University of Nottingham Scholarships for International Students 2026: Types & How to Apply

The University of Nottingham — a Russell Group university ranked #97 in the QS World University Rankings 2026, with campuses in the UK, Malaysia and China — runs one of the most structured international scholarship systems in Britain. Its funding has three tiers. At the top sits Developing Solutions, the university’s flagship Master’s scholarship, which covers 50% or even 100% of tuition fees for students from Africa, South Asia and selected Commonwealth countries who can show how their degree will drive development at home. In the middle sits a family of regional Excellence Awards for undergraduates and postgraduates, worth between £2,000 and £8,000 depending on where you live. And underneath, high-achieving undergraduates can receive an automatic £5,000 excellence reduction with no application at all. This guide explains every type, the eligibility rules that decide between them — including the two Developing Solutions rules that disqualify more applicants than any others — and the exact application route through NottinghamHub.

For courses, entry requirements and fees, read our full University of Nottingham profile for international students. You can compare Nottingham’s awards with other universities in the StudyGraduate scholarships directory, and our national guide to scholarships in the UK for international students covers the government schemes — Chevening, Commonwealth and GREAT — that Nottingham students also win every year.

University of Nottingham Scholarships at a Glance

Two design features shape everything that follows. First, Nottingham’s Excellence Awards are regional: there is no single worldwide form — the award you apply for, its value and its deadline are determined by where you are domiciled. Second, almost every competitive award is applied for after you hold a course offer, through the scholarships section of the university’s application system, NottinghamHub, using short written answers with strict word limits. Understanding those two features early is worth real money.

Types of Nottingham Scholarships, Explained

1. Developing Solutions Masters Scholarship — the flagship

Founded in 2001, Developing Solutions is Nottingham’s flagship scholarship and one of the most generous university awards in the UK open to South Asian and African students. It offers tuition fee scholarships of 50% or 100% for one year of full-time Master’s study, for students who can demonstrate an original, credible plan to contribute to the development of their home country — economically, environmentally, structurally, socially or politically. The scheme is still running: the 2026 cycle closed on Wednesday 15 April 2026, with successful candidates notified by the end of May 2026, and the same pattern is expected for the following cycle.

Eligibility is precise. You must be domiciled in Africa, India or one of the selected Commonwealth countries (the published list includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and a range of African, Caribbean and Pacific Commonwealth states); be classed as an overseas student for fee purposes; and hold an offer to start a full-time Master’s (including MRes) in September in one of four faculties: Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, or Social Sciences. Arts and Humanities and Business School programmes are outside the scheme. The two most-missed exclusion rules: you are not eligible if you are a current student or graduate of the University of Nottingham, and you are not eligible if your previous degree was studied outside your home country (with only case-by-case exceptions). If your Master’s runs for two years, the award covers the first year only.

2. Regional Postgraduate Excellence Awards

For Master’s students who do not qualify for — or do not win — Developing Solutions, the regional Postgraduate Excellence Awards are the main university funding. Each award supports high-achieving students domiciled in its region who hold an offer for a full-time Master’s (including MRes) in any subject area at Nottingham UK. The best-documented example for our readers is the South Asia Postgraduate Excellence Award: a contribution of between £4,000 and £8,000 towards tuition for students domiciled in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka starting in 2026/27, with the exact amount reflecting the strength of the application. Other published regional values include £4,000 for the Commonwealth of Independent States award and £2,000 for the UK International Postgraduate Excellence Award, which serves international students currently completing an undergraduate degree at a UK university. The Americas, Africa, East Asia, Europe and Middle East regions have their own awards on the same template — check the university’s scholarship pages for your region’s current value and deadline, because amounts are reviewed each cycle.

3. Undergraduate Excellence Awards — automatic and regional

Nottingham funds high-achieving undergraduates through two parallel mechanisms. The International Undergraduate Excellence Scholarship is an automatic £5,000 tuition reduction for the strongest entrants — AAA at A-level or the equivalent in your system (for Indian CBSE/ISC students, around 90% or above) — applied without a separate application; note that some programmes, including Medicine, Veterinary Science and Pharmacy, sit outside it. Alongside it, the regional Undergraduate Excellence Awards are application-based awards of £2,000 to £6,000 towards first-year tuition, published region by region (ASEAN and Oceania, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and Turkey, the Americas and others), plus a £2,000 UK International Undergraduate Excellence Award for international students already studying at school or college in the UK. Regional UG deadlines fall in March (19 March in the 2025 cycle; mid-March dates in 2026), with outcomes typically communicated at the end of April — before most students have even received their final school results, because the assessment uses predicted grades and your written answers.

Eligibility Criteria

• Overseas fee status for all Excellence Awards and Developing Solutions.
• Domicile in the award’s region: regional awards are defined by where you live, not just your passport — South Asia’s published list is Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• An offer first: you must hold an offer for a full-time programme at the University of Nottingham UK (Master’s including MRes for PG awards; any full-time undergraduate degree for UG awards) before you can apply for the competitive awards.
• Faculty limits for Developing Solutions: Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, or Social Sciences only.
• Developing Solutions exclusions: current or former Nottingham students are excluded, as are applicants whose previous degree was taken outside their home country (exceptions only case by case).
• Academic excellence: Excellence Awards assess your achieved or predicted grades plus your written answers; the automatic UG scholarship requires AAA-equivalent achievement.

What the Scholarships Cover

All Nottingham Excellence Awards are contributions towards tuition fees — deducted from your fee liability, never paid as cash — and the regional awards apply to the first year (the automatic and regional UG awards are first-year awards). Developing Solutions is the exception in scale, covering 50% or 100% of the full-time tuition fee for the award year, but even a 100% Developing Solutions award does not cover living costs, travel, visa fees or the Immigration Health Surcharge. Set that against Nottingham’s price level: international fees run broadly from £25,000 to £35,000+ per year depending on faculty, so a 100% award on a £33,800 Master’s is worth more than £33,000 — the largest single university award most applicants will ever be eligible for — while a South Asia Excellence Award at the top of its band (£8,000) removes roughly a quarter of a typical Master’s fee. For your Student visa, Nottingham is outside London: maintenance is evidenced at £820 per month for up to nine months (£7,380) plus any outstanding tuition, held for 28 consecutive days. Students commonly budget around £1,100–£1,700 per month all-in for a comfortable standard of living in Nottingham, which remains one of England’s more affordable big student cities — a further reason a partial award here goes further than the same amount in London.

How to Apply, Step by Step

1. Apply for your course. Undergraduates apply through UCAS by the January equal-consideration deadline (14 January 2026 in the last cycle; 15 October for Medicine and related courses). Postgraduates apply directly through the university’s online application system.
2. Receive your offer. Every competitive scholarship at Nottingham is downstream of an offer. Note your applicant details — you will use them in NottinghamHub.
3. Open the scholarships section of NottinghamHub (taught Master’s offer-holders apply there directly; MRes offer-holders email the scholarships team for instructions) and select the award for your region and level.
4. Write the assessed answers. You will be asked about your achievements, your study plans, your reasons for choosing Nottingham, and your predicted grades if applicable. Each question has a strict word limit shown on the form — the system does not cut you off automatically, and answers over the limit may not be reviewed. Draft offline, count words, then paste.
5. For Developing Solutions, build the development case. Name a specific problem in your home country, explain the mechanism by which your chosen course equips you to address it, and set out what you will do in the first years after graduation. Assessors reward tangible, costed, plausible plans over broad essays about “giving back”.
6. Submit before the regional deadline — March for undergraduate regional awards, mid-April for Developing Solutions (15 April 2026 in the last cycle), and your region’s published date for postgraduate awards.
7. Accept your offer and confirm your funding position so your CAS and visa application reflect the correct outstanding tuition.

Required Documents

For admission: transcripts and certificates (with translations where needed), English language evidence (typically IELTS 6.5 overall with no band below 6.0, higher for competitive programmes), a personal statement, references, and your passport; MBA applicants add evidence of at least three years of relevant work experience. The scholarship applications themselves are form-based — your written answers and the academic record from your course application are what assessors see — but keep certified copies of all qualifications ready, because predicted-grade-based awards are confirmed against final results at enrolment, and your CAS and visa stages reuse the same documents.

Deadlines and Timeline

How to Improve Your Chances

Nottingham’s system is unusually legible, which makes it unusually gameable — legitimately. First, check Developing Solutions eligibility before anything else: if you are domiciled in an eligible country, studied your first degree at home, are not a Nottingham graduate, and your course sits in one of the four faculties, you are in the pool for the university’s largest award; if any condition fails, pivot your effort to the regional Excellence Award immediately rather than spending weeks on an ineligible application. Second, write to the actual questions: achievements, study plans, reasons for Nottingham, and — for Developing Solutions — a development solution with a named problem, a mechanism and a timeline. Third, respect word limits exactly; Nottingham warns that over-limit answers may not be reviewed, and disciplined concision is itself evidence of the academic maturity assessors want. Fourth, work backwards from March and April: the binding constraint is holding an offer before the scholarship deadline, so course applications belong in the autumn and winter, not the spring. Fifth, protect your predicted and final grades — Excellence Awards are confirmed against results, and the automatic £5,000 undergraduate scholarship is purely a function of achieving AAA-equivalent grades.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying for Developing Solutions while ineligible. Former Nottingham students and students whose previous degree was taken abroad are excluded — the two commonest wasted applications.
• Assuming there is one global Excellence Award. Awards are regional, with different values (£2,000–£8,000) and deadlines; applying to the wrong region’s form means not being considered at all.
• Exceeding the word limits. The form does not stop you typing, but over-limit answers may not be reviewed.
• Waiting for final results before starting. UG regional awards are assessed on predicted grades and close in March; PG awards need an offer in hand weeks earlier.
• Double-counting awards in your budget. Excellence Awards are tuition contributions for the award year; a Developing Solutions waiver replaces rather than supplements smaller tuition awards, and no Nottingham award pays living costs.
• Ignoring faculty limits. Business School and Arts & Humanities Master’s students cannot apply for Developing Solutions, whatever their domicile.

Which Nottingham Award Should You Target? A Decision Guide

Because the tiers overlap, many applicants qualify for more than one route, and effort should be allocated in this order. Step one: Developing Solutions screening. If you are domiciled in Africa, India or a selected Commonwealth country, took your first degree in your home country, have never studied at Nottingham, and your Master’s sits in Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science or Social Sciences, this is your primary target — nothing else at Nottingham comes close to a 100% tuition waiver. Spend the majority of your preparation time here, on the development case. Step two: your regional Postgraduate Excellence Award. Apply for this in parallel (or as your primary target if Developing Solutions is closed to you); for South Asian applicants the £4,000–£8,000 band is decided largely by the same qualities — grades plus specific, well-written answers — so the marginal effort is small. Step three: external schemes. If your profile is leadership-heavy, Chevening (which closes the autumn before entry) may outrank everything; Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships suit applicants with a development narrative similar to Developing Solutions but a different funding body. For undergraduates, the order is simpler: maximise final grades for the automatic £5,000, and submit the regional award application in March as a top-up route — the two assessments run on different mechanisms, and strong predicted grades support both. In every case, build your family budget on the lowest realistic outcome (automatic or minimum-band award) and treat anything above it as upside; students who budget on a hoped-for 100% waiver and receive 50% face a funding gap at exactly the moment CAS and visa deadlines bite.

Nottingham’s Global Campuses: A Scholarship Footnote

Nottingham is unusual among UK universities in operating full degree-awarding campuses in Malaysia (Semenyih) and China (Ningbo) as well as the UK. This matters for funding in two ways. First, the scholarships described in this guide are for study at the University of Nottingham UK; the Malaysia and China campuses run their own, separate scholarship schemes, which are often significantly more generous relative to their lower fee levels, and are worth examining if your budget cannot stretch to the UK even with an Excellence Award. Second, the university’s inter-campus exchange opportunities mean some UK-based students can spend a semester at a sister campus — but scholarship conditions attach to your UK award and UK enrolment, so always confirm with the scholarships team before planning any mobility period. For most readers of this guide the decision is simpler than it looks: if your goal is a UK degree and a UK Graduate Route visa, the UK campus schemes above are your route; if your goal is a Nottingham degree at the lowest total cost, compare the Malaysia campus’s own awards before deciding.

Sports and Other Niche Awards

Beyond the academic tiers, Nottingham runs a recognised sports scholarship programme for elite student athletes, combining fee contributions with performance support such as strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and academic flexibility — the university’s David Ross Sports Village is one of the UK’s best university sports facilities, and international applicants competing at national or international level in a recognised sport should contact the sports scholarship team alongside their academic applications. Faculty-level prizes, alumni-linked awards and country-office bursaries also appear from time to time; they are small next to Developing Solutions, but for a student already holding an Excellence Award they can close a residual gap, and the scholarships team can confirm what is live for your intake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Developing Solutions Scholarship still running?

Yes. Developing Solutions, founded in 2001, ran a full cycle for September 2026 entry with an application deadline of 15 April 2026 and decisions by the end of May 2026, offering 50% and 100% tuition fee awards. It remains the University of Nottingham’s flagship Master’s scholarship for students from Africa, India and selected Commonwealth countries.

How much is the Nottingham Postgraduate Excellence Award for South Asian students?

The South Asia Postgraduate Excellence Award offers a contribution of between £4,000 and £8,000 towards full-time Master’s tuition fees for high-achieving students domiciled in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. The exact amount within the band reflects the strength of your application. Other regions have their own values — £4,000 for the CIS award and £2,000 for the UK-based international award in the last published cycles.

What is the Nottingham Undergraduate Excellence Award?

There are two routes. The highest achievers (AAA at A-level or equivalent) receive an automatic £5,000 tuition reduction with no application. Separately, regional Undergraduate Excellence Awards worth £2,000–£6,000 towards first-year tuition are awarded by application through NottinghamHub, with deadlines in March and outcomes around the end of April.

Who is not eligible for Developing Solutions?

Current students and graduates of the University of Nottingham are excluded, as are applicants who studied their previous degree outside their home country (exceptions are considered only case by case). You must also be domiciled in an eligible country, hold overseas fee status, and study in the Faculty of Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science or Social Sciences.

Do I need an offer before applying for Nottingham scholarships?

Yes, for all competitive awards. You apply through the scholarships section of NottinghamHub once you hold an offer (MRes offer-holders email the scholarships team for instructions). The automatic undergraduate excellence reduction is the exception — it requires no application at all.

Can Nottingham scholarships be combined?

Plan on holding one main tuition award: a Developing Solutions waiver replaces smaller tuition contributions rather than adding to them, and Excellence Awards are single contributions towards tuition. Always confirm your combined position with the scholarships team before relying on it in a budget.

Are there scholarships for PhD students at Nottingham?

Doctoral funding is project- and competition-based rather than part of the Excellence system: advertised studentships, doctoral training programmes and Commonwealth PhD Scholarships all fund Nottingham researchers. Check the university’s postgraduate funding pages for current competitions in your field.

Sources & Verification

Figures in this guide were verified in October 2026 against official University of Nottingham sources: the university’s scholarship pages for the regional Undergraduate Excellence Awards (e.g. the ASEAN and Oceania Undergraduate Excellence Award and the Middle East and Turkey Undergraduate Excellence Award, confirming the £2,000–£6,000 first-year range and the NottinghamHub application process) and the official UK International Postgraduate Excellence Award page (£2,000). Developing Solutions terms — 50%/100% tuition awards, the four eligible faculties, the home-country study rule and the 15 April 2026 deadline — are as published by the university for the 2026 cycle, and the South Asia Postgraduate Excellence Award’s £4,000–£8,000 band and country list are as published on the university’s award page.

Disclaimer: Scholarship values, eligibility rules and deadlines change every year. Always confirm the current figures and closing dates on the official University of Nottingham website before applying or making financial commitments. StudyGraduate is an independent information portal, not an admissions agency: we cannot guarantee admission, scholarship selection or visa approval, and no one can legitimately promise you any of those outcomes.