Gates Cambridge Scholarship

A Gates Cambridge Scholarship covers the University Composition Fee at the rate that applies to you, a maintenance allowance of 23,152 pounds a year for 2026-27 (pro rata for courses shorter than a year, and for up to four years for a PhD), one economy airfare at the start and one at the end of the course, and the visa and Immigration Health Surcharge.

Scholars can also apply for discretionary funding: academic development funding of between 750 and 4,000 pounds depending on the length of the course, a dependent children allowance of up to 12,793 pounds a year for one child or 18,244 pounds for two or more, fieldwork support, up to six months of maternity or paternity funding, and hardship funding. Bench fees and scientific equipment are not covered; departments meet those costs.

Citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom can apply; dual citizens of the UK and another country are eligible. The scholarship funds full-time PhDs (part-time PhDs are being piloted), the full-time MLitt and most full-time one-year postgraduate courses such as the MPhil, MRes and LLM. Current Cambridge students can apply for a new degree, but not to fund the rest of one they have already started.

It does not fund undergraduate degrees, MASt courses, part-time degrees other than the PhD, business and executive programmes such as the MBA, EMBA and MFin, the PGCE, clinical medical courses, or the MD. There is no minimum GPA, and a second master's is possible if you can justify it and the department admits you.

Every stage of selection works from the same four criteria. Academic excellence is shown through transcripts, references, experience and potential to succeed on the course. The reason for choice of course asks you to justify this degree at Cambridge: PhD and research MPhil applicants should identify a potential supervisor and outline their project, and others should connect the course to their career plans.

The commitment to improving the lives of others is what the programme calls its defining characteristic, and it reads it broadly, looking at past, current and future commitment to the societies you will live and work in. Leadership capacity can be shown in many ways; the Trust wants concrete examples and a sense of how your leadership could create impact in your career.

Cambridge academic departments rank applicants and nominate a small number who meet all four criteria to a very high level. Only those nominated are interviewed. Interviews are held by four subject panels, for the arts, biological sciences, physical sciences and social sciences, made up of experienced academics and practitioners and sometimes Gates Cambridge alumni and Trust representatives. Scholars are chosen after interview, and the Trust does not give feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

About 250 Gates Cambridge Scholars are at Cambridge at any time, across every subject and department. The Scholars' Council, founded by the first cohort, sits at the centre of the community, and the alumni network now spans more than 1,700 people from 116 countries.

A Gates Cambridge Scholarship can be held alongside another award, provided the two do not pay for the same thing twice, such as two maintenance allowances.