Sources of Funding for Postgraduate UK students

  • Some of our Faculties and Departments offer scholarships towards Taught Masters programmes for UK, EU and international students.

    Please check below for the Department you are applying to:

    Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
    Please visit Department Scholarship pages for details and application forms for all awards available:
    Department of Social Sciences

    Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment
    Please visit Department Scholarship pages for details and application forms for all awards available:
    School of Architecture
    School of Arts
    School of Engineering, Computing and Maths
    School of the Built Environment scholarships

    The Oxford Brookes University’s Faculty of Health & Life Sciences is offering 3 Bursary Nursing Awards to help assist trainee student nurses with living expenses. Each Award will be up to £30,000 per student over a maximum period of 3 years.

    The Bursary is open to mature, Home/EU students who are in financial need and without other funding, and would find it difficult financially to undertake the 3 year Pre-Registration course for the University’s BSc (Hons) or MSc (Hons) programme in Adult Nursing Degree.

    Download the application form

    The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University is pleased to offer two Rohan Scholarships to two full or part-time students studying one of the following courses for September 2020 entry:

    The scholarship will provide a £1,000 payment towards the costs of your tuition fees and will be awarded on the basis of a personal statement.

    The scholarships are open to holders of conditional and unconditional offers from Oxford Brookes University.

    The closing date for applications for the scholarship is 17:00hrs, Friday 3 July 2020. Please note applications will only be accepted from students who have already been made a conditional or unconditional offer by Oxford Brookes University. 

    Please find the application form, notes for guidance and background to the scholarship below.

    If you have already completed a degree course at Oxford Brookes, you may be eligible for a 10% discount on postgraduate tuition fees.

    For full details, please visit this page for more details

    A number of external organisations are also offering awards of up to £2,000.

    For further details please visit:

    • Postgrad.com (general and bursary pages)
    • “FindAMasters and FindAPhD offer an annual £5,000 postgraduate scholarship plus a number of smaller awards in any subject.”

    These awards are open to UK, EU and International students on named awards. Please see individual webpages for further details.

    Please contact the organisations themselves if you have queries about these bursary schemes.

    The University is pleased to offer a number of full-time funded studentships in a range of disciplines for students wishing to enrol on a research degree programme at Oxford Brookes University.

    Information about the University Research Studentships can be found on our research funding page.

    The Oxford Brookes Sanctuary Scholarship scheme provides a full fee waiver and living cost bursary to individuals seeking asylum and those who have a form of protection from an asylum claim who are not able to access government student finance.

    This section includes details of all Research Council funding for postgraduate study in the UK.

    Public funding bodies
    Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)  
    Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)  
       
    Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)  
    Medical Research Council (MRC)  
    Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)  
    Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)  

    When Research Council funded studentships are available they are advertised at Research Funding Opportunities

    For more information about studentships and their availability, contact the mailto:re-enquiries@brookes.ac.uk

    Alternatively scan the academic press for advertised studentships:

    • Times Higher
    • Education Guardian
    • Nature
    • New Scientist.

    EU and EEA students

    Nationals of European Economic Area (EEA) countries (i.e. EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) may be eligible for a fees-only award from the Research Councils or AHRC.

    For more guidance, see UKOSA Guidance Notes for Students: Course Fees and Grants: EEA Students, available from British Council offices, or consult the relevant Research Council postgraduate funding guide.

    NOTE: Nationals of European Union (EU) countries normally pay ‘home’ fees, i.e. fees at the same level as UK students.

    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.

    Further information on possible funding sources for research students can be obtained from postgraduate tutors, public libraries or Oxford Brookes Careers Centre: