Funded Masters Programmes

[Last updated: 13th March 2023]

UK

Commonwealth –  Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships are for candidates from low and middle income Commonwealth countries, for full-time Master’s study at a UK university.

Chevening – Scholarships for international students to study in the UK.

Cambridge – A one year Master of Advanced Study in Astrophysics, with funding available from Trinity College. There is also a one year research only M.Phil in Astronomy.

Gates – The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is open to anyone not a citizen of the UK.

GREAT – Scholarships are worth a minimum of £10,000 for international students to come and study in the UK.

Saltire – Scotland’s Saltire Scholarships are worth £8,000. Eligible to citizens from Canada, China (including Hong Kong), India, Japan, Pakistan and USA.

Global Wales – The Global Wales Postgraduate Scholarship programme offers up to £10,000 to citizens from Vietnam, India, North America and the EU.

Clarendon – Fully-funded scholarships covering course fees, as well as a grant for living expenses, at Oxford University.

Cardiff – Located in Wales, scholarships worth a minimum of £3,000 to UK and EU students are offered.

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Europe

MASS – The new Astromundus! Do an Erasmus Masters in Italy, France, Germany, and Serbia. Scholarships available of €1,400 per month for two years.

Stefan Banach Scholarship – Available to those from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Balkan countries (see website for exact list) to study in Poland. For English-taught astronomy Masters in Poland, try Jagiellonian University, University of Warsaw, University of Zielona Góra, University of Wroclaw, Pedagogical University of Krakow.

Ignacy Łukasiewicz Scholarship – Available to those from developing countries (see website for exact list) to study in Poland. For astronomy Masters in Poland (see above).

MAUCA – Master in Astrophysics Université Côte d’Azur, France.

Space Master – The AstroMundus equivalent of a joint European Master in Space Science and Technology.

Leiden/UvA – Located in the Netherlands, this Observatory has the reputation of being one of the best institutes in Europe for studying Astrophysics. APAS scholarships are available for up to €5,000 a year. For those interested in Astronomy and Instrumentation, there is also the Walraven Scholarship.

GRAPPA – Also at the University of Amsterdam, if you are a fan of AstroParticles and Cosmology then GRavitation AstroParticle Physics Amsterdam is for you. Scholarships are available for €25,000 a year.

Copenhagen – At the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark you can find the Master of Science Programme in Physics, with specialisation in Astrophysics. They have scholarships available (DKK 9437 per month for 22 months) for outstanding non-EU/EEA MSc students (i.e. GPA above 85% of their Bachelors).

Helsinki – 2-year Master’s Pro­gramme in Particle Phys­ics and As­tro­phys­ical Sci­ences. They have scholarships which includes tuition fees and a grant of €13,000-18,000 per year.

MasterCosmosBCN – A Masters in High Energy Physics, Astrophysics & Cosmology. Located in Barcelona, Spain. Few scholarships available.

Bonn-Cologne – Located in Germany, this programme offers a scholarship of €700 a month as well as funding for summer schools. There’s also a one-week Admissions Academy which is funded (including help with travel costs) where you get to visit the universities and meet the staff and fellow students. Great if you’re not 100% sure that you want to go in Astrophysics as there are other Physics courses available as well.

FAU – The Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. Read about scholarships here and here.

KU Leuven – Up to €10,000 scholarships are available at this University in Belgium.

Geneva – On offer are a great range of Physics courses with specialisation available in Astrophysics, as well as the opportunity to work with CERN, ESA or NASA. The Excellence Master Fellowships offer between 10,000 to 15,000 CHF a year (around €10,000 – €15,100).

EPFL – Also in Switzerland, Astrophysics courses are available in Lausanne. The university offers fellowships as well as scholarships. The first year is very skills-based and focused on practical work.

ETH Zürich – A Masters in Physics is offered, which includes many courses in Astrophysics. Scholarships are available to national and international students.

ICTP – This is an intense, pre-PhD programme (with some courses in Astrophysics and Cosmology). The scholarships available are aimed towards students from developing countries who already have an MSc (or an exceptional BSc).

Chalmers – Two-year Masters in Physics (with some Astrophysics options) in Sweden. Tuition is free for EU/EEA students, with many scholarships for international students.

ISU – Master of Space Studies Program, located in Strasbourg, France.

Aix-Marseille – A 2 year international programme focusing on theoretical, applied, numerical, instrumental and observational Astrophysics at the Aix-Marseille University in France.

Utrecht – Unfortunately Utrecht University no longer offer their Masters in Astrophysics, but they offer Theoretical Physics with an opportunity to take courses from the Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics on cosmology. Scholarships can be found here (for non-EU/EEA passport holders).

If Germany is somewhere you would like to study, DAAD offer scholarships for international students interested in studying a Masters. This opens up doors to Heidelberg or Munich for example.

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Rest of the World

CUNY – [New!] This Astrophysics master’s programme in New York takes into account each student’s story, rather than focusing primarily on grades and test scores. Very generously supported by the Simons Foundation.

ANU – The Australian National University has brand spanking new programme located in Canberra. There are scholarships.

Australia Awards Scholarships – For people from developing countries to undertake full time study at participating Australian universities.

PSI – Perimeter Schools International is a 10 month Masters course in Ontario, Canada. It focuses mostly on Theoretical Physics some of which are astronomy related i.e. Relativity, Cosmology, Gravity, String Theory… Hefty scholarships available.

Chile – The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile offers a Masters programme with a variety of scholarships available.

Weizmann – The Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science, located in Rehovot, Israel, offers Masters programmes in Physics with specialisation in Astrophysics. Fellowships are available.

Technion – Similarly, the Physics department at the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel offers specialisation in Astrophysics. Fellowships are available from the Lady Davis Trust worth $750 (€660) a month, as well as a return flight.

NASSP – If you fancy studying in South Africa then this programme is for you. The National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme, hosted by the University of Cape Town, offers grants of R95,000 a year.

NWU – Another Masters programme in South Africa at the Centre for Space Research, Northwest University, offering R70,000 a year.

Tokyo – This Masters programme in Japan has lots of different scholarships available to apply for, all around 144,000 yen a month (about €1060), however the university requires the GRE Physics exam.

Hong Kong – The University of Hong Kong offers many paid MPhil projects in astronomy and astrophysics with a stipend available.

I haven’t included the USA as they often combine Masters and PhDs together. But for example you can take a look at the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program at Stanford University.

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Distance Learning

LJMU – distance learning can be a cheaper alternative.

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This is by no means the full list of opportunities available, if you know of any other programmes please let me know. There are also many Universities which offer free tuition if you are an EU citizen (e.g. Aarhus, Munich; places in Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, …)

On the other hand you may be able to get funding from elsewhere, there’s all sorts of funding out there, which could be specific to gender, nationality, religion, or even a particular hobby.

For Africans studying in Africa, you can apply for funding towards postgraduate studies and conferences from the National Space Research and Development Agency.