Erasmus+ programme guide sets the scholarship at €1,400 per month for the full duration of the programme (12, 18 or 24 months) as a contribution to travel, visa, installation and living costs, with participation costs covered for scholarship holders.

There is no central deadline. Each consortium runs its own application, and most scholarship deadlines for 2027 entry fall between October 2026 and January 2027. You apply to the programme, not to “Erasmus”: browse the Erasmus Mundus Catalogue, shortlist programmes in your field, and write down each one’s own deadline. You cannot hold an Erasmus Mundus scholarship twice.

9. DAAD EPOS, Germany

Funder: DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Level: master’s and PhD on listed development-related courses.

EPOS is built for working professionals, not fresh graduates: you need a bachelor’s degree (usually four years), above-average results, and at least two years of relevant professional experience after your degree, which should normally be no more than six years old. The official DAAD page gives the current value: €992 per month for master’s students and €1,300 per month for doctoral candidates, rising to €1,400 from February 2026, plus insurance payments, a travel allowance, and in some cases a rent subsidy and family allowance.

Deadlines are set by each course, not by DAAD centrally. Download DAAD’s list of postgraduate courses with application deadlines for 2027/2028, find your course, and apply to the university in the format it specifies. Some courses are still open in late 2026; others closed in October.

10. DAAD In-Country/In-Region Scholarship, Africa

Funder: DAAD/BMZ. Level: master’s at selected African universities.

You do not have to leave Africa to win a serious scholarship. This programme funds development-related master’s study at selected universities inside Sub-Saharan Africa, in your own country (In-Country) or another country in the region (In-Region), for graduates who plan careers in teaching or research at African higher-education institutions. It covers a monthly scholarship, study and research allowance, thesis publishing costs and tuition fees; In-Region scholars also receive a travel allowance and health insurance.

The 2027 call deadline is 12 November 2026 (confirm the date for your specific host programme in the DAAD call document, as programmes can set their own closing details). Women, recognised refugees and candidates from marginalised regions are especially encouraged to apply.

11. Swedish Institute Scholarship for Global Professionals, Sweden

Funder: Swedish Institute. Level: one- or two-year master’s in Governance, Public Health, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, or STEM.

Sweden’s offer is one of the cleanest on this list: full tuition paid directly to the university, SEK 12,000 per month for living expenses, and a one-off travel grant of SEK 15,000, plus membership of the SI Network for Global Professionals. It does not cover the University Admissions application fee, insurance or family members.

Twelve African countries are eligible for the 2027/28 round: Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. You need demonstrated leadership experience and at least 3,000 hours of work experience before February 2027 (accumulated from a maximum of three employers). The two-step calendar is fixed on the official page: apply for eligible master’s programmes through University Admissions between 16 October 2026 and 15 January 2027, then apply for the scholarship itself between 8 and 24 February 2027 (the portal closes at 14:59 CET on the last day). University results come on 1 April 2027 and scholarship results on 22 April 2027.

12. France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship, France

Funder: French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, managed by Campus France. Level: master’s and PhD in seven priority fields (including engineering, mathematics and digital sciences, biology and health, ecological transition, law and political science, economics and management, and history/French language and civilisation).

Eiffel pays a monthly allowance plus benefits such as international travel and insurance under the programme rules. Be clear-eyed about one thing: Eiffel does not itself pay your tuition fees, although scholarship holders benefit from favourable fee treatment at public institutions. Check the total cost of your specific programme before relying on it. Age limits apply: up to 29 for master’s applicants and up to 35 for PhD applicants in the 2027 campaign.

The application route surprises people: students cannot apply directly. Only French higher-education institutions may submit applications to Campus France. So your real deadline is your chosen university’s internal one, which falls well before the national deadline for institutions, 6 January 2027 (results from 12 April 2027). Contact your target programme in November–December 2026 and ask, in those words, whether they will nominate you for Eiffel.

13. VLIR-UOS ICP Connect Scholarships, Belgium

Funder: VLIR-UOS (Flemish Interuniversity Council: University Development Cooperation). Level: selected English-taught professional bachelor’s, initial master’s and advanced master’s programmes in Flanders.

ICP Connect covers tuition, international travel, insurance and living costs for the full programme, in fields chosen for development impact: aquaculture, food technology, nutrition, transport safety, development evaluation and similar. You must hold the nationality of an eligible country and live in one of the eligible countries when you apply. Age limits: 35 for bachelor’s and initial master’s programmes, 45 for advanced master’s. You may submit only one ICP Connect application per year.

Two warnings belong in bold. First, the overall call deadline is 28 February 2027, but many programmes close earlier: your programme’s date governs. Second, eligibility is narrow: for the new 2027–2031 period the announced list covers 17 African countries including Benin, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It does not include Nigeria or Ghana (confirm the final country list published with the 2027/28 call, as the programme is moving to a new five-year list).

14. Stipendium Hungaricum, Hungary

Funder: Government of Hungary, managed by the Tempus Public Foundation. Level: bachelor’s, master’s, one-tier master’s, PhD and non-degree programmes.

Hungary’s flagship scheme offers tuition-free study, a monthly stipend (HUF 43,700 per month for bachelor’s and master’s students in recent calls), a free dormitory place or an accommodation contribution of HUF 40,000 per month, and medical insurance. Programmes available to you depend on the bilateral agreement between Hungary and your country, so two applicants from different African countries may see different course lists.

The step applicants miss: you must also be nominated by your country’s Sending Partner (usually a ministry or national scholarship body), which runs its own process and deadline in parallel with the online application. The 2027/28 call had not opened when we checked on 28 October 2026: based on the previous cycle, expect the call in November 2026 and a deadline in January 2027 (expected based on the previous cycle; not yet announced). Prepare your documents now, and find your Sending Partner before the portal opens.

From our editorial team: Our rule of thumb for nomination-based scholarships: contact your school counsellor, nominating agency or sending partner at least a month before the central deadline. Nomination processes run on their own calendars, and a missed internal deadline ends an application that no essay can rescue.

North America

15. Fulbright Foreign Student Program, USA

Funder: US Department of State. Level: graduate study and research: the mix differs by country.

Fulbright is the world’s best-known exchange programme, and its grants typically cover tuition support, a living stipend, airfare, settling-in and book allowances, and health coverage. But there is no single “Fulbright application for Africans”: you apply through the Fulbright Commission or US Embassy in your own country, and each country decides which levels it funds, its eligibility rules and its deadline.

That matters for Nigerians, for example: the US Mission in Nigeria’s most recent call was a doctoral research programme (for PhD students at Nigerian institutions), not a master’s scholarship, a detail many listicles get wrong. Before you invest in essays, open your country’s Fulbright page and confirm three things: the levels offered this cycle, the deadline, and the English-test requirement (the 2027/28 country calls are published by each Commission/Embassy on its own schedule).

16. Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Stanford University, USA

Funder: Knight-Hennessy Scholars programme, Stanford. Level: any full-time Stanford graduate degree (master’s, professional degrees, PhD).

Knight-Hennessy gives up to three years of funding: a fellowship covering tuition and associated fees, a living and academic stipend, an annual economy travel stipend and a one-off relocation grant, plus a leadership programme built around the scholar community. There are no restrictions on citizenship, age or field.

The eligibility rule that catches people out is recent graduation: for the 2027 cohort, your first bachelor’s degree must have been earned in January 2020 or later (January 2018 or later for military veterans). You also submit two separate applications: one to Knight-Hennessy and one to your Stanford programme. The 2027 cohort deadline was 6 October 2026 (closed); the next cohort’s application opens in summer 2027, so this is a prepare-ahead entry if your degree date fits.

17. Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship, University of Toronto, Canada

Funder: University of Toronto. Level: first-entry undergraduate degrees.

The Pearson is one of the very few genuinely full undergraduate rides at a top-ranked university: it covers tuition, books, incidental fees and full residence support for four years, and about 37 students worldwide win it each year. You must be an international student in your final year of secondary school in 2026/27 (or have graduated no earlier than June 2026) and start at Toronto in September 2027.

You cannot apply cold. Your school must nominate you (one student per school per year), and schools new to the programme must register in time. For 2027 entry the nomination deadline was 9 October 2026 and the admission deadline 16 October 2026; nominated students must still submit the scholarship application and documents by 6 November 2026. If you are in SS2/SS3 now, the useful move is to brief your school counsellor this term for the next cycle. For more undergraduate routes, see our list of scholarships for Nigerian undergraduates.

18. UBC International Scholars Program, Canada

Funder: University of British Columbia. Level: undergraduate, entering directly from secondary school.

UBC’s International Scholars awards are need-and-merit based: UBC assesses your family’s finances and considers you for four awards through one application, including the Vantage One Excellence Award, which can cover up to the full cost of your academic programme and living expenses. You must be an international student entering UBC directly from secondary school (graduated no earlier than June 2026), show strong academics and leadership, and demonstrate significant financial need, supported by documents and a school nomination plus a teacher reference.

For September 2027 entry, the award application deadline is 15 November 2026 (11:59pm Pacific Time), with admission documents and the English-language standard due by 31 January 2027 (re-check the UBC International Scholars page before the deadline; award values are need-based and UBC does not publish fixed amounts). Start with your nominator and referee: their forms are part of the same deadline.

Asia and Oceania

19. Australia Awards Africa, Australia

Funder: Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Level: master’s degrees in Australia.

Australia Awards is a professional’s scholarship, and its Africa criteria are specific: be a citizen of a listed African country (the 2027-intake list includes Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and others), be at least 25 on 1 February of the intake year, hold an undergraduate degree, have at least five years of relevant postgraduate work experience and be employed when you apply, and not already hold a master’s. The package covers full tuition, return air travel, an establishment allowance (AUD 5,000 in the 2027-intake information), a living-expenses contribution, health cover (OSHC) and an introductory academic programme, and scholars are expected to return home and put the degree to work.

Be honest about timing: applications for study commencing in 2027 ran from 1 February to 30 April 2026 and are closed. The next intake is expected to open around February 2027 based on the previous cycle (not yet announced), for study starting in 2028. If you meet the experience test, that gap year is your preparation window.

20. MEXT Scholarship, Japan

Funder: Government of Japan (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). Level: undergraduate, research students (master’s/PhD routes), and other categories.

MEXT covers tuition, a monthly stipend and return airfare to Japan, with a preparatory Japanese-language period where the scheme requires it. There are two doors in. The embassy-recommendation route runs through the Japanese embassy in your country each spring: for 2027 entry those windows ran roughly April–June 2026 and are closed. The university-recommendation route runs through individual Japanese universities, each with its own deadline, many of them in October–December 2026 (check your target university’s international admissions page for its exact MEXT deadline).

Age and field rules sit in the official application guidelines on the Study in Japan website; read the guideline for your category before collecting documents, because the document list (including a medical certificate in MEXT’s own format) is unforgiving.

21. Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC), China

Funder: China Scholarship Council. Level: bachelor’s, master’s and PhD at Chinese universities.

The CSC’s full scholarship covers tuition, university accommodation (or a subsidy), medical insurance and a monthly stipend: CNY 2,500 for undergraduates, CNY 3,000 for master’s students and CNY 3,500 for PhD students in recent official guidelines (confirm amounts in the 2027/28 guidelines). You apply through one of two routes: Type A, through the dispatching authority in your country (usually the Chinese embassy or a national agency), or Type B, directly through a Chinese university, both via the Campus China portal, using the correct agency number for your route.

The 2027/28 call opens country by country from late 2026, with deadlines set by each agency and university (many fall between December 2026 and April 2027) (check your route’s deadline). Getting the agency number wrong is a classic, avoidable rejection. Copy it from your agency’s or university’s own notice, not from a blog.

22. Global Korea Scholarship (GKS), South Korea

Funder: Government of the Republic of Korea (NIIED). Level: undergraduate and graduate (master’s/PhD), with a funded year of Korean language training before the degree for most scholars.

GKS covers full tuition, return airfare, a monthly allowance, a settlement allowance, health insurance and language training. You apply either through the Korean embassy in your country (Embassy Track) or directly to a designated university (University Track). Quotas are allocated by country, so your competition pool is national, not global.

For 2027, the undergraduate Embassy Track ran from 15 to 30 September 2026 on the Study in Korea portal and is closed. The graduate round is expected around February–March 2027 based on the previous cycle (embassy and university deadlines differ; check the GKS notice on studyinkorea.go.kr and your embassy’s page). Document legalisation (apostille or consular confirmation) is the step that delays African applicants most: start it before the window opens.

23. Türkiye Burslari, Türkiye

Funder: Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Government of Türkiye. Level: bachelor’s, master’s, PhD and research programmes.

Türkiye Burslari is unusually complete: it pays tuition, a monthly stipend, accommodation, health insurance and a return flight, funds a one-year Turkish language course, and, uniquely on this list, places you at a university itself, so you do not need a prior admission offer. You rank up to 12 programmes in one free online application on the TBBS system. Published criteria include minimum grades (70% for most programmes; 90% for health sciences at bachelor’s level) and age limits: under 21 for bachelor’s, under 30 for master’s and under 35 for PhD applicants.

The programme’s annual application window is 10 January to 20 February (the 2027 announcement and current stipend amounts had not been posted when we checked on 28 October 2026, and figures quoted on other sites conflict; confirm both on turkiyeburslari.gov.tr). With a window that short, December is for documents, not for deciding.

24. Schwarzman Scholars, China

Funder: Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University. Level: one-year master’s in Global Affairs, taught in English in Beijing.

Schwarzman is a leadership programme wrapped around a master’s degree: tuition, room and board, travel to and from Beijing, an in-country study tour, course books, health insurance and a personal stipend are all covered. You need an undergraduate degree before enrolment and must be aged 18–28 on 1 August of your enrolment year. Selection weighs leadership, intellect and character as heavily as grades.

The Class of 2027-28 global application closed on 9 September 2026. The next cycle, for the Class of 2028-29, opens in April 2027 and runs to September 2027 on the programme’s published cycle (the exact deadline day is to be confirmed when published). If you are a final-year student or recent graduate with a leadership record, this belongs on your 2027 preparation list.

A warning before you apply: suspended and “not really open” schemes

Nigeria’s BEA scholarship is suspended. The Federal Government suspended the Bilateral Education Agreement scheme, yet old blog posts, including some ranking on page one, still describe it as an application route, and agents still charge hopeful students for “BEA processing”. Do not pay anyone for BEA, and do not build your 2027 plan around it. If the government announces a restart, it will be on official Federal Ministry of Education channels, and we will update this page.

Apply the same suspicion elsewhere. If a “scholarship” is not on its funder’s own website, asks for payment to an individual’s account, or guarantees selection, it is not a scholarship. Every programme in this list can be reached from an official government, foundation or university page. Start there, and read our step-by-step overview of how to study abroad from Nigeria if you want the full process, from shortlisting to visa, in one place. You can also track every date in our scholarship deadline calendar for 2027.

How to apply: a plan that works for almost every programme here

1. Filter by eligibility first, dreams second. Country, level, age, years since graduation and work experience knock out more applicants than grades do. SI needs 3,000 work hours; Australia Awards needs five years of experience and current employment; Chevening needs a degree finished two years ago; Knight-Hennessy needs a recent degree. Twenty minutes with the official criteria saves twenty hours of essay writing.
2. Build a deadline calendar. Separate the scholarship deadline from the university deadline and the nomination deadline: many programmes on this list have all three. Put referee deadlines a week earlier than the real one.
3. Prepare the core document set once. Passport (check it will still be valid at enrolment), degree certificates and transcripts, a current CV, two referees who actually know your work, and a draft personal statement you can adapt. Several schemes also want authenticated or legalised copies; that process takes weeks, not days.
4. Apply to the university as early as the scholarship. Commonwealth, Chevening, Gates and Clarendon all depend on a university application running in parallel. A scholarship offer without an admission offer is worth nothing.
5. Write for the funder’s question, not your own. Development impact (Commonwealth, DAAD, Australia Awards), leadership (Chevening, Knight-Hennessy, Mastercard), academic excellence (Gates, Clarendon) and country benefit (Türkiye, MEXT, GKS) are different tests. One generic essay fails all of them.
6. Submit early and keep proof. Portals slow down near deadlines (Türkiye’s TBBS and Sweden’s University Admissions are notorious). Save confirmation emails and screenshots of submitted applications.
7. Plan the visa money question. A scholarship award letter is your strongest proof-of-funds document, but you will still need to show how dependants or gaps are covered if you have them.

From our editorial team: While fact-checking this guide we found the DAAD EPOS stipend still widely quoted at its old rate on other sites; the current official rate is higher, and Türkiye Burslari amounts conflict across aggregator pages. That is why every figure here was taken from the funder’s own page, and why you should re-check amounts on the official site before you budget around them.

Common mistakes

• Applying to a programme your country cannot use. VLIR-UOS does not cover Nigeria or Ghana; Manaaki (New Zealand) covers no African country at all, despite appearing in African scholarship lists. Check the country list before the course list.
• Trusting last year’s listicle. Stipends change (DAAD’s old €934 rate still circulates), deadlines move, and schemes get suspended (BEA). If a page does not show a checked date and an official link, treat every number on it as a rumour.
• Missing the hidden first deadline. The school nomination (Pearson), the nominating agency (Commonwealth), the Sending Partner (Hungary), the French university’s internal deadline (Eiffel) and the mandatory information session (Mastercard at Edinburgh and McGill) all happen before the headline deadline.
• One essay for every funder. Reusing a leadership essay for an academic-excellence fund (or the reverse) reads as carelessness; selectors can tell.
• Ignoring the return-home obligation. Chevening, Commonwealth, Australia Awards and Fulbright are built around returning home. An application that reads as a migration plan undermines itself.
• Paying an agent to “process” a free application. Every application on this list is free at the point of submission. Paying for advice is your choice; paying someone who claims to control selection is a scam.
• Leaving document legalisation to the final week. GKS and CSC applications can require apostille or consular confirmation. Embassies do not rush because your deadline is close.

Frequently asked questions

Which fully funded scholarships for Africans are still open for 2027 entry?
As at 28 October 2026: Commonwealth Shared Scholarships (10 November–8 December 2026), the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Edinburgh (closes 19 November 2026), DAAD In-Country/In-Region (12 November 2026), Gates Cambridge and Clarendon (December 2026/January 2027 course deadlines), Eiffel through a French institution (by 6 January 2027), and Erasmus Mundus programmes with deadlines into January 2027. The Swedish Institute (February 2027) and Türkiye Burslari (expected January–February 2027) follow.

Can I get a fully funded scholarship without IELTS?
Sometimes. The CSC itself does not require IELTS, though your university might. Erasmus Mundus programmes set their own English requirements, and several accept proof that your degree was taught in English; DAAD EPOS courses vary. Türkiye Burslari and GKS fund language training rather than demanding the language upfront. Never assume: check the requirement for your exact programme, and if you do need IELTS, check how much IELTS costs in Nigeria before you book a test date.

What GPA do I need for a fully funded scholarship?
There is no single cut-off. Academic-excellence funds (Gates Cambridge, Clarendon) effectively expect a first-class or strong upper-second degree because you must first win a place at Cambridge or Oxford. Development-focused funds (Commonwealth, DAAD EPOS, Australia Awards) weigh your degree alongside work experience and the impact of your study plan. Türkiye Burslari publishes explicit minimums: 70% for most programmes and 90% for health sciences. A 2:2 does not end your chances everywhere, but it does change which list you should work from.

Do fully funded scholarships cover flights and visas?
Many do: Chevening, Commonwealth, Australia Awards, MEXT, GKS, Türkiye Burslari and Schwarzman all include return airfare, and Chevening also covers visa and health-surcharge costs. Others (for example the Swedish Institute) pay a travel grant instead of booking flights. What almost none of them cover is dependants: read the “what’s included” page, not the headline.

Can I apply for more than one scholarship at the same time?
Yes, in most cases: applying to Chevening, DAAD and the Swedish Institute in the same season is normal and sensible. The exceptions are programme-specific: you may submit only one VLIR-UOS ICP Connect application per year, Erasmus Mundus programmes each run their own process, and you obviously cannot accept two full awards for the same degree. Apply widely; accept once.

Are there fully funded undergraduate scholarships for Africans in 2027?
Fewer than at master’s level, but real ones exist: the Lester B. Pearson at Toronto and UBC’s International Scholars in Canada, VLIR-UOS bachelor programmes in Belgium (for eligible countries), Stipendium Hungaricum, Türkiye Burslari, CSC and GKS. Most undergraduate routes are nomination- or quota-based, so starting in your final secondary-school year (or the year before) matters.

Do I need an admission offer before applying for the scholarship?
It depends on the model. Türkiye Burslari places you itself, so no. For Chevening you apply to universities in parallel and need one unconditional offer later in the process. For Clarendon and Gates, the university application is the scholarship application route. For nomination-based schemes, the nominator comes first. Each entry above states its model: check yours before you pay any university application fee.

When should I start applying for 2027 scholarships?
For 2027 entry, the honest answer is “last August”: Chevening, Commonwealth and Rhodes all opened and closed before November 2026. If you are starting now, work the November–February list above and treat 2027 as your preparation year for the August–October 2027 rounds (Chevening, Commonwealth, Rhodes, Knight-Hennessy). Scholarship success is mostly a calendar skill.

Is the Nigerian BEA scholarship open for 2027?
No. The BEA scheme is suspended. Pages and agents presenting it as open are out of date or worse. Watch official Federal Ministry of Education channels for any restart announcement, and use the verified programmes in this list instead.

Keep this list working for you

Deadlines on this page move every cycle, and we update it as official calls open and close. Bookmark it, work the deadline table from the top, and start with the programmes whose eligibility you already meet, not the ones you wish you met.

If you want the next step in one place, read our complete guide to studying abroad from Nigeria, and subscribe to the SchoolCrib newsletter for a monthly roundup of newly opened scholarships for African students, with deadlines, as they are announced.

Sources: every programme above links to its official funder or university page in the “Verified facts + sources” research record held with this article; all facts were checked on 28 October 2026. If an official page contradicts this guide, the official page wins. Tell us and we will correct it.

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