Fully Funded Scholarships for Indian Students 2026

Indian students have access to a wide set of fully funded awards, from Commonwealth programmes to the Felix Scholarship that has funded Indian students at Oxford and Reading for decades. Here are the strongest options for 2026.

1. Commonwealth Scholarships. Fully funded master's and PhD study in the UK for students from Commonwealth countries, with India one of the largest applicant pools.

2. Felix Scholarship. Covers tuition and living costs for Indian students at Oxford, Reading and SOAS, one of the best-known awards for Indian graduates.

3. Chevening Scholarships. The UK government's fully funded one-year master's award, open to Indian applicants with leadership potential.

4. Royal Holloway India Postgraduate Scholarship. A dedicated postgraduate award for Indian students at Royal Holloway, University of London.

5. Deakin India Postgraduate Bursary. A tuition reduction for Indian postgraduate students at Deakin University in Australia.

6. Lancaster University India Scholarship. A postgraduate scholarship for Indian students at Lancaster, covering part of the tuition fee.

7. University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor's International Excellence Scholarship for India. A significant tuition award for Indian students at Waikato in New Zealand.

The government programmes (Commonwealth, Chevening) are competitive and need strong academics plus a convincing personal statement. University-specific awards are usually easier to secure but cover less. Check each listing for the exact amount, deadline and application route before you apply.

Most of the awards above are decided through a nomination or a national pre-selection, and that is where Indian applicants lose places rather than in the final committee. Commonwealth Scholarships require a nomination through a designated body in India, and the internal deadline falls well before the CSC's own. Chevening does not require a nomination, but it does require three course choices and an unconditional offer later, so the course applications have to start early.

The documents are predictable: degree certificates and transcripts, two or three references, a study plan, English evidence and a passport. The variable is the English requirement, which is set by the university rather than the scheme, and several Indian applicants discover late that their programme asks for a specific test band while the scholarship does not.

Two practical notes. Some schemes pay the stipend only after you arrive, so budget for the first month and the deposit. And a fully funded offer from a private agent, with a fee payable in advance, is not a scholarship; every scheme on this list publishes its own application page, and that page is the only place to apply.

Doctoral funding works differently from master's funding almost everywhere. Salaried positions in Europe, assistantships in the United States and doctoral training partnerships in the United Kingdom are offered with a project attached, and the application is closer to a job application than to a scholarship form.