Scholarships in New Zealand for International Students 2026/2027

New Zealand is one of the most welcoming English-speaking study destinations in the world: eight publicly funded universities, a strong polytechnic sector, post-study work rights, and a reputation for safe, outdoors-oriented student life. It is also a destination where tuition is a serious investment. International fees at New Zealand universities commonly run into tens of thousands of New Zealand dollars per year, so scholarships are not a bonus for most applicants — they are the difference between a plan that works on paper and a plan a family can actually afford. This guide explains every major route to funding study in New Zealand for the 2026/2027 cycle: the New Zealand Government’s Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships, university entrance and excellence awards at institutions such as the University of Auckland, the University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Waikato, doctoral funding, and smaller college and pathway awards.

The most important thing to understand before you read any list is that “scholarships in New Zealand” is really three different markets. The first is the government market: one flagship programme, Manaaki, which is fully funded but restricted to citizens of eligible partner countries and built around development priorities. The second is the university market: partial tuition awards, usually NZ$2,000 to NZ$20,000, offered to attract strong international students and assessed either automatically at admission or through a short application. The third is the research market: doctoral scholarships that combine New Zealand’s unusually low domestic-rate PhD fees with a living stipend, and which together can amount to genuine full funding. A realistic funding plan usually combines routes — for example, an entrance scholarship in year one, strong grades to unlock continuing awards, and part-time work within visa conditions. Throughout this guide, amounts are given in New Zealand dollars (NZ$) as published by the awarding bodies, and anything that changes by cycle is flagged so you can confirm it on the official site before you apply. If your goal is full funding specifically, read our dedicated guide to fully funded scholarships in New Zealand alongside this one, and browse the full StudyGraduate scholarships directory to compare New Zealand with other destinations.

Scholarships in New Zealand at a Glance

Two patterns stand out from the table. First, only Manaaki and doctoral packages routinely cover living costs; almost every undergraduate and taught-master’s award is a tuition contribution, so your budget must still cover accommodation, food, insurance and flights. Second, values and eligibility are published per award and per cycle. Treat any figure in this guide as the starting point for verification on the official page, not as a promise — and never pay an agent who claims they can “guarantee” one of these awards.

Why Study in New Zealand?

New Zealand’s eight universities all sit within the global rankings conversation, and the system is deliberately compact: the University of Auckland in the country’s largest city, the University of Otago in Dunedin with its famous student quarter, Victoria University of Wellington in the capital, and the Universities of Canterbury, Waikato, Massey, Lincoln and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) each with distinct strengths. You can compare institutions side by side in the StudyGraduate rankings section and browse country and institution profiles through our study abroad hub. Beyond rankings, students choose New Zealand for teaching quality, for the ability to work part-time during study under student visa conditions, for post-study work pathways, and — at doctoral level — for a fee policy that is close to unique in the English-speaking world, explained in the doctoral section below.

Scholarships also matter more in New Zealand than headline fees suggest, because your student visa application requires evidence that you can support yourself. Immigration New Zealand’s published living-cost evidence requirement has been NZ$20,000 per year of study in recent settings; a scholarship letter is powerful supporting evidence, but a partial tuition award does not remove the need to show funds for living costs. Confirm the current evidence amounts on the Immigration New Zealand website when you prepare your visa application, because these settings are updated by the government and are separate from scholarship rules.

The Flagship: Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships

The Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships are the New Zealand Government’s flagship international scholarship programme, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and administered through Education New Zealand. They exist to build skills that partner countries need: scholars are selected not only for academic ability but for a credible plan to contribute to their home country’s development after graduating, and scholars are generally expected to return home after their studies. The programme offers full tertiary scholarships for study at New Zealand (and some Pacific) institutions, plus shorter vocational and thematic training scholarships for professionals. The official portal is nzscholarships.govt.nz, where each scholarship type has its own eligibility page — always start there, because eligibility is defined country by country.

Who is eligible for Manaaki?

Eligibility is the single most misunderstood part of Manaaki, so read this carefully. You must be a citizen of an eligible partner country. The eligible list spans the Pacific, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and it includes several of StudyGraduate’s core readership countries for postgraduate study — among them Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Nigeria appear on the published lists for various award types, alongside Pacific nations such as Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. However, the level of study open to you depends on your region: undergraduate tertiary scholarships are concentrated on Pacific applicants, while applicants from most Asian, African and Latin American countries are considered for postgraduate certificates, diplomas, master’s degrees and PhDs. The exact list, and which levels each country may apply for, is published on the official portal and changes — check your country page before investing time in an application.

Beyond citizenship, the published criteria for Manaaki training and tertiary awards typically include: being at least 18 when the scholarship starts (with an upper age expectation — recent published criteria have used 40 as the maximum age for tertiary applicants); having lived in your country of citizenship for at least two years; not being a citizen or permanent resident of New Zealand, Australia or a list of other high-income countries (with specific exceptions, for example for Niue and Tokelau); meeting the academic and English entry requirements of your chosen programme; and relevant work experience — the published benchmark is at least one year of full-time work experience (30+ hours per week) or two years of part-time experience, which can be paid, unpaid or voluntary. For tertiary awards, your proposed study must align with the programme’s priority themes, described below. Applicants whose scholarship was previously terminated are subject to stand-down rules. None of this is assessed by StudyGraduate or by any agent: the eligibility checker and country pages on nzscholarships.govt.nz are the authority.

What Manaaki covers

For scholars studying in New Zealand, the published Manaaki tertiary package includes full tuition fees; a living allowance (stipend) of NZ$531 per week to help with basic living expenses — adjusted if you begin study online from your home country; an establishment allowance of NZ$3,000 to help with set-up costs such as accommodation expenses and textbooks; medical insurance while in New Zealand; tutoring costs up to NZ$1,000 if you need additional tutoring; travel to and from your home country at the start and end of the scholarship; travel insurance; travel home during the scholarship for scholars studying longer than about 1.6 years (usually one or two trips, depending on length); a reintegration allowance of NZ$1,000 on return home; and help with research and thesis costs for many postgraduate students. Rates are set by MFAT and are republished each cycle, so confirm the current figures on the official portal — if a third-party site quotes a different weekly rate, the official site wins.

Priority themes and fields

Manaaki study must connect to New Zealand’s published priority themes. On the official programme pages these are grouped under Climate Change and Resilience (climate change and the environment, disaster risk management, food security and agriculture, renewable energy), Good Governance (governance, law and justice), and Economic Resilience (private sector development, information and communications technology, tourism, fisheries), with country-specific themes such as public health management, geothermal energy and trade policy appearing for particular partners. Not every course is open to every country. In practice this means a strong Manaaki application names a specific development problem in your home country, chooses a programme that teaches the skills to address it, and explains what you will do with the qualification in your first years back home. A generic desire to “study abroad” is the fastest route to rejection in a development scholarship.

University Scholarships: The Mainstream Route

For most international students — including everyone whose country is not on the Manaaki list, and everyone applying for undergraduate or taught master’s study — university scholarships are the realistic funding route. These awards are competitive but far less restrictive: they reward grades, not development plans, and many are considered automatically when you apply for admission.

University of Auckland

The University of Auckland runs a layered set of international awards. The International Student Excellence Scholarship offers up to NZ$10,000 towards tuition fees for new international students enrolling full-time in an undergraduate degree, postgraduate diploma or master’s degree with overseas qualifications. The India High Achievers Scholarship offers up to NZ$20,000 towards tuition for new students from India, and the ASEAN High Achievers Scholarship offers up to NZ$10,000 for students from ASEAN countries. Separately, the International School Leaver Scholarship, worth up to NZ$20,000 each with up to 20 on offer, supports international students who attended a New Zealand secondary school or kura and are entering the first year of an undergraduate degree; the university’s published dates for one recent cycle were an opening of 9 September 2026 and a closing of 21 October 2026, which illustrates how early these awards close relative to the February semester start. Auckland scholarship pages state values, tenure (usually one year) and closing dates per award, and some awards require a separate application while others are assessed with admission — check the individual scholarship page for the programme you want, and note the pattern in the school-leaver example: the University of Auckland’s scholarship pages list opening and closing dates explicitly, so build your timeline backwards from them.

University of Otago

Otago’s international entrance scholarships are among the more generous undergraduate offers in the country. Its Global Scholarships are valued at NZ$15,000 and support international students coming from nominated countries and/or planning to study specific programmes, with published opening dates of 1 May in the year prior to study for offshore students (1 July for onshore students) and closing dates of 10 December for a Semester 1 (February) start and 30 April for a Semester 2 (July) start for offshore students. The International Academic Excellence Scholarship targets outstanding school leavers: it covers accommodation fees in a residential college in the first year (around NZ$21,000) plus NZ$7,000 towards tuition fees in the second and third years subject to conditions — a package the university presents as worth roughly NZ$35,000 in total. Entry to these awards runs through Otago’s application system: you indicate in your study application that you wish to be considered for international scholarships, and invited candidates for the excellence award supply further information. Full criteria sit on Otago’s scholarship pages; read the fine print on on-campus study requirements, because these entrance awards generally require you to study on campus for the duration.

Victoria University of Wellington, Waikato and the rest

Victoria University of Wellington offers a broad scholarships database for international students at entrance and postgraduate level. One concrete published example is the New Zealand International School Leaver Grants: NZ$2,000 for fees, for international students who completed at least one full year (their Year 13 year) at a secondary school in New Zealand, meet University Entrance, and enrol full-time — with no separate application, as the grant is applied automatically on enrolment for eligible students commencing from 2026. Details are on Victoria University of Wellington’s scholarship pages. At pathway level, the University of Waikato College publishes International Scholarships of NZ$3,000 or NZ$4,000 as tuition credits for students from specific countries entering foundation or diploma programmes (with stated exclusions), plus a 10% Academic English bursary for students progressing from its English programme — a reminder to check pathway providers, not only universities, because foundation-year funding is easy to miss. The Universities of Canterbury, Massey and Lincoln, and AUT, likewise publish international entrance and excellence awards each cycle; values and country eligibility change too often to quote responsibly here, so use each university’s official scholarships database and search by your citizenship and level. The habit that matters is searching the official database early — many awards are decided at the same time as admission offers.

Doctoral Scholarships and the Domestic-Fee Advantage

Doctoral study is where New Zealand funding becomes genuinely exceptional. Under the national policy restated on university fee pages, new international PhD students pay the same tuition fee as New Zealand PhD students provided they reside in New Zealand for their programme (with up to 12 months of overseas research activity allowed). The University of Auckland, for example, publishes a 2026 PhD tuition fee of NZ$8,847.60 per annum for students eligible for the domestic rate, plus a student services fee — a fraction of international doctoral fees in the US, UK or Australia. The same pages note further structural benefits: dependent children of PhD students are treated as domestic students for primary and secondary schooling, a spouse or partner may be eligible for an open work visa for the duration of the PhD, PhD students have unlimited work rights under their student visa conditions, and graduates may apply for a post-study work visa. Always confirm current settings with the university and Immigration New Zealand, but the direction is clear: a funded or even self-funded New Zealand PhD is financially unlike a PhD almost anywhere else.

On top of the fee policy, universities offer doctoral scholarships that add a living stipend. The University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship, open to domestic and international candidates seeking their first doctoral qualification, provides NZ$34,128 per annum plus a domestic tuition fees waiver for up to 36 months (excluding student services fee and insurance), with up to 153 scholarships offered annually and applications considered at quarterly rounds in March, June, September and November — full regulations are on Otago’s doctoral scholarship page. Selection across universities is based predominantly on academic merit and research potential, which is why the supervisor conversation and research proposal matter as much as grades. A doctoral scholarship plus domestic-rate fees is, in substance, a fully funded PhD — which is why doctoral funding features so heavily in our companion guide to fully funded routes.

Eligibility: What You Generally Need

Although every award has its own regulations, New Zealand scholarship eligibility usually combines five elements. Citizenship and residency status: international awards require you to be neither a New Zealand citizen nor a resident visa holder, and government awards add country lists. An offer of place: most university awards require a conditional or unconditional offer for a full-time programme, and entrance scholarships require you to be a new student — students who have already studied at tertiary level in New Zealand are often excluded from “new international student” awards. Academic merit: excellence awards are decided on grades converted to the university’s scale; Auckland’s published guidance for its awards, for instance, is built around high grade point equivalents, and doctoral awards typically expect first-class or strong upper-second honours equivalence. English language: you must meet the programme’s English requirement (commonly IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Cambridge, taken within the validity window the institution sets) before an unconditional offer and scholarship can be finalised. Full-time, on-campus enrolment: many entrance awards exclude distance enrolment. Read each award’s regulations for stacking rules too: some universities allow a student to hold only one institutional award at a time.

How to Apply: Step by Step

1. Choose programmes before scholarships. Shortlist two or three programmes across the eight universities using the StudyGraduate university directory, checking entry requirements and February/July intakes.
2. Run the official scholarship search for each university. Search each institution’s scholarships database by citizenship, level and faculty. Note for each award: value, whether it is automatic or application-based, and the closing date.
3. If you may be Manaaki-eligible, do the official eligibility check first. The nzscholarships.govt.nz country pages and eligibility checker decide whether a full tertiary application is even open to you, and windows are short.
4. Apply for admission early. Scholarship consideration usually rides on your admission application; late admission applications miss scholarship rounds even when the scholarship itself has no separate form.
5. Submit separate scholarship applications where required. Auckland-style excellence awards and Otago’s invited excellence process need their own forms, statements and sometimes referee endorsements — start these as soon as applications open.
6. Write the statement like a selection document. For merit awards, evidence of achievement and contribution; for Manaaki, a development plan tied to the published priority themes. Generic statements are the most common weak point.
7. Accept offers and meet conditions by the deadlines given. Scholarship offers lapse. Pay any required deposit, supply certified documents, and confirm enrolment (usually at least 120 points for a full-year undergraduate programme where that condition applies).
8. Apply for your student visa with the scholarship letter attached. Combine it with evidence of remaining funds for living costs and any tuition not covered.

Required Documents

Prepare certified copies early, because attestation and translation queues are a common cause of missed rounds. A standard New Zealand scholarship document set includes: passport personal pages; certified academic transcripts and completion certificates for all qualifications, with the grading schedule used by your institution; certified English translations where documents are not in English; English test results (IELTS, TOEFL, PTE or Cambridge) from within the validity period the institution requires, where available; a current CV in English; a personal or development statement matched to the award; referee reports or endorsement letters where the award requires them; for Manaaki and training awards, a job description if you are employed and employer endorsement where applicable; and for doctoral applications, a research proposal and evidence of supervisor contact. Universities state exactly which documents must be certified and by whom — follow the awarding body’s instructions, not an agent’s checklist.

Deadlines and Timeline

New Zealand’s academic year is the mirror image of the northern hemisphere’s: the main intake begins in late February. That single fact reorganises your whole calendar — scholarship rounds for a February start mostly close between October and December of the previous year, which catches out students who plan around a September-start mindset. Use a deadline tracker (see our tools section) and work backwards from the earliest closing date on your shortlist.

How Selection Works — and How to Improve Your Chances

University entrance scholarships are, at core, a grades competition with a judgement layer. Committees compare your converted grades against the applicant pool for your region and programme, then read whatever statement or endorsement the award requires. Three behaviours measurably improve your position. First, apply for admission as early as the cycle allows, because automatic-consideration awards can only consider students who exist in the system, and invited rounds (like Otago’s excellence process) go to offer-holders. Second, treat the statement as evidence, not autobiography: specific achievements, leadership or community contribution, and a clear reason for choosing that university and programme outperform broad claims about passion. Third, protect your grades in your final school or degree year — most awards are confirmed against final results, and a scholarship can be withdrawn if your final grades fall materially below the results it was offered on.

For Manaaki, selection adds a development lens: assessors weigh your work experience, the alignment of your proposed study with your country’s published priority themes, and the credibility of your plan to contribute at home afterwards. The strongest applications name the problem (for example, climate-resilient agriculture in a specific region), the skill gap, the exact programme that fills it, and the employer or sector waiting for those skills. For doctoral scholarships, the decisive artefacts are your honours-level grades, a focused proposal, and a supervisor who actively supports your candidacy — contact potential supervisors months before the round you are targeting, with a two-page research outline attached.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming Manaaki is open to everyone. It is restricted by citizenship, region and level of study. Do the official eligibility check before planning around it.
• Budgeting as if a tuition award covers living costs. NZ$10,000 towards tuition still leaves full living costs — and visa evidence for them — to fund.
• Missing the reversed calendar. February entry means most scholarship rounds close the previous October–December.
• Applying for admission too late for scholarship rounds. Automatic consideration only works if your application is in before the round closes.
• Submitting uncertified or untranslated documents. Awards lapse when conditions are not met with correctly certified evidence.
• Holding an unrealistic view of stacking. Many universities cap institutional awards at one per student; check regulations before counting two awards in one budget.
• Paying agents for “guaranteed” scholarships. No agent can award a New Zealand scholarship. Applications are free through official channels.
• Ignoring pathway and college funding. Foundation and diploma providers publish their own credits and bursaries that students routinely overlook.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can international students get full scholarships in New Zealand?

Yes, but through specific routes. The Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships fully fund eligible citizens of partner countries, and doctoral packages — a university doctoral scholarship on top of domestic-rate PhD fees — can amount to full funding. Most undergraduate and taught master’s awards are partial tuition contributions. Our fully funded guide compares the realistic full-funding routes in detail.

Is Bangladesh eligible for Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships?

Bangladesh has appeared on the published Manaaki lists for postgraduate study, alongside countries such as India, Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan. Eligibility is defined per country and per award type on nzscholarships.govt.nz and can change between cycles, so confirm your country page and the levels open to you before applying.

How much is the Manaaki living allowance?

The published package for scholars in New Zealand lists a living allowance of NZ$531 per week, an establishment allowance of NZ$3,000, tutoring support up to NZ$1,000 and a reintegration allowance of NZ$1,000, plus full tuition, insurance and travel. MFAT republishes rates each cycle — confirm the current figures on the official portal.

Do I need IELTS to apply for New Zealand scholarships?

You need to meet your programme’s English requirement for an unconditional offer, which most universities accept through IELTS, TOEFL, PTE Academic or Cambridge tests taken within their validity window. Some Manaaki pages also accept evidence of schooling in English as the language of instruction. A scholarship offer is normally conditional until English and academic conditions are met.

When should I apply for a February intake?

Start a full year ahead. University scholarship rounds for February entry open from around May of the previous year and many close between October and December; admission applications should be lodged early enough to be inside those rounds. Doctoral scholarships at some universities, such as Otago, are considered at quarterly rounds through the year.

Can I work while studying on a scholarship in New Zealand?

Student visa conditions generally allow part-time work during term and full-time work in scheduled breaks for eligible students, and PhD students have unlimited work rights. Scholarship regulations may add their own expectations about full-time study. Check your visa conditions and award regulations; never let work displace the grades your scholarship depends on.

Are New Zealand PhD fees really the same for international students?

Yes, under the policy published on university fee pages: new international PhD students who reside in New Zealand for their programme pay the domestic rate — Auckland published NZ$8,847.60 per annum for 2026 — with up to 12 months of overseas research permitted. Losing domestic-rate eligibility means international fees apply, so read the conditions carefully.

Can I combine a university scholarship with Manaaki?

Generally no — Manaaki is a complete package, and universities also restrict holding multiple institutional awards simultaneously. Funding regulations for each award govern what else you may hold; declare other awards honestly in every application.

Sources & Verification

• Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships — official programme portal, New Zealand Government / MFAT / Education New Zealand (nzscholarships.govt.nz), including the Vocational Short Term Training Scholarships page for priority themes, eligibility and entitlements.
• University of Auckland — official scholarship pages (International Student Excellence, India High Achievers, ASEAN High Achievers, International School Leaver Scholarship regulations and dates) and the official Doctoral Fees page for the domestic-rate PhD policy and the 2026 fee of NZ$8,847.60.
• University of Otago — official Global Scholarships and International Academic Excellence Scholarship pages, and the University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship page (NZ$34,128 per annum plus domestic tuition waiver for up to 36 months).
• Victoria University of Wellington — official New Zealand International School Leaver Grants page (NZ$2,000, automatic on enrolment).
• University of Waikato College — official scholarships page (NZ$3,000/NZ$4,000 international pathway scholarships and Academic English bursary).

Disclaimer: Scholarship values, eligibility lists and deadlines change every cycle. Figures in this article reflect the rates published by the awarding bodies at the time of writing and are provided for guidance only — always confirm amounts, dates and eligibility on the official scholarship page before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency or a scholarship provider, and no article can promise selection, admission or visa approval.