20+ Fully-Funded PhD Scholarships for African Students 2024/2025

Are you in need of fully-funded Ph.D. scholarships to study abroad as an international student? Well, you are in the right place. We’ll be showing you the top universities that offer international students PhD scholarships to study abroad.

You’ll agree with me that finding a PhD scholarship for international students isn’t an easy task. The reason is that PhD scholarships are not as common as Masters and Bachelor programmes. But the good news is that there are over a thousand PhD Scholarships for African students.

In this post, we’ll be showing you the to 20 fully-funded PhD scholarships for international students who need to study in top countries of the world.

1. Commonwealth Split-site PhD Scholarship

Commonwealth Split-site Scholarships support one year’s study at a UK university as part of a PhD being undertaken in a candidate’s home country, under the joint supervision of a home country and UK supervisor. So if you are looking to spend up to 12 months’ studying at a UK university as part of a PhD that you have already begun in your home country, then apply for this scholarship. Through this scholarship, your 12-month study period in the UK can be divided into two or more periods, with not more than 12 months elapsing between each award term. As for coverage, everything is covered by this scholarship all allowances and costs including that of your partner and kids.

2. K.U. Leuven University PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries

We are back to another PhD scholarship offered by KU Leuven. This time, the scholarship is for the student to do his or her whole research at KU Leuven. For this scholarship, you could choose any Doctoral or pre-doctoral programmes in the Schools of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and Technology, or Biomedical Sciences. Tuition fee, Health and Life Insurances, partner and child allowances, monthly stipend and travel are all covered in this scholarship. Even more PhD scholarships exist in Belgium that are not on this top 10 list.

3. Cambridge International PhD Scholarships

The University of Cambridge has a number of scholarships open to international students every year. Ranging from the Schlumberger Cambridge Scholarships, Gates Cambridge scholarships to the University of Cambridge graduate scholarship, up to 300 Cambridge Scholarships are awarded to International Students. For 3 years, each award will underwrite the full cost of fees and maintenance. The only factors taken into consideration list are academic qualifications, references and research potential.  Your financial situation does not affect selection of scholarship winners. So get to impress the selection committee with your application to win this full scholarship.

4. University of Tokyo Masters and PhD Scholarships

Imagine a scholarship that not only pays for your tuition but for other expenses like school expense exemptions, emergency loans, and student discounts. That is the University of Tokyo scholarship for international students. The purpose of this scholarship is twofold: to financially support Self-Supported International Students whose academic performance is outstanding and to increase the number of students from abroad.

5. Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholarships

The NPGS is a competitive and prestigious scholarship scheme in Singapore designed to encourage outstanding international students whether graduate or final-year students, to pursue a leading research career by studying for a doctoral degree programme (PhD) at the Nanyang Technological University. Funding is provided for up to 4 years for NPGS awardees. Up to 30 NPGS awards is made available in each Academic Year. Successful candidates are known as Nanyang President’s Graduate Scholars.

6. KAAD Germany Research Fellowship Programme

The KAAD scholarship is offered to postgraduates and academics living in developing countries that are Catholic Christian (or generally belong to a Christian denomination). So if are catholic, have already gained professional experience and are interested in a masters or PhD study (or research stay) in Germany, look out for this scholarship. The KAAD scholarship comes with visa modalities, return flights, German language training, tuition, living, accommodation and many other expenses. You can apply for any course but the KAAD scholarship gives preference to development-related courses.

7. Japan Foundation United Nations University PhD Scholarships

This Scholarship is available to impressive applicants from developing countries who can demonstrate the need for financial assistance. The JFUNU scholarship covers the full tuition fees, and provides a monthly allowance of 150,000 Japanese Yen for living expenses for a maximum of 24 months. So if you are a PhD student from a developing country and you want to undertake a course in the field of Science in Sustainability, Development, and Peace at the United Nations University in Japan, then apply for this scholarship.

8. CARTA PhD Fellowships for African Researchers

The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) is an initiative of eight African universities, four African research institutes, and select northern partners.The fellowship, which runs for 4 years at an African university, includes the cost of fellows’ participation in the advanced seminars; a modest monthly stipend; small grants for research activities; a laptop loaded with relevant software; funds for travel to conferences, as well as costs for participating in joint program activities. Apply for this program beginning of April.

9. Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) PhD Scholarships for Developing Countries

 The University of Louvain holds a competition for awarding PhD scholarships to citizens of developing countries. In this scholarship, you are awarded a UCL PhD scholarship that includes support for up to 36 months and, if necessary, one or more round-trip airline tickets between the international airport nearest to your country of residence and Brussels Airport.

10. Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) Fully-funded PhD Scholarships for International Students

The SINGA award is offered twice in a year to offer PhD training to international students to be carried out in English at your chosen lab at Singapore Research Institutes, National University of Singapore or Nanyang Technology University. So for up to 4 years,  you could be supported with Tuition fees, a Monthly stipend, which will be increased after the pass the Qualifying Examination. One-time airfare grant of up to S$1,500 and One-time settling-in allowance will also be offered.

11. Commonwealth PhD Scholarships in UK for Developing Countries

The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan is one of the largest scholarships schemes for international students in the world. Since it was established, over 27,500 individuals have benefited. You will be in really good company to win this award. Here is something you should know about this scholarship. All subject areas are eligible, yet you’ll likely get this scholarship if your application bears strong relevance to development. Like the Split-site scholarship, everything is covered by this scholarship; all allowances and costs including that of your partner and kids.

12. Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme for International Students

The Hong Kong Fellowship is a fully-funded award to bring the best and the brightest into Hong Kong. The Fellowship covers annual stipend and a conference and research-related travel allowance per year for a period up to three years. Guess what? About 230 of this PhD Fellowship are offered every academic year. That’s not all. For awardees that need more than three years to complete their PhD degree, additional support may be provided.

13. Rotary Yoneyama Foundation Scholarships for International Students

Rotary Yoneyama Scholarship is for international students scheduled to enroll in a Japanese University or Graduate School. The scholarship is supported by the contributions of Rotarians throughout Japan. The Foundation is Japan’s largest private scholarship organization, both in terms of program scale and number of scholarships awarded. To be awarded this scholarship, you have to find out and apply to a Japanese university or graduate school by yourself before applying for this 140,000 yen per month scholarship.

14. DAAD Scholarships in Germany

Year in year out, the scholarships that the government body, German Academic Exchange Service offers are numerous. If you are looking for the most scholarships offered to students and young professionals from developing countries look no further than DAAD. The scholarships are actually in varieties ranging from undergraduate degrees to research visits and group visits. Through DAAD, a great number of students are funded to pursue different programs in their home countries as well as in German Universities. Could you be next?

15. New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarships

Financial support opportunities for students in developing countries are just not as common in New Zealand compared to countries like UK and even sister country, Australia. However there are scholarship programmes international students can partake in. One of them is the New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarship. You want to study for Masters or PhD in New Zealand? Then take advantage of this opportunity. The scholarship provides students from commonwealth countries financial support for tuition, living costs while in New Zealand, and airfares. The partners of students are eligible for a work visa that allows them to live and work in New Zealand for the duration of their partner’s study.

16. Fulbright Foreign Scholarships

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals and artists from abroad to study and conduct research in the United States. The scholarships are for study towards a Master’s or PhD degree, and can also be awarded for non-degree postgraduate studies. The number of awards varies per country, but approximately 4,000 foreign students receive Fulbright scholarships each year. The grant funds tuition, textbooks, airfare, a living stipend, and health insurance for the duration of study.

17. Cambridge Trust International Scholarships

The Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust was established on 1 August 2013 from the merger of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and the Cambridge Overseas Trust. The Trust awards approximately 500 scholarships annually, and supports between 1,100 and 1,400 students in residence each year from 85 countries across the world.  The Trust has awarded a total of nearly 19,000 scholarships to international students. Awards are offered to selected students at PhD, Masters and undergraduate level, in all subjects.

18. Jiangsu Provincial Government Scholarships

This scholarship will be provided to the excellent overseas students or scholars to undertake full time study in universities and colleges of Jiangsu. It will also include those non-degree program and exchange students. The scholarship will cover Full fee waiver of tuition, registration, laboratory experiments, internship, and basic textbooks; Accommodation, Monthly stipend, Medical insurance and more. There are also partial scholarships for CNY30000 for one year and the awardees will receive the scholarship half by half in two semesters. Scholarship is open for undergraduate, masters and PhD studies.

19. MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) Scholarships for Developing Countries

MOFCOM Scholarship is set up by Ministry of Commerce of People’s Republic of China to further strengthen the communication and cooperation between China and other countries as well as to develop talents for developing countries. The scholarship is for masters and PhD programs, and covers tuition; teaching materials; research and survey; dissertation guidance; one-off resettlement fee: 3000RMB per master student, 3000RMB per PhD student; on-campus accommodation; stipend: medical insurance and one-time round-trip international airfare.

20. New Zealand Development Scholarships for African and Developing Countries’ Students

New Zealand Development Scholarships (NZDS) give candidates from selected developing countries an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills through study in specific subject areas which will assist in the development of their home country. Awardees are required to return to their home country for at least two years after the completion of their scholarship to apply these new skills and knowledge in government, civil society or private business organizations.