Scholarships to Study in Europe and the UK for Africans

What “fully funded” actually covers

A fully funded award pays your tuition and a monthly living allowance. Everything after that — flights, a room, insurance, anything for your family — changes from scheme to scheme, and that is where budgets break.

• Flights. Türkiye pays a ticket each way; Chevening pays economy return travel plus one visa application; Commonwealth reimburses an approved airfare; DAAD pays a fixed lump sum. Stipendium Hungaricum pays nothing towards travel.
• A room. Türkiye places you in a state dormitory. Stipendium Hungaricum gives a dormitory place where the host institution has capacity and a monthly housing contribution where it does not. Chevening, Commonwealth and DAAD expect rent to come out of the stipend.
• Insurance. Included by Stipendium Hungaricum, Türkiye, DAAD and MAEC-AECID, but not by Austria’s Ernst Mach grant.
• Tuition. Full at Stipendium Hungaricum, Erasmus Mundus, Chevening, Commonwealth, Banach NAWA and Türkiye. Italy’s MAECI grant covers it only where the university chooses to exempt the holder, and France’s Eiffel programme covers none of it: the award is a stipend of €1,200–2,100 per month and travel.

A partial scholarship is a tuition discount or a one-off grant, and you fund the rest. A stipend is not a salary either: it pays for a modest student life, and most schemes pay nothing between arrival and the first instalment. Every award here is competitive, and anyone charging a fee to “secure” you a scholarship is selling what no honest service can promise.

The biggest scholarships to study in Europe and the UK

These schemes fund the most African students. Each has its own guide.

• Stipendium Hungaricum — Hungary, bachelor to doctorate. Full tuition, HUF 43,700–180,000 per month, insurance and a dormitory place. The last call closed 15 January 2026, and every application must be nominated by your national sending partner.
• DAAD scholarships — Germany, mainly master’s and doctoral. €992–1,400 per month, with tuition waived by the host university. The Helmut-Schmidt intake closed 31 July 2026; EPOS deadlines are set course by course and EPOS wants two years of professional experience.
• Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters — a master’s split across two or more European countries. Full tuition and €1,400 per month for the whole programme. Each consortium sets its own deadline, usually between October and January.
• Chevening — UK, one-year taught master’s, with tuition, a living allowance, return flights and one visa application. The 2027/28 round opened 4 August 2026 and closes 6 October 2026, with an interview at the British mission in your country.
• Commonwealth Scholarships — UK, taught master’s and doctoral. Full tuition, £1,712–2,000 per month, return airfare and about 800 awards a year across all its schemes. Closes 20 October 2026, and a nominating body must put you forward first.
• Türkiye Scholarships — bachelor to doctorate, the most complete package: tuition, dormitory, insurance, flights both ways and TRY 4,500–9,000 per month. The last window ran 10 January 2026 to 20 February 2026.
• Banach NAWA — Poland, master’s. Full tuition and PLN 2,500 per month. The last call closed 8 May 2026, and country groups have separate application caps.

Four smaller schemes suit narrower profiles: Eiffel in France, 433 awards last session, filed by the French institution rather than by you; Italy’s MAECI grants at €1,200 per month for nine months; Austria’s Ernst Mach grants at €1,300 per month for a stay, not a degree; Spain’s MAEC-AECID awards, 41 places for public-sector employees only. Read the eligibility rule before the money, because an award your citizenship cannot win costs you a whole cycle.

Scholarships by destination country

Countries fund students in different ways, and the cheapest destination is not always the one with the biggest award.

Hungary is the most accessible fully funded route: Stipendium Hungaricum runs on bilateral quotas, so you compete mainly inside your own country’s allocation, at every level. Germany works the other way round — public universities charge no tuition to non-EU students in most states, so a DAAD award mainly adds the living stipend, and Germany stays affordable without one. Erasmus Mundus is tied to no single country.

The UK has the two largest master’s awards, Chevening and Commonwealth, both covering flights and both requiring a step outside the online form — an interview for one, a nomination for the other. Poland’s Banach NAWA funds master’s study on a closed country list. Türkiye pays for the widest package but adds a compulsory year of Turkish first. France, Italy, Austria and Spain fund individuals rather than cohorts: their schemes are small and worth applying to only when your profile matches the rule exactly.

Scholarships by your country

Eligibility is decided by citizenship, and the exclusions catch people out every cycle.

• Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda and Morocco are sending partners for Stipendium Hungaricum. Zambia and Zimbabwe are not, so neither can apply.
• Only Nigeria and Kenya appear on the Banach NAWA country list. The other seven origins are outside it.
• Commonwealth Scholarships follow Commonwealth membership, so Egypt and Morocco cannot apply, and Zimbabwe is not on the 2027/28 eligible-country list. Zambia can.
• Chevening runs on citizenship with no regional quota, so all nine origins qualify, Zimbabwe and Zambia included.
• DAAD lists all nine origins for EPOS and the Helmut-Schmidt-Programme, and Ernst Mach worldwide admits citizens of every country except Austria.
• Erasmus Mundus is open worldwide, with extra EU-funded scholarships reserved for Sub-Saharan Africa and, separately, for Egypt and Morocco.

If you hold a Zimbabwean or Zambian passport, put Stipendium Hungaricum and Banach NAWA aside and build your shortlist from Chevening, DAAD, Erasmus Mundus and Türkiye, with Commonwealth added for Zambia.

Scholarships by study level

The level you are applying for decides which awards are realistic.

Fully funded bachelor’s places are the rarest. Stipendium Hungaricum and Türkiye Scholarships both fund undergraduates, and Türkiye pays the bottom of its TRY 4,500–9,000 per month range at that level. Master’s is where the money sits: Stipendium Hungaricum, DAAD, Erasmus Mundus, Chevening, Commonwealth, Banach NAWA, Türkiye, Eiffel, MAECI and MAEC-AECID all fund it, Erasmus Mundus at €1,400 per month.

Doctoral candidates are paid more but have fewer doors: Commonwealth funds doctoral study, Stipendium Hungaricum pays doctoral holders at the top of its HUF 43,700–180,000 per month range, Türkiye pays doctoral holders at the top of its own, and Eiffel reaches the upper end of €1,200–2,100 per month. Chevening and Banach NAWA fund master’s study only.

Application timeline for the 2027/28 intake

Most students miss scholarships on timing, not merit. Deadlines fall about a year before the course starts, and a missed one cannot be appealed.

1. Twelve to fifteen months out. Check your citizenship against each scheme’s country rule, then your level, grades and the age of your degree, and shortlist three to five awards you can win.
2. Nine to twelve months out. Sit IELTS or TOEFL if the university requires it, order transcripts and certified translations, and brief your referees.
3. October to February. The deadlines cluster here: Chevening closes 6 October 2026, Commonwealth 20 October 2026, Ernst Mach 1 December 2026. Stipendium Hungaricum, Türkiye and Banach NAWA have not published 2027/28 dates; their last calls closed in January, February and May.
4. December 2026 to July 2027. Results arrive — DAAD in December 2026 to January 2027, Chevening from Mid-June 2027 onwards, Commonwealth By July 2027.
5. Two to four months before departure. Apply for the student visa or residence permit, using the award letter as proof of funds.

Banach NAWA, Eiffel and MAEC-AECID need a university place before the scholarship application, and Stipendium Hungaricum and Commonwealth need a nomination, so your real first deadline is set by someone else.