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  1. Home
  2. Our scholarships
  3. About our postgraduate scholarships
  4. Eligibility for postgraduate funding

Eligibility for postgraduate funding

The eligibility requirements for most postgraduate Cambridge scholarships are:

  • significant academic achievement and potential
  • financial need (although some scholarship programmes are based on academic merit alone)

Degree level

Applicants must be intending to start a course at the level of:

  • Masters (such as MPhil, MASt, LLM but with some restrictions - see Important information section below)
  • Research postgraduate (such as PhD)

Nationality

All students, irrespective of nationality, are eligible for postgraduate awards.

Subject

Applicants may study any subject currently available at the University of Cambridge. Please visit the postgraduate course directory for further information.

Application and admission

Postgraduate scholarships are available only for study at the University of Cambridge, and require that you apply to the University for admission by the relevant funding deadline (please visit Applying for postgraduate funding for full details), and have a conditional offer of admission.

You do not need to apply to the Cambridge Trust directly as an application for funding can be made as part of your application for admission to the University.

All students must be admitted to the University of Cambridge through the normal application procedures. The Trust plays no role in the admission of applicants to the University, and is not able to influence the chances of an applicant being offered a place.

The University sets minimum standards – check the requirements for postgraduates.

Applicants are encouraged to meet the entry requirements of the University as early as possible, including (if necessary) the completion of an English language test. This will help to prevent the Trust from offering valuable scholarships to students who are ultimately unable to take up their places at Cambridge.

More information

There are a significant number of other funding sources available for postgraduate applicants to the University of Cambridge, details of which can be found on the University’s Postgraduate Funding Search.  This includes The Cambridge Trust, Gates Cambridge, Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme (HDPSP), Colleges, Departments, Research Councils and central University funds.

To find out about your fee status, see information on the University's webpages for postgraduates.

Important information

  • Postgraduate scholarships are available only for study at the University of Cambridge.
  • The Trust does not offer full-cost scholarships for MBA or MFin programmes. The Trust will consider co-funding students on MBA and MFin who are nominated to the Trust by funding partners (who may have their own procedures for applying).
  • The Trust is unable to offer scholarships for part-time MSt courses at any Department within the University. Please note, MSt courses are not the same as MASt courses.
  • The Trust does not have scholarships available for post-doctoral positions, or for visiting or exchange students.
  • The Trust will not normally support students at a degree level that is the same as, or lower than, a degree they already hold.  We will, however, consider an application from a student who is required to take a second Masters degree at Cambridge in order to gain admission to the PhD here.
  • The Trust does not accept applications from students who are part-way through a course at Cambridge, unless they are applying for funding towards a higher degree course following graduation.
  • Most students register for full-time study, but, in the interests of widening participation, the Trust is able to consider applications from students for part-time study where such courses are offered by the University.

Equality

The Trust is committed to equality of opportunity, and no applicant will be treated less favourably than another on the grounds of sex (including gender reassignment), marital or parental status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, disability, sexual orientation, religion or age. The primary consideration in the selection of scholars will be applicants' ability to meet the selection criteria for each scholarship.

Some scholarships which are fully or partially funded by partners of the Trust are allocated to students of particular nationalities or studying particular subjects.

Further support

If you would like to chat to our Scholarships Team:

Contact us

You may also like

Applying for postgraduate funding

Applicant FAQs

Search our scholarships

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