University of Edinburgh Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program 2027/2028 for young Africans (Fully Funded) – Opportunities For Africans

Application Deadline: 19 October 2026

Applications are actually open for the 2027/2028 University of Edinburgh Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. The scholarship programme has launched necessary adjustments to the application course of for the 2027/28 cycle. Prospective candidates should comply with a structured course of starting with an eligibility evaluation and a compulsory digital data session earlier than they will entry the scholarship application type.

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicants should qualify academically for admission to the University of Edinburgh for a related diploma programme listed.
• You will usually must have achieved the equal of a UK Second Class (Upper) Bachelor’s (Hons) diploma or larger.
• Applicants will have confronted important boundaries to training and of their early profession (social, monetary, private, sensible or health-related).
• Applicants will need to have graduated from an undergraduate study and will need to have a level certificates and official remaining transcript to add alongside their application by 19 November 2026.
• Applicants have to be residents and residents or maintain refugee standing in an African nation.
• Applicants should display a monitor report of management and repair inside their neighborhood.
• Applicants should display expertise, or a minimum of ambition, in making a significant impression in addressing the local weather disaster
• Applicants have to be 35 or below the 12 months the programme commences. Therefore, for the 2027/28 educational 12 months, we settle for purposes from these born on or after 1 January 1992. Anyone born in 1991 and prior just isn’t eligible.
• If making use of for a Masters programme: Applicants shouldn’t have beforehand accomplished a postgraduate diploma and shouldn’t be enrolled (or making use of to enrol) at a separate college while on the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program scholarship.
• If making use of for the web Postgraduate Diploma: Applicants can both have an undergraduate or Masters diploma from an African college (supplied they may graduate from both diploma by nineteenth November 2026). If you’ve gotten a Masters diploma, our admissions group will evaluate your first diploma (undergraduate) to fulfill the postgraduate diploma entry requirement. The Program will evaluate your Masters diploma transcripts to verify your college’s commencement date and site.

Scholarships

Scholarships for the next on-line diploma programmes:

• Climate Change Management (Masters route solely)
• International Development (Masters route solely)
• Global Food Security and Nutrition (Masters or Diploma)
• One Health (Masters or Diploma)
• Social Justice and Community Action (Masters or Diploma)
• Global Health and Infectious Diseases (Masters or Diploma)
• Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health (Masters or Diploma)
• Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics (Masters or Diploma) 
• Digital Education (Masters or Diploma)
• Data Science Technologies (Masters route solely)

Scholarships for the next on-campus postgraduate programmes:

• Africa and International Development
• Climate Change Finance and Investment
• Data, Inequality and Society (whereas there may be the choice for college students to take this Masters in a hybrid format the stipulation for these on an Mastercard Foundation Scholarship and for Tier 4 visa laws means you will have to undertake the programme in individual for the total 12 months)
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Food Security
• Environment and Development
• Environmental Sustainability
• Operational Research (While we’re conscious of the totally different specialisation choices for this programme (with Risk, Computational Optimisation, and Data Science) our scholarship covers the overall Operational Research MSc solely)
• Planetary Health
• Sustainable Energy Systems

* The diploma programmes listed below are topic to vary. Please check the web site usually for the most recent updates.

No different educational packages on the University of Edinburgh are eligible for this scholarship. You are welcome to apply to any educational programme however solely these listed above will make you eligible for a Mastercard Foundation Scholarship.

Application Procedure

Step 1: Check Scholarship Eligibility

• Applicants ought to first decide whether or not they meet the eligibility necessities for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program earlier than registering for an data session.
• The eligibility necessities are designed to determine candidates who meet the programme’s standards for postgraduate scholarship assist. Applicants ought to fastidiously evaluate the official eligibility data earlier than continuing to the following stage.
• Meeting the essential necessities doesn’t routinely assure a scholarship or an invite to submit a full application.

Step 2: Choose a Degree Programme

• Eligible candidates ought to discover the postgraduate programmes out there via the scholarship initiative and resolve whether or not they’re interested by an on-campus or on-line diploma programme.
• Applicants ought to evaluate the out there programmes and determine a most popular course of study earlier than progressing via the scholarship application course of.
• Importantly, candidates shouldn’t apply for their chosen University of Edinburgh diploma programme at this stage. The scholarship application is accomplished first. Candidates who’re subsequently awarded a scholarship in March 2027 will then be invited to apply for their chosen diploma via the University’s normal admissions course of.
• Applicants pursuing different scholarship Opportunities that require an energetic college application might apply to the University in parallel.

Step 3: Attend a Mandatory Virtual Information Session

• Attendance at a digital data session is a obligatory requirement for candidates searching for entry to the scholarship application type.
• The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program will conduct digital data classes between 15 and 24 September 2026. Applicants will full a brief questionnaire when registering for a session, and their responses will probably be reviewed to evaluate preliminary eligibility.

For on-campus candidates, the out there classes are scheduled for:

• 15 September 2026 at 3:00 p.m. UK time
• 21 September 2026 at 11:00 a.m. UK time
• 24 September 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time

For on-line candidates, classes are scheduled for:

• 17 September 2026 at 4:00 p.m. UK time
• 22 September 2026 at 11:00 a.m. UK time
• 24 September 2026 at 3:00 p.m. UK time

Attendance alone doesn’t assure an invite to apply. Only contributors who attend a session and meet the programme’s eligibility necessities will probably be invited to proceed.

Invitation to Submit a Scholarship Application

Eligible information-session contributors will probably be notified on 13 October 2026 about whether or not they have been invited to apply.

Applicants who obtain an invite will obtain it via SurveyMonkey Apply. Those who aren’t eligible to proceed will obtain a notification confirming that they haven’t been invited to the following stage.

Candidates who obtain invites ought to start the application course of promptly as a result of the primary application stage has a comparatively quick deadline.

Stage 1: Applicant Declaration Form

The first stage of the scholarship application requires invited candidates to finish an Applicant Declaration Form.

The type collects extra data required to verify the applicant’s eligibility. Candidates are inspired to finish it as quickly as they obtain their invitation.

The deadline is 19 October 2026 at 5:00 p.m. UK time.

The University reserves the precise to shut the shape earlier if the utmost quantity of purposes is reached. Early submission is due to this fact strongly really useful.

Applicants who’re unsuccessful at this stage will probably be notified and won’t proceed to the principle scholarship application.

Stage 2: Scholarship Main Application

Applicants who efficiently full the Applicant Declaration Form will probably be invited to submit the Scholarship Main Application.

The deadline for the principle application is 19 November 2026 at 5:00 p.m. UK time.

Candidates ought to make sure that all required data is full and submitted via the designated on-line application system earlier than the deadline.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the University of Edinburgh Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program