UK Undergraduate Scholarships for International Students: 2027 Entry Guide

📊 UK Undergraduate Scholarships at a Glance

A snapshot of the main scholarships covered in this guide. Status reflects what’s confirmed as of 21 August 2026 — always verify on the official page before applying, since this changes through the year.

🟢 Open for 2027 entry  ·  🟡 Not yet announced for 2027 — figures shown are the 2026 award, included as a guide  ·  🔴 Application window closed

🟢 Confirmed Open for 2027 Entry

Imperial College London — Imperial Inspires Scholarships

At least 300 scholarships worth £15,000 per year, open across all four faculties: Engineering, Natural Sciences, Medicine, and Imperial Business School. This is one of the highest-value undergraduate awards currently confirmed for 2027 entry and requires a separate application alongside your UCAS application.

Queen’s University Belfast — GB Scholarship

£3,000 total (£2,500 towards accommodation + £500 for flights and moving costs), for students from England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands moving to Belfast to study. No separate application or grade threshold — it’s awarded automatically and confirmed after enrolment.

🟡 Historically Offered — 2027 Cycle Not Yet Announced

These universities have run strong scholarship programmes for international undergraduates every recent year. Their 2027 versions haven’t opened yet, but based on past patterns, they’re very likely to return with similar values. The figures below are the most recently confirmed award (2026), shown so you can plan and budget — not a guarantee of the 2027 terms.

University of Glasgow — World Changers Scholarships

• World Changers Global Excellence Scholarship: most recently £10,000/year for STEM courses, £7,000/year for Arts and Social Sciences. Automatic for offer holders meeting the grade threshold; renewable subject to satisfactory progress.
• World Changers Glasgow Scholarship (EU): most recently £5,000/year for new EU students.

Note: Glasgow also runs the RUK Excellence Scholarship and a Care Experienced/Estranged Student Bursary — both restricted to UK-domiciled students, so they’re not covered here. See our guide for UK/Home students if that applies to you.

Newcastle University — Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarships

Most recently £7,000 per academic year for the duration of the course, automatically awarded to eligible students from more than 40 countries including Nigeria, India, China, Kenya, Pakistan, and the USA — no separate application needed once you hold an offer. Newcastle’s own page notes the 2026/27 undergraduate award details will be published in September 2026, so treat this figure as a guide until it’s reconfirmed.

University of Leeds — International Regional Scholarship

Most recently an automatic £5,000 reduction in first-year fees for students from a defined list of countries (including Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Singapore), drawn from a scholarship pool of several million pounds.

University of Manchester — Global Futures Scholarships

For 2026 entry, the confirmed structure was £10,000 per year, for up to three years (£30,000 maximum), applied as a tuition-fee discount and conditional on maintaining at least a 60% average each year. This applies to students from a defined list of countries, including a specific group of African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe) under the same per-year structure. Requires a separate application, typically by invitation after you apply. Manchester has not yet published the equivalent 2027 undergraduate terms — treat the £30,000 figure as a guide based on 2026, not a confirmed 2027 award.

University of Bristol — Think Big Scholarship

Most recently £6,500 or £13,000 per year for up to four years — unusual in that it’s not based on grades, but assessed through three open-ended questions on personal goals, social responsibility, and cross-cultural understanding. The 2026 round closed 10 April 2026; expect the 2027 round to open in early 2027.

University of Warwick — WUGES

Most recently offered as a tiered award: a handful of full-fee scholarships, roughly 150 half-fee awards, over 100 awards at 25% of fees, and a small number of £2,000 awards. The 2026 round required both a UCAS application by 14 January and a separate scholarship application by 27 February — both are now closed; the 2027 timeline hasn’t been published yet.

University of Reading

• Reading Excellence Scholarship: most recently 80 automatic awards of £5,000 each for international students. This is an annual award — it applies each year you remain on the same programme, not just in year one.
• Global Sustainability Leaders Scholarship: most recently £6,000/year for up to four years, open to roughly 400 students via separate application.

Other Universities to Watch

• Exeter — Excellence Scholarships, most recently £3,000 or £5,000 toward first-year tuition.
• York — International Undergraduate Achievement Scholarship: up to £10,000, first year only, automatic. (York’s separate Global Impact Scholarship has been moved to the university’s “previous opportunities” list — we’ve removed it from this guide until York republishes it as a current award.)
• Birmingham — the College of Arts and Law Scholarship (£3,000, year one). Note: Birmingham doesn’t run one universal “High Fliers” scholarship — it runs separate country/region-specific High Fliers awards (e.g. Hong Kong, India, MENA, Europe), each with its own value and terms, so check the page for your specific country.
• Leicester — International Citizens of Change Scholarship, most recently £10,000/year for up to three years across 10 awards for September 2026 entry; applications for that round are now closed and 2027 terms aren’t published yet.

🎓 Fully Funded Options — And Their Real Status

Genuinely full-ride scholarships (tuition and living costs and travel) are rare for UK undergraduates. Here’s where things stand on the best-known ones:

Two other programmes are often mistaken for undergraduate funding — worth ruling out early so you don’t waste application time:

📋 The Universal Requirements Checklist

Most scholarships evaluate applicants across the same core categories. Start checking these 12–18 months before your intended start date — for 2027 entry, that means now. For a deeper breakdown of eligibility criteria across scholarship types, see our full undergraduate scholarship requirements guide.

Academic Requirements

Most scholarships are evaluated against your A-Level, IB, or equivalent qualifications and predicted or achieved grades. A few — like Bristol’s Think Big — don’t consider grades at all and assess purely on written responses, so it’s worth checking each scholarship’s own criteria rather than assuming grades are always decisive.

English Proficiency: IELTS, TOEFL, and Alternatives

These are university admission requirements, not scholarship-specific ones — a scholarship generally doesn’t set its own English threshold beyond what the university already requires for your course. Typical university minimums:

Always confirm the exact figure on your specific course page — requirements vary by university and even by department.

UCAS Application and University Offer

Many university scholarships require an application for admission and, in some cases, a confirmed offer before you can be considered for funding. Others are automatic once you meet the criteria, and a few have entirely separate application processes and deadlines. There’s real variation here — always check the individual scholarship’s own terms rather than assuming one process applies to all.

Financial Documentation: Proof of Funds

Even when a scholarship covers your tuition, you’ll likely still need to show proof of funds for your visa. The current UK maintenance funds requirement is £1,529/month for London (£13,761 for 9 months) and £1,171/month elsewhere (£10,539 for 9 months), minus any confirmed scholarship amount. These figures are reviewed periodically by the Home Office — verify the current figure on the official gov.uk student visa money page before applying.

💰 “Full Ride” vs. “Full Tuition” — What You’re Actually Getting

Genuine full-ride scholarships for international undergraduates in the UK are rare. Most “generous” awards cover tuition only — before accepting any offer, read the award letter closely and confirm exactly what it does and doesn’t include. If a partial scholarship still leaves a funding gap, it’s also worth weighing the UK against other destinations — see our guide to the cheapest countries for an undergraduate degree for context on how UK costs compare.

🗓️ Your 2027 Entry Timeline

Individual scholarship deadlines aren’t set by UCAS and will be published by each university separately — bookmark this page and check back from September 2026 onward as we update the status column above.

🚀 Tips for a Successful Application

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Christian Chinonso

Christian Chinonso is the founder of LearnViaHub, with 6+ years of research experience in international education, GPA systems, and study-abroad guidance for international students.Christian Chinonso is the founder of LearnViaHub, with 6+ years of research experience in international education — including GPA systems, scholarships, student financing, and study-abroad guidance — for students worldwide.