University of Manchester Scholarships for International Students 2026/27

The University of Manchester runs one of the largest institutional scholarship programmes of any UK university — and for the 2026/27 cycles it is also one of the most generous. Its flagship Global Futures Scholarship offers hundreds of merit-based awards to undergraduate and Master’s students from a defined list of countries, with total funding in the millions of pounds. Alongside it sit the GREAT Scholarships, delivered with the British Council; the Equity and Merit Scholarships, a genuinely fully-funded Master’s scheme for students from six Sub-Saharan African countries; faculty and Alliance Manchester Business School awards; humanitarian funding; and a wide field of postgraduate research studentships. For applicants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia and the other countries Manchester prioritises, this is a funding landscape worth mapping carefully, because the values differ sharply by level, by region and by cycle — and because almost every Manchester award is a tuition-fee discount rather than cash, which changes how you must budget and how you evidence funds for your visa.

This guide explains each Manchester scheme with the values the University itself publishes, separating the September 2026 figures (the last fully published cycle, captured in Manchester’s funding database) from the September 2027 figures the University has now announced, so you can see both what was awarded most recently and what is coming next. Read it alongside our University of Manchester profile, the national overview in our guide to scholarships in the UK, and the wider StudyGraduate scholarships directory.

University of Manchester Scholarships at a Glance

Two features define Manchester funding. First, scale: Global Futures alone offered more than 300 awards for September 2026, and the University states more than 350 awards for 2027 entry, worth over £6 million in total. Second, regionalisation: the same scholarship name carries different values in different regions, and eligibility is based on domicile — where you have predominantly lived for the last three years — rather than passport alone. Every figure below is therefore attached to its region and cycle. If a figure is not attached to your country on Manchester’s official country page, it does not apply to you, however often a third-party website repeats it.

The Global Futures Scholarship in Detail

What the University published for September 2026

Manchester’s funding database describes the Global Futures Scholarship for September 2026 as a scholarship managed by the International Office, worth £10,000 deducted from the international tuition fee for students domiciled in specific countries, rising to £18,000 for listed African countries, with more than 300 awards available across undergraduate and postgraduate taught levels. The award applied to September 2026 entry only and could not be deferred. For undergraduates, the country criteria published by the University describe £10,000 per year for up to three years, with continuation subject to attaining a 60% average in each year — a total undergraduate value of up to £30,000 in the 2026 design. Postgraduate taught awardees had to have achieved at least a 2:1 bachelor’s degree or international equivalent. Applicants had to hold an offer of study at Manchester before applying, awardees must not be sponsored or hold a full scholarship, and the award could be held alongside other partial scholarships — but not alongside the GREAT award.

The 2026 country list in Manchester’s database was: Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey (listed as Türkiye in the 2027 list), the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe. Exclusions mattered as much as inclusions: across the regional criteria, courses such as Medicine (MBChB), Dentistry (BDS), Architecture, the MBA, integrated foundation years and distance or blended learning were excluded from Global Futures in the published regional documents.

What is announced for September 2027

For 2027 entry, Manchester’s Global Futures page states that there are more than 350 partial merit-based scholarships open to undergraduate and Master’s students. To be eligible you must be living in one of the listed countries — the 2027 list runs from Bangladesh to Zimbabwe and includes India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia and, for postgraduate taught Master’s only, Taiwan — and hold an offer for a full-time, on-campus course in Manchester starting in September 2027. The level of award, eligibility criteria and application deadlines differ for each region, and the University directs you to your country profile for the specific details. The values published for 2027 are higher than 2026: undergraduate awards of up to £36,000, structured as £12,000 per year over three years (continuation subject to academic performance in the regional criteria), and Master’s awards of £19,000 for eligible students from specified African countries and £12,000 for other select markets — the figures Manchester’s Alliance Business School page itself quotes for the 2027 Global Futures round. Because values are set per region, treat £19,000 and £12,000 as published examples, not a universal promise, and confirm your own region’s value on your country page before you budget around it. The application mechanism is unchanged: you must hold an offer first, and the online application form is emailed to eligible offer-holders — there is no open public form to submit speculatively.

GREAT Scholarships at Manchester

Manchester’s GREAT Scholarship for September 2026 was a postgraduate taught award managed by the International Office with Study UK (British Council), worth £15,000 deducted from the international tuition fee for students who are nationals and domiciled in Bangladesh or Pakistan, and £18,000 for students from Ghana. Three awards were available. Applicants needed an offer of study at Manchester before applying, and all postgraduate awardees had to have achieved a 2:1 bachelor’s degree or international equivalent. Eligible offer-holders were invited to apply by email if they gained an offer on or before 23 April 2026, and the closing date was 23 April 2026; the award was for September 2026 entry only and could not be deferred, could be held alongside other partial awards, but could not be held alongside the Global Futures Scholarship, and awardees must not be sponsored or hold a full scholarship. GREAT is a useful illustration of Manchester’s stacking rule: because GREAT and Global Futures cannot be combined, a Bangladeshi or Pakistani Master’s offer-holder should apply for both where eligible — they are alternatives, and you take the better outcome, not the sum. GREAT country lists and values are republished each cycle, so check Manchester’s GREAT page for your entry year rather than assuming the 2026 countries repeat.

Equity and Merit Scholarships: Manchester’s Fully-Funded Master’s Route

The Equity and Merit Scholarships are Manchester’s most complete funding package and its most mission-driven. They exist to empower talented individuals from the Global South to drive change in their home countries, and they are open to academically excellent students from Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe who can demonstrate the potential to make a significant contribution to sustainable development in their communities at local, national or regional level. Crucially, the awards are intended for applicants who would not otherwise be able to study in Manchester without financial support — need is part of the design, not an afterthought. There are 30 scholarships: 20 for full-time, on-campus one-year Master’s study and 10 for part-time distance-learning Master’s over three to five years, across a range of courses in engineering, environment, health sciences, global development, education and law. The scholarships cover full tuition fees, and for students studying in Manchester the award also includes return international airfares, living expenses and visas — a genuinely fully-funded package. The University particularly encourages women to apply.

The 2027/28 application timeline published by Manchester is unusually structured, and it reverses the usual order: scholarship applications open 1–31 August 2026, eligibility is reviewed in September 2026, eligible applicants are then invited to apply for their chosen Master’s course between 1 and 31 October 2026, the deadline to submit an English language qualification is 30 November 2026, applications are assessed from November 2026 to May 2027, scholarship decisions are announced in June 2027, and study starts in September 2027. In other words, for Equity and Merit you apply for the scholarship before you apply for the course. Missing the August window means waiting a full year, which makes this the single most date-sensitive scheme in this article.

Faculty, Business School and Other Manchester Awards

Below the flagship schemes, Manchester’s funding database lists a deep bench of faculty and programme awards: faculty-level Master’s scholarships in humanities, science and engineering, and health; Alliance Manchester Business School scholarships for its Master’s portfolio, awarded on academic excellence and the applicant’s potential to enrich the programme, typically on a rolling basis through the admissions cycle; a Humanitarian Scholarship at undergraduate level; Women in STEM scholarships at Master’s level; a Carbon Reduction Scholarship; sport scholarships; and an alumni loyalty discount for Manchester graduates progressing to further study. Values and criteria for these awards are set per scheme and per cycle, and the Business School itself warns that its scholarships are limited and may not be available in later application stages — an argument for applying early in the cycle rather than at the deadline. The authoritative way to survey this layer is Manchester’s own funding database and the funding page for international students, both linked in the Sources section below, filtered by your level and faculty.

Postgraduate Research Funding

For PhD applicants, Manchester funding works differently: the money sits in faculty and research-group competitions, Doctoral Academy studentships, and external funders such as UK research councils and industry partners, rather than in a single central “research training grant” product. Studentships typically cover tuition fees and a maintenance stipend for a defined period, with some competitions open to international applicants and others restricted by funder rules; fee-only awards also exist, where the University or faculty covers fees and the student funds living costs. Because the portfolio changes constantly, the correct approach is to identify your faculty’s postgraduate research funding page, read the live competitions for your start date, and speak to your prospective supervisor early — supervisors often know which studentship competitions are about to open before they are widely advertised. Do not assume a Global Futures-style discount applies to research degrees: Global Futures covers undergraduate and postgraduate taught study only.

Eligibility: Reading Manchester’s Rules Correctly

Four concepts decide most Manchester applications. Domicile, not just nationality: Global Futures eligibility is based on being domiciled in a listed country — in the University’s published criteria, having predominantly resided there during the last three years, with your permanent country of residence being where you ordinarily live rather than a country where you are only present for full-time education. GREAT adds a nationality test on top: you must be a national and domiciled in the named country. Offer first: for Global Futures and GREAT you must hold an offer of study before you can apply; the application form is emailed to eligible offer-holders, so an applicant without an offer has nothing to submit. Sponsorship: awardees must not be sponsored or hold a full scholarship; partial external scholarships can sometimes be held alongside, subject to the other award’s restrictions, but Global Futures and GREAT cannot be held together. Level and mode: Global Futures covers full-time, on-campus undergraduate and postgraduate taught study; distance learning, the MBA and named professional courses are excluded in the published criteria. For Equity and Merit, add two further tests: genuine financial need, and a demonstrable commitment to sustainable development in your home country.

Benefits: What the Money Does and Does Not Do

With the exception of Equity and Merit, Manchester scholarships reduce your tuition invoice; they are never paid to you as cash and they do not reduce the living costs you must budget and evidence. A Master’s student who wins a £12,000 Global Futures award still faces the balance of a full international fee plus Manchester living costs for the visa financial requirement, so read our Manchester profile for realistic fee and living-cost figures before celebrating the headline number.

How to Apply: Step by Step

1. Choose your course and apply for admission early. Every taught scholarship at Manchester is downstream of an offer. Early application also matters because some faculty awards are allocated on a rolling basis.
2. Check your country page for Global Futures. From the Global Futures page, open your country’s profile and record your region’s exact award value, eligible qualifications, grade thresholds and deadline — they differ by region.
3. Hold an offer, then watch your email. The Global Futures and GREAT application forms are emailed to eligible offer-holders; they are not public forms. Check the email address on your application regularly, including spam folders.
4. Submit the scholarship form by your region’s deadline. For 2026 GREAT, eligible offer-holders had to hold their offer by 23 April 2026 and apply by the same date. Regional Global Futures deadlines are published per country.
5. For Equity and Merit, reverse the order. Apply for the scholarship in the August window (1–31 August 2026 for 2027/28 entry) before applying for the course; only eligible scholarship applicants are invited to make a course application in October.
6. Check faculty and Business School awards separately. Some require a separate application or essay; others consider you automatically from your course application. The funding database entry for your programme will say which.
7. Accept promptly and meet the conditions. Awards are tied to the September intake and cannot be deferred; if you cannot start that September, you lose the award and must re-compete in a later cycle.

Required Documents

Manchester scholarship applications are light on separate paperwork because they draw on your admission file — which makes the quality of that file decisive. Ensure your course application includes: final or interim degree transcripts and certificates (with certified translations where needed); evidence that you meet the scholarship grade threshold (for postgraduate awards, at least a 2:1-equivalent bachelor’s degree); your offer letter, which unlocks the scholarship form; proof of domicile where a scheme requires it (evidence of predominant residence over the last three years, if requested); and a passport or nationality evidence for nationality-tested schemes such as GREAT. For Equity and Merit, prepare in addition a clear, evidence-based account of your development work and plans: the panel is selecting for impact in your home country, and vague aspirations score poorly against documented community, professional or policy work. PhD applicants need a research proposal and supervisor engagement on top of the standard file.

Deadlines and Timeline

Keep every date in one calendar and work backwards from the earliest: for most taught applicants the binding constraint is not the scholarship deadline itself but the date by which you must already hold an offer. Our guide to scholarships in the UK places Manchester’s calendar alongside national schemes such as Chevening (autumn deadline) if you are running parallel applications.

Selection Criteria and How to Improve Your Chances

Global Futures and GREAT are merit awards: selection rests on academic achievement — achieved or predicted grades against your region’s thresholds — and, in Manchester’s published undergraduate criteria, the panel also endeavours to balance allocation by gender, domicile, qualification type and course of study, and may give greater credit to applicants for courses where students from the region are underrepresented. You cannot control the balancing factors, but you can control the inputs: apply for a course you are genuinely qualified for, achieve the strongest grades you can, and submit the scholarship form completely and on time. For Alliance MBS and faculty awards, the stated tests are excellent academic performance, the standing of your previous university, and your potential to contribute to and enrich the programme and its diverse class — so your course application essays do double duty as scholarship evidence. For Equity and Merit, merit is necessary but not sufficient: the panel is buying future development impact, so document what you have already done, name the problem you intend to work on, and explain precisely how the specific Manchester course equips you to address it. Finally, apply for everything you are eligible for — Global Futures, GREAT, faculty awards and external schemes — subject to the one hard rule that GREAT and Global Futures cannot be held together.

Common Mistakes Manchester Applicants Make

• Quoting the wrong region’s value. £19,000 is the 2027 Master’s value for eligible African countries; £12,000 applies to other select markets; 2026 values were different again. Budget only on your own country page’s figure.
• Waiting for a public application form. Global Futures and GREAT forms are emailed to offer-holders. No offer means no form — apply for your course early.
• Missing the Equity and Merit August window. This scholarship is applied for before the course application, in August of the year before entry. It is the easiest major UK deadline to miss entirely.
• Assuming domicile equals passport. Manchester tests where you have predominantly lived for the last three years; living abroad for education can break domicile eligibility.
• Trying to stack GREAT with Global Futures. They are mutually exclusive. Apply for both, take the better result.
• Applying late for rolling faculty awards. Business School and faculty scholarships are limited and allocated through the cycle; late applicants compete for what is left, which may be nothing.
• Planning to defer. Global Futures and GREAT awards are valid for the named September entry only and cannot be deferred.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the Manchester Global Futures Scholarship worth?

It depends on cycle and region. For September 2026, Manchester’s funding database lists £10,000 off international tuition fees, rising to £18,000 for listed African countries, with undergraduates able to receive £10,000 per year for up to three years. For September 2027 the University announces undergraduate awards up to £36,000 (£12,000 per year over three years) and Master’s awards of £19,000 for eligible African countries and £12,000 for other select markets. Always confirm your region’s value on your country page.

Who is eligible for Global Futures?

Students domiciled in one of the listed countries (23 countries for the 2027 list, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia; Taiwan for postgraduate taught only), holding an offer for a full-time, on-campus undergraduate or taught Master’s course starting in September of the entry year, who are not sponsored or fully funded by another scholarship. Certain courses, including Medicine, Dentistry, Architecture, the MBA and distance learning, are excluded in the published criteria.

Can Bangladeshi and Pakistani students apply for GREAT at Manchester?

Yes — for September 2026 Manchester’s GREAT Scholarship was open to nationals domiciled in Bangladesh and Pakistan at £15,000 (and Ghana at £18,000), for postgraduate taught study, requiring at least a 2:1-equivalent degree and an offer by 23 April 2026. Country lists are republished each cycle, so verify the list for your entry year.

What do Equity and Merit Scholarships cover?

Full tuition fees, and for full-time on-campus scholars also return international airfares, living expenses and visa costs. There are 30 awards (20 full-time, 10 distance learning) for students from Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe who can show both academic excellence and the potential to contribute to sustainable development at home, and who could not otherwise afford to study in Manchester.

Do I apply for the course or the scholarship first at Manchester?

For Global Futures, GREAT and most faculty awards: course first — you need an offer before the scholarship form is even sent to you. For Equity and Merit the order is reversed: you apply for the scholarship in August and are only invited to apply for the course afterwards if eligible.

Can I combine Manchester scholarships?

Partly. Global Futures can be held alongside other partial scholarships subject to their restrictions, but it cannot be held alongside the GREAT award, and awardees must not be sponsored or hold a full scholarship. If you win both GREAT and Global Futures you will have to choose.

Are Manchester scholarships available for PhD students?

Not through Global Futures, which covers taught study only. PhD funding comes from faculty studentship competitions, Doctoral Academy awards and external funders, typically covering fees and sometimes a stipend. Check your faculty’s postgraduate research funding pages and speak to your prospective supervisor early.

Can I defer my Manchester scholarship to next year?

No. Global Futures and GREAT awards are specified for the September entry of the named cycle only and cannot be deferred. If you cannot take up your place that September, you would need to reapply and re-compete in the next cycle.

Sources & Verification

Values and rules in this article were checked against the University of Manchester’s official pages at the time of writing, including: the Global Futures Scholarship page (2027 entry: 350+ awards, country list, offer-first application); the University’s funding database entries for the Global Futures Scholarship and the GREAT Scholarship (September 2026 values, eligibility, 23 April 2026 GREAT closing date); the Equity and Merit Scholarships page (30 awards, coverage, 2027/28 timeline); the GREAT Scholarships information; and the funding page for international students.

Disclaimer: Scholarship values, country lists, eligibility rules and deadlines change every cycle, and Global Futures values in particular are set per region. Always confirm the amount and deadline for your own country on the official University of Manchester website before applying or budgeting. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency: we do not promise or guarantee admission, scholarship selection or visa approval.