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Birkbeck International Excellence Scholarship (Autumn intake)

Award overview

  • Level: Undergraduate, postgraduate
  • Mode of study: Full-time
  • Tuition fee status: International
  • Award type: Fee discount 
  • Deadline: 17 May 2026, 21 June 2026, 19 July 2026, 16 August 2026

Birkbeck is offering a limited number of scholarships to international students enrolling in the autumn 2026 on a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate programme.

Value

£1,000-£5,000. The scholarship will be applied as a discount to the tuition fee for your first year of study at point of enrolment.

Eligibility

To be eligible you need to meet all of the following conditions: 

  • you are classified as an 'overseas' tuition fee payer
  • you hold an unconditional offer for a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate programme offered by Birkbeck, starting in autumn 2026 (if you do not require a Student Visa to study in the UK, you can apply for this scholarship to study a part-time course)
  • you are ordinarily resident of an eligible country
  • you are self-funded.

How to apply

Once you have received an unconditional offer from Birkbeck, you can apply using the online application form for the region where you ordinarily reside.

  • UK International (international students based in the UK)

You must be an international student, of any nationality, living in the UK, and you must have been assessed as an international fee payer.

Application form for UK International applicants (international students based in the UK).

  • Other eligible countries

You must be a national of, and living in, one of the following territories:

Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil (undergraduate only), Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada (undergraduate only), Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macau SAR, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Application form for applicants from other eligible countries.

Successful scholars will be selected based on a statement of no more than 2,000 words in support of the application. The statement should be written entirely by the candidate in line with Birkbeck’s AI guidance. It should detail why they are the ideal candidate for the scholarship. Applicants are required to demonstrate they have made provisions to fund the remainder of their tuition fees.

If you are conditionally awarded this scholarship, you will be notified by e-mail. Student visa applicants must complete payment of the Student visa non-refundable deposit within the time limit stated on the award letter (typically five to seven working days). You must then successfully enrol for the autumn 2026 intake to receive the award, and no later than 6 September 2026.

Deadlines

For courses starting in the autumn 2026, the deadline to apply for this scholarship is:

  • Round 1: 11:59pm (UK time) on Sunday 17 May 2026
  • Round 2: 11:59pm (UK time) on Sunday 21 June 2026
  • Round 3: 11:59pm (UK time) on Sunday 19 July 2026
  • Round 4: 11:59pm (UK time) on Sunday 16 August 2026

Please note: Students who have applied by an earlier deadline do not need to submit a new application to be considered for the following rounds.

If you have not received a notification that your application has been successful within 20 days of the deadline, you should consider that your application has not been successful for this round.

General terms and conditions

Birkbeck has sole discretion to assign, vary or withdraw this award.

This award is only available to students enrolling to Birkbeck for the first time.

This award excludes students sponsored by scholarship bodies or governments, current or returning students.

This award excludes short courses.

As a Birkbeck scholar you may be invited to participate in current and future promotional activities to represent the student body at Birkbeck; including, but not limited to, being interviewed and photographed by our External Relations and Marketing department, providing short progress reports on your studies.

If the student fails to enrol by 6 September 2026, the scholarship fund will be cancelled in full.

Only one scholarship award can be offered per student and the scholarship cannot normally be held in conjunction with any other scholarship. You may apply for multiple scholarship schemes; if you are successful in being awarded multiple scholarships, the highest value scholarship will be awarded to you.