Educational trust funds and charities
There are a number of charities, trusts and foundations which award partial funding for study. Competition for these awards is getting increasingly tough. In order to succeed in getting support, you must assure the charity or trust that you have
exhausted all other sources of funding and that you fit in with specific eligibility criteria. You should normally plan your application at least a year in advance. It is rarely possible to get help at short notice.
Useful publications on the various trusts and charities include:
- The Grants Register - the Complete Guide to Postgraduate Funding World-wide.
Published by Macmillan.
- The Directory of Grant-Making Trusts
and
The Directory of Small Grant-Making Trusts.
Published by the
Charities Aid Foundation.
Sponsorship by employers
Employers may fund vocational and professional training courses as part of career development. Information on sponsorship opportunities at a company is usually available from the company’s personnel department.
For Health and Social Care programmes, the administrator can supply details of funding opportunities.
Self-funding
Some postgraduates fund themselves through their studies with a combination of part-time jobs, loans, savings, etc. This can work well, but you must be realistic in calculating your costs before embarking on your studies.
Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE)
The Institute of Electrical Engineers provide a range of postgraduate scholarships for taught and research degrees. Applicants are normally expected to be IEE members and the closing date is usually mid-October.
Postgraduate Teacher Trainees
Home students and EU students resident within the European Economic Area (EAA) attending an accredited initial teacher training course will receive one of the following non-taxable bursaries:
- £9,000 for trainees in physics, chemistry, engineering and mathematics
- £6,000 for trainees in biology, combined/general science and foreign languages.
The training salary is paid monthly over 9 calendar months from the start of study (September). For further information, please see the
Department of Education's web pages.
MBA Loan Scheme
The Association of MBAs (AMBA) administers a Business School Loan Scheme to assist UK students studying for an MBA. Loans can cover tuition fees and living expenses. You can borrow up to two thirds of your pre-course gross annual salary, plus
tuition fees for each year of full-time study. For more information visit the
AMBA website.
Funding information
For information on financial assistance to support your learning, please visit the
government's website.