Funding
Cambridge University offers many funding opportunities internally and attracts significant resources from external sources. These pages are intended to help you begin your search for funding for your course.
Before applying for scholarships, read the eligibility criteria thoroughly and make sure you submit your application by the correct deadline. It is important to note that most fully funded opportunities at Cambridge are only available to students about to start a new course. Once you are registered as a student, there are few full scholarships available.
Note that scholarships offered by the collegiate University will not require you to undertake teaching/research work unless this is explicitly stated.
- In this section
- Funding for Prospective Students (or those starting a new course)
- Funding for Students on an Existing Course
Funding Competition Timetable for 2012-13 Entry
| Ranking exercise | Funding competition | Type of applicant | Scholarship application deadline | Awards offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gates USA | US citizens normally resident in the USA - PhD and one-year - must have ticked funding box on GRADSAF | 15 October 2011 | Early February 2012 |
| 2 | Gates International | All other overseas and EU (non-home) applicants (including US citizens not normally resident in the USA) - PhD and one-year - must have ticked funding box on GRADSAF | 2 December 2011 | Early April 2012 |
| 3 | CISS and CCT/COT | PhD Overseas PhD applicants - no need to tick a funding box for CISS, must tick box for CCT/COT | 2 December 2011 | CISS: middle of March 2012; CCT/COT from the end of March 2012 |
| CCT/COT One-year | Overseas one-year applicants - must have ticked funding box on GRADSAF | 2 December 2011 | From the end of March 2012 | |
| 4 | CHESS (follows Dept Research Council allocation) | Home and EU candidates - PhD & MPhil (PGR) - no need to tick funding box on GRADSAF | 13 January 2012 | From the end of April 2012 |
| Selected depts only | Central co-ordination of AHRC and ESRC awards | Home/EU PhD & MPhil - awards co-ordinated centrally | 13 January 2012 | Depts notified by the beginning of April (i.e. before Easter) |
Useful Statistics
About 60% of our UK PhD students receive funding from a UK Research Council.
About 40% of our Overseas students receive funding from the Cambridge Trusts.
About 33% of our Overseas MPhil and Research students are self-funded.
About 66% of our UK/Other EU MPhil students are self-funded.
About 20% of our UK/Other EU Research students are self-funded.
(source of information: source of fees report 2008)
Note to University and College staff
We encourage all fund administrators to advertise funding opportunities for graduate students in CamFunds, the online directory of funding administered by the University of Cambridge. See 'Cambridge Funding Search - Information for Award Editors' for instructions.