University of Cambridge

Cambridge funding is spread across the university, the colleges and the departments, and a single student's package often draws on more than one of them. The best known university-wide award for international students is Gates Cambridge, which funds graduate study in any subject and is open to applicants from outside the UK; it covers the full cost of study and adds a discretionary stipend. The colleges sit alongside it with their own smaller awards and bursaries, which are usually awarded after you have an offer rather than before.

At doctoral level, most funding is attached to the department or the specific project. A PhD offer in the sciences usually names the funding that goes with it, often a studentship from a research council or a faculty award, while in the humanities students typically assemble support from several sources, including college awards and national schemes from their home country. That is why the same course can look fully funded for one applicant and entirely self-funded for another.

The awards listed below are the ones Cambridge and its colleges administer directly. Read the level and funding type on each card before you apply, and use the official website link to check which countries and courses each one covers, since schemes like Gates Cambridge change their terms between cycles.