Commonwealth Shared Scholarships

These scholarships are jointly offered by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and selected UK universities. They support students from developing Commonwealth countries who would not otherwise be able to study in the United Kingdom.

Level of study

This scholarship is for postgraduate master’s study.

Subject areas

This scholarship is for study on specific courses across a range of subject areas. The list of eligible programmes for 2021 are:

• MSc Applied Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing
• MSc Demography
• MSc Genomics

What is covered

This scholarship covers:

• your tuition fees
• return travel costs
• a monthly stipend
• an allowances package
• costs for a mandatory tuberculosis test

Who can apply

To apply for this scholarship you must:

• be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by an eligible Commonwealth country, or be a British Protected Person
• be permanently resident in an eligible Commonwealth country
• be available to start your studies in the UK, or remotely if required, by the start of the UK academic year in September/October 2021
• hold one of the following degrees by September 2021
  • a first degree of at least upper second class (2:1) honours standard
  • a second class degree (2:2) and a relevant postgraduate qualification (usually a master’s degree)
• not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high income country
• be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship
• commit to return to their home country within one month of the end date of their scholarship

Eligible Commonwealth countries

• Bangladesh
• Cameroon
• Eswatini
• Ghana
• India
• Kenya
• Kiribati
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea
• Rwanda
• Sierra Leone
• Solomon Islands
• Sri Lanka
• Tanzania
• The Gambia
• Tuvalu
• Uganda
• Vanuatu
• Zambia

How to apply

Applications for Commonwealth Shared Scholarships open on 26 February 2021 and close at 16:00 on 9 April 2021.

1. Check that you meet all scholarship and programme eligibility criteria before you begin. English language requirements must be met at point of application. Please ensure that you have the required documentation ready.

2. By 16:00 (BST) on 9 April 2021 at the latest you must:

a.    Apply on the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission application portal for this scholarship. You are advised to complete and submit your application as soon as possible, as the online application system will be very busy in the days leading up to the application deadline and the Commission cannot make allowances for local or personal difficulties which might affect your ability to submit.

b.   AND apply for your chosen programme using our online application form.

When you have completed all of the sections on the University of Southampton application form please save your application, do not submit and do not pay the application fee.

3. Shortlisted candidates will be issued an application fee waiver in early May and invited to submit their completed programme application form by 10 May.. This must include evidence that you meet english language requirements.

Further information

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission provides more information on this scholarship.

The Commission will normally only fund your first UK master’s degree. You’ll need to provide justification if you’re applying for a second UK master’s degree.

Further Commonwealth Scholarship opportunities include:

• Commonwealth Master's Scholarship
• Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarship
• Commonwealth Split-site Scholarship

What’s it like to be a University of Southampton Commonwealth Shared Scholar?

Meet some of our most recent scholars as they share their experience of being a Commonwealth Shared Scholar at the University of Southampton.