Fully Funded PhD & Master's Scholarships 2026
You've probably already seen the same 20 scholarships everyone screenshots — Chevening, Fulbright, Gates Cambridge — a few thousand global spots split between tens of thousands of applicants. That's not a strategy, it's a raffle. Below are 16 real, currently-active fully funded programmes worth applying to regardless: tuition, stipend, and usually travel and health insurance covered. But the quieter route almost nobody talks about is a professor with grant or assistantship money who decides you're worth funding directly — the money follows the professor, not the portal. Apply to what's below, and run professor outreach in parallel.
16 Fully Funded PhD & Master's Scholarships
Filter by country, degree level, or funding type — every link goes straight to the official page, never through us.
Fulbright Foreign Student Program
US government flagship scholarship. Covers full tuition, monthly stipend, airfare, and health insurance for Masters/PhD study in the US.
Chevening Scholarship
UK government's global scholarship programme for future leaders. For one-year Masters degrees at any UK university.
Commonwealth Scholarship
For citizens of Commonwealth countries to study Masters or PhD in the UK. Strong focus on development impact.
DAAD Scholarship
German Academic Exchange Service. One of the largest scholarship organisations worldwide. Covers living, travel, and health for study in Germany.
Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Highly prestigious full-cost scholarship to study any subject at the University of Cambridge. Extremely competitive.
Swedish Institute Scholarship
For citizens of select countries to pursue Masters degrees in Sweden. Includes tuition (waived for EU), living allowance, and travel.
MEXT Japanese Government Scholarship
Japanese Ministry of Education scholarship covering full tuition, generous monthly allowance, and return airfare.
Korean Government Scholarship (KGSP)
Korean government scholarship covering full tuition, monthly allowance, Korean language course, and travel for Masters/PhD.
Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC)
Chinese Scholarship Council scholarship covering tuition, accommodation, and living allowance for study at top Chinese universities.
Australia Awards Scholarship
Australian government scholarship for developing country citizens. Covers full tuition, Overseas Student Health Cover, and return airfare.
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship
Swiss Confederation scholarships for postgraduate researchers. Must be enrolled at a Swiss university.
Türkiye Scholarships
Turkish government scholarship covering full tuition, accommodation, health insurance, and return flights for international students.
Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters
Study at 2–3 European universities in the same Masters programme. Full scholarship covers living, travel, and study costs.
Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP)
Dutch government scholarship for professionals from select developing countries to study short courses and Masters in the Netherlands.
Mwalimu Nyerere African Union Scholarship
Launched by the African Union Commission to build high-level African human capital and promote intra-African student mobility. Full ride for Masters and PhD students.
Mastercard Foundation Scholarship
For academically talented African students with demonstrated leadership. Partners with top universities in Africa, US, UK, and Canada. Currently funds Masters (and undergraduate) study — PhD funding is not offered under this program.
Aga Khan Foundation Scholarship
For exceptional students from developing countries with demonstrated financial need. Covers full cost of study at top universities.
Common questions
What does "fully funded" actually mean?
It means tuition, a living stipend, and usually health insurance and travel are covered — you shouldn't need personal savings to complete the program. Some scholarships here also cover a research or conference travel allowance on top.
Can I apply to a scholarship and email professors at the same time?
Yes, and you should. They aren't alternatives to each other. Several of these scholarships (DAAD's PhD tracks, Commonwealth PhD Scholarships) actually require a confirmed supervisor before you can apply, which means professor outreach is often a required first step, not a backup plan.
Which of these are realistically best for African applicants?
Commonwealth Scholarships (explicit development-impact focus, lower first-degree classification accepted for PhD), DAAD's In-Country/In-Region programmes, Türkiye Scholarships (broad eligibility, high acceptance rate relative to applicant pool), and Australia Awards (Africa is an explicit priority region).
What if I don't get any of these scholarships?
Most funded PhD students worldwide aren't on a named scholarship at all — they're funded directly through a professor's grant or assistantship. That's the far less glamorous, far more reliable route, and it's what the Professors and Emails tools on this site are built for.
How current are these deadlines?
Deadlines shift by cycle and by applicant country. Always confirm the exact current date on the official page linked from each card before you start an application.
Do you process these applications for me?
No. We don't process scholarship applications, take a cut, or act as an intermediary — every "Apply / Learn More" link goes straight to the scholarship's official page. This list exists to save you the hours of searching, not to insert ourselves into the application.
Do I need to already speak the local language to apply?
Usually no for English-taught programmes (most PhD research is conducted in English even in non-English-speaking countries), but requirements vary by scholarship and by department. DAAD and MEXT, for example, sometimes require basic host-language proficiency depending on the specific programme — check the eligibility detail on each card, and the official page, before assuming.
Are any of these actually realistic for a student with no publications?
Yes. Scholarship committees weigh research fit and potential more heavily than a first publication, especially at PhD entry level. The bigger differentiator across all of these is a confirmed supervisor and a clear, specific research proposal — which is exactly what professor outreach, not your publication count, gets you.
Real GradScoutFunding success stories — coming soon.
One yes changes everything. You just need to reach enough of the right people to find it.
Apply to the scholarships above, and let GradScoutFunding find the professors who could fund you directly — then write the email that actually gets a reply.
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