Search Tools & Advice

• Postgraduate Funding - searches mainly through Charitable Trusts
• Postgraduate Studentships - searches mainly through sources of institutional funding 
• Postgradireland - a list of sources of funding and advice for postgraduate study in Ireland
• Prospects - advice on finding funding for postgraduate study
• Targetjobs Postgrad Funding Search - searches mainly through sources of institutional funding

Main Funding Options

Institutional Funding
Queen’s has information on funding options for postgraduate courses at this University. If considering other universities, use the search tools above and contact the relevant university department for details of any institutional funding.

Government Funding
Postgraduate loans for NI students have been available for taught Masters courses since 2017. Student Finance NI have produced this guidance document about the loans (pdf).
PhDs may come with their own funding - findaphd.com has a useful funding guide

Charities and Trusts
Educational trusts, foundations and charities offer a measure of funding within specific criteria, eg based on subject areas, location and other criteria. The Postgraduate Funding database searches many of these sources. Many local libraries also have, in their reference section, the book "The directory of grant making trusts". This is a useful source of potential funding.

Some alternative sources

• Findamasters run a Masters scholarship competition every year
• Postgrad.com run a competition for bursaries to fund postgraduate study
• MastersCompare are running a competition for a £5000 scholarship.
• North/South Postgraduate Scholarships - The aim of the North/South Scholarship scheme is to encourage outstanding students from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to cross the border to undertake postgraduate study and experience life in the other Irish jurisdiction.  Each year, Universities Ireland offers four scholarships, each worth €15,000. Strict eligibility rules apply. See the Universities Ireland website for details.
• USA
  • The Fulbright Commission provides grants (The Fulbright Award) for UK Citizens to study in the US. Applications typically open in August and close around October in the year before you wish to begin study.
  • The George Moore Scholars Programme supports students who have completed most of their education in Ireland and attended a University in Ireland to study in the USA. Applications open in February and close in March.
• Canada - The Canada Memorial Foundation provides a scholarship for UK Citizens to study in Canada. Applications typically open in August and close in December in the year before you wish to begin study.
• Erasmus - Students from an Erasmus Programme country who have been accepted to undertake a Masters in a different Erasmus Programme country can apply for a loan from participating banks. A list of the programme countries, participating banks and further details are available on the Erasmus+ website.
• Commonwealth countries - There are some scholarships to study in the UK for students from Commonwealth countries and for UK students to study in other Commonwealth countries. You can find more information from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

Bank Loans
A Professional and Career Development Loan is a fixed rate loans through selected banks for some further study courses. Unlike a Student Loan, repayments start on these loans as soon as the course ends, regardless of earnings.

Self-funding
Many students fund their further study either partly or wholly themselves through a combination of part-time work, savings, parental support etc. This option requires careful consideration before making any commitments.

We endeavour to ensure that our online resources are current and contain relevant information. However, we cannot accept responsibility for the contents of external websites.