Scholarships for Masters in UK 2027-28: Complete Guide for Indian Students

Top Government Scholarships for Masters in UK for Indian Students (2027-28)

A one-year UK Master’s typically costs £10,000-£40,000 in tuition, plus Rs. 11.4-21.6 lakh in living costs depending on whether you’re in London. Government scholarships are the only awards that close this gap in full.

Here’s what to track for the 2027-28 intake.

1. Chevening Scholarship

Chevening is the UK government’s flagship award and the largest scholarship program in the world. Since it began, the program has supported over 3,900 Indian scholars, and around 1,500 go out globally each year.

Coverage: Full tuition (capped at £22,000 for MBAs), a monthly stipend of £1,215-£1,516, return economy airfare, visa costs, and arrival/departure allowances.

Eligibility: Indian citizen; bachelor’s degree equivalent to a UK 2:1 (60% or CGPA 6.5+); at least 2,800 hours of post-graduation work experience; commitment to return to India for two years afterward.

Counselor insight: Chevening is a leadership award, not an academic one. The four essays need demonstrated community impact and professional influence. Your CGPA matters far less than your track record of leading change.

2027-28 deadline: Chevening’s own timeline puts the window at August 2026 to 6 October 2026. Results land by June 2027, with courses starting in September or October.

Counselor insight: The 6 October 2026 deadline is absolute; Chevening does not extend it. Students who start their four essays in August typically submit a weaker application than those who begin drafting in May. The essays are leadership-narrative writing, not academic writing; they take longer than most students expect.

2. Commonwealth Masters Scholarship

Commonwealth Masters Scholarship is funded by the UK’s FCDO and run by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC).

Coverage: Full tuition, a living stipend of up to £1,781/month, return airfare, and a thesis grant where applicable.

Eligibility: Indian citizen and permanent resident; minimum 2:1 bachelor’s (60% or 50-59% with a relevant PG qualification); demonstrated financial need; study aligned to one of six CSC Development Themes. An MBA is not eligible.

How Indian applicants apply: Access both the CSC’s Online Application System (CSC Central) and the Ministry of Education’s SAKSHAT portal simultaneously. You can’t go through the British Council or apply to the CSC alone.

2027-28 deadline: Going by the 2026-27 pattern, CSC Central should open around August-September 2026 and shut by mid-October. The MoE’s SAKSHAT window runs on its own clock, though, and has recently stayed open well past the CSC deadline. Bookmark both: cscuk.fcdo.gov.uk and education.gov.in.

Common mistake: Students land on the British Council website, find no application form, and assume the scholarship’s closed. It isn’t; you just need MoE SAKSHAT instead.

3. GREAT Scholarships India

A joint initiative of the UK government’s GREAT Britain Campaign, the British Council, and participating universities.

Coverage: A minimum of £10,000 toward tuition for a one-year taught Master’s. Worth noting, the scholarship is a partial award, not a fully funded one.

Eligibility: Indian passport holder; a conditional or unconditional offer from a participating UK university.

Scale and status: The last confirmed list, for 2026-27, ran to 12 scholarships across universities, including Anglia Ruskin, Queen’s University Belfast, Royal College of Art, University of Bristol, University of Dundee, University of Reading, University of Surrey, and UWE Bristol. The British Council usually names the next year’s list around September-October, so 2027-28 isn’t public yet. Once it is, university deadlines open around January 2027 and wrap by June; check the British Council’s GREAT Scholarships from October 2026.

4. Gates Cambridge Scholarship

For postgraduate study at Cambridge specifically. Around 80 scholarships go out yearly worldwide, two-thirds to PhD students, leaving about 25-27 for Master’s candidates.

Coverage: Full Cambridge tuition, a maintenance allowance of £22,050/year at the current confirmed rate (pro-rated for shorter courses), one economy return flight, and visa costs including the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Eligibility: An outstanding academic record; citizenship of any country outside the UK; you apply in the same round as your Cambridge course application.

2027-28 deadline: The portal usually opens in September, and international (non-US) applicants have historically faced a December-January cutoff. Confirm the actual date on gatescambridge.org once applications open, since third-party sites for this one tend to run stale.

5. Rhodes Scholarship

The world’s oldest international scholarship, funding postgraduate study at Oxford.

Coverage: Full Oxford tuition, an annual stipend of £20,400 (2025-26 rate) for living, visa fees, and economy flights.

Eligibility: Indian citizen who has studied in India for at least four of the last ten years; aged 18-23 on 1 October of the application year (or under 27 for a first degree completed after); first class strongly recommended.

Live deadline, act now: Five scholarships are available for India this cycle, per the Rhodes Trust’s own India page, and the window for October 2027 Oxford entry closes 23 July 2026. No late submissions will be accepted. If you miss it, the next cycle will be in June 2027, with an entry date targeted for October 2028.

Counselor insight: Being selected as a Rhodes Scholar doesn’t by itself get you into Oxford. The scholarship and the Oxford course application run as separate processes, and both have to succeed.

6. Felix Scholarship

A fully funded award exclusively for Indian citizens, tenable at Oxford, Reading, and SOAS.

Coverage: 100% of tuition, plus a living grant that varies by university (around £19,000 at Oxford; £17,894 at Reading), and a return flight.

Eligibility: Indian citizen; first-class bachelor’s from an Indian university; no prior degree from outside India; demonstrated financial need.

2027-28 deadline: Oxford’s Felix deadline for 2027 entry lands in December 2026 or January 2027, tied to your course’s own deadline. SOAS and Reading should follow around January-March 2027.

7. National Overseas Scholarship (NOS)

A Government of India scheme, comparable in value to Chevening, run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Coverage: Tuition, a maintenance allowance of £9,900/year for UK study, a £1,100 contingency allowance, visa fees, airfare, and medical insurance.

Eligibility: SC, Denotified/Nomadic Tribe, Landless Agricultural Labourer, or Traditional Artisan category; family income below Rs. 8 lakh/year; 60%+ marks; age below 35; unconditional offer from a QS Top 500 university.

Status: The 2026-27 round wrapped up on 2 June 2026. Dates for 2027-28 haven’t surfaced yet, so keep checking nosmsje.gov.in from late 2026; this window shifts from year to year.

Source:Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, National Overseas Scholarship Scheme

If you’re wondering how the scholarship process actually works in the UK, you can find the answer here too.

Scholarships for Masters in UK at a Glance (2027-28 Cycle)

University-Specific Automatic Scholarships Worth Layering In

Several UK universities award India-specific scholarships automatically once your offer is confirmed, no separate application needed. Still shortlisting? This guide to top universities in the UK for Masters is a good starting filter. Confirm each university’s current-year terms before applying; amounts get revised annually.

Counselor insight: These automatic awards are the most underused funding route for Indian Master’s students, and GREAT can typically be layered on top; check each university’s terms.

Documents Checklist While Applying to Scholarships for Masters in UK

How to Apply: Your 2027-28 Timeline

What UK Masters Scholarships Are Right For You?

The Recent Graduate (70%+ degree, limited experience): GREAT, plus an automatic university award once the 2027-28 list is out.

The Working Professional (2+ years’ experience, leadership record): Chevening first, then Commonwealth as backup. Apply to universities before October 2026 and start essays in parallel.

The Financially Constrained Achiever (strong academics, family income below Rs. 8 lakh/year): Watch for the NOS 2027-28 announcement, and run Felix and Commonwealth in parallel.

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Applying to Scholarships for Masters in UK

• Applying before securing a UK university offer, required for GREAT, Rhodes, and most others
• Assuming last year’s GREAT, Gates Cambridge, or NOS dates will repeat exactly: GREAT’s university list and Gates Cambridge’s exact deadline are confirmed fresh each cycle, and NOS has shifted its window by months in recent years, so a date copied from a 2026 blog post can be wrong for 2027-28

3 Key Takeaways Before You Begin with Scholarships for Masters in UK

1. Almost every UK government scholarship in the UK for Indian students now runs on the 2027-28 calendar, deadlines clustering between August 2026 and mid-2027. Rhodes is the exception; its live deadline is this month, 23 July 2026.
2. Match your profile to the right scholarship. Chevening suits leadership-track professionals, Commonwealth suits financially constrained students, and GREAT suits anyone with a UK offer already.
3. Layer, don’t wait. A government scholarship plus a university-specific award plus GREAT, applied for in parallel, separates funded students from those still waiting a year later.

Verified by: LeapScholar’s UK counseling team, drawing on hands-on experience guiding Indian students through Chevening, Commonwealth, Rhodes, Felix, and university-specific UK scholarship applications.

Have questions about which scholarship fits your profile or where you stand for the 2027-28 cycle? Book a free session with a LeapScholar counselor and get a personalized funding plan before the deadlines above arrive.

Frequently Asked Questions About Scholarships for Masters in UK