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Scholarships to study abroad for Indian students
29 major scholarships Indian students can apply to, with the real award value in rupees, the eligibility bar you have to clear, and a direct link to the official application. 15 of them cover full tuition. No account needed to read any of it.
Government scholarships (11)
Funded by the destination country’s government. These weigh leadership and impact alongside grades, which makes them more winnable than their reputation suggests for a strong-but-not-perfect academic profile.
Fulbright-Nehru Master's Fellowship
United States · Master's
$75,000
≈ ₹71.8 lakh
Two-year master's study in the US for Indian nationals.
Full tuitionFor Indian nationalsAnnual · usually closes in MayIELTS 7+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →Australia Awards Scholarship
Australia · Master's · Bachelor's
$60,000
≈ ₹57.4 lakh
Long-term development awards from the Australian government.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in AprilIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →Chevening Scholarship
United Kingdom · Master's
$60,000
≈ ₹57.4 lakh
UK Government's flagship scholarship for future leaders.
Full tuitionCloses 1 Nov 2026IELTS 6.5+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →Commonwealth Master's Scholarship
United Kingdom · Master's
$55,000
≈ ₹52.6 lakh
Funded by the UK government for talented students from low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries.
Full tuitionCloses 18 Oct 2026IELTS 6.5+GPA 3.2+ / 4.0Official application page →Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
Canada · PhD
$50,000
≈ ₹47.8 lakh
CAD $50,000 per year for three years.
Closes 1 Nov 2026IELTS 7+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →DAAD Study Scholarship
Germany · Master's
$24,000
≈ ₹23.0 lakh
Monthly stipend of EUR 934 + travel + insurance for international students at German universities.
Closes 31 Oct 2026IELTS 6.5+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →GREAT Scholarships India (British Council)
United Kingdom · Master's
$12,500
≈ ₹12.0 lakh
A minimum of £10,000 towards tuition for a one-year UK master's, jointly funded by the UK government's GREAT Britain Campaign, the British Council and the participating university. Reserved for Indian students, across a rotating list of UK universities and subjects. You apply to the university offering the award, not to the British Council.
For Indian nationalsCheck the official siteOfficial application page →MEXT Japanese Government Scholarship
Japan · Bachelor's · Master's · PhD
Japanese government award covering full tuition, a monthly stipend and return airfare, for undergraduate, master's and PhD study. There is no application fee. Indian applicants apply through the Embassy of Japan in New Delhi or the Consulate-General covering their home state — not directly to a university.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in MayOfficial application page →National Overseas Scholarship (Government of India)
Multiple countries · Master's · PhD
Government of India scheme run by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment — 125 awards a year for SC, denotified-tribe, landless-labourer and traditional-artisan students. Covers tuition, living costs and airfare for a master's or PhD abroad. Requires 60% in your qualifying degree, family income under ₹8 lakh a year, and an offer from a university ranked in the QS top 500.
Full tuitionFor Indian nationalsCheck the official siteOfficial application page →Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters
Multiple countries · Master's
EU-funded scholarships for joint master's programmes taught across a consortium of European universities — full tuition, travel and a monthly living allowance, usually studying in two or more countries. Selection is on merit with no nationality quota, so Indian applicants compete on equal terms. There is no single application: each programme sets its own criteria and deadline, most falling between October and January.
Full tuitionCheck the official siteOfficial application page →France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship
France · Master's · PhD
French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs award: roughly €1,200 a month for master's students and €2,100 for doctoral students, plus international travel, insurance and housing support. Important — you cannot apply yourself. The French institution must nominate you, so contact its international office early. Age limits apply (under 29 for master's, under 35 for PhD).
Annual · usually closes in JanuaryOfficial application page →
University scholarships (12)
Awarded by the university itself, usually alongside your admission application. This is the most under-used pool — many are considered automatically once you apply, with no separate form.
Knight-Hennessy Scholars
United States · Master's · PhD
$100,000
≈ ₹95.7 lakh
Three-year fully-funded program at Stanford with leadership development.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in OctoberIELTS 7.5+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship
Canada · Bachelor's
$80,000
≈ ₹76.6 lakh
Recognises international students with exceptional academic achievement and creativity.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in NovemberIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Gates Cambridge Scholarship
United Kingdom · Master's · PhD
$75,000
≈ ₹71.8 lakh
Full-cost award funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in DecemberIELTS 7.5+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Rhodes Scholarship
United Kingdom · Master's
$75,000
≈ ₹71.8 lakh
World's most prestigious scholarship.
Full tuitionCloses 30 Sept 2026IELTS 7.5+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Imperial President's PhD Scholarships
United Kingdom · PhD
$60,000
≈ ₹57.4 lakh
Around 50 fully-funded awards covering full tuition, an annual stipend (currently about £26,500) and a consumables fund, over 3.5 years. There is no separate scholarship form — apply for PhD admission and your department puts you forward, so you must have a supervisor lined up first.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in JanuaryIELTS 7+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Clarendon Fund Scholarship
United Kingdom · Master's · PhD
$55,000
≈ ₹52.6 lakh
Full-cost scholarship covering tuition + living for graduate study at Oxford.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in JanuaryIELTS 7.5+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →MIT Graduate Fellowship
United States · Master's · PhD
$50,000
≈ ₹47.8 lakh
Departmental merit fellowship for incoming graduate students.
Closes 15 Dec 2026IELTS 7+GPA 3.7+ / 4.0Official application page →Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow Award
Canada · Bachelor's
$45,000
≈ ₹43.1 lakh
UBC's award for international undergraduates showing superior academic achievement and leadership that supports and empowers others. Nomination-based — your school may nominate up to two students for the Vancouver campus and one for Okanagan.
Annual · usually closes in DecemberIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →Melbourne Research Scholarship
Australia · PhD · Master's
$40,000
≈ ₹38.3 lakh
Stipend + tuition fee remission for graduate research students at Melbourne.
Closes 31 Oct 2026IELTS 6.5+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →CMU Presidential Fellowship
United States · Master's · PhD
$30,000
≈ ₹28.7 lakh
Need- and merit-based fellowship from CMU's Presidential Fellowship programme, awarded across all seven colleges. There is no application form — students are nominated by their college dean, with final selection guided by the Provost, so the route in is a strong graduate application to the department itself.
Annual · usually closes in DecemberIELTS 7+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →NUS Research Scholarship
Singapore · Master's · PhD
$28,000
≈ ₹26.8 lakh
Monthly stipend + tuition for research master's and PhD students at NUS.
Annual · usually closes in MayIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →TUM Deutschlandstipendium
Germany · Bachelor's · Master's
$3,600
≈ ₹3.4 lakh
EUR 300 a month plus contact with TUM's industry partners. Explicitly not purely merit-based — it also weighs responsibility taken on and personal circumstances. TUM awards around 800 a year, open to incoming and current Bachelor's and Master's students.
Annual · usually closes in AprilIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →
Private & foundation scholarships (6)
Funded by trusts and foundations, several of them Indian. Smaller applicant pools than the government awards, and often the most realistic route for a specific field or background.
Inlaks Shivdasani Scholarship
Multiple countries · Master's
$100,000
≈ ₹95.7 lakh
Up to USD 100,000 for Indian students at top universities in the UK, US, or Europe.
Full tuitionFor Indian nationalsAnnual · usually closes in AprilIELTS 7+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →Schwarzman Scholars Program
China · Master's
$80,000
≈ ₹76.6 lakh
One-year fully-funded master's in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Full tuitionAnnual · usually closes in SeptemberIELTS 7+GPA 3.5+ / 4.0Official application page →Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship
Multiple countries · Master's · PhD
$40,000
≈ ₹38.3 lakh
50% grant + 50% loan for outstanding students from select developing countries.
Annual · usually closes in MarchIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.2+ / 4.0Official application page →J. N. Tata Endowment Scholarship
Multiple countries · Master's · PhD
$25,000
≈ ₹23.9 lakh
Loan scholarship for Indian graduates pursuing higher education abroad.
For Indian nationalsAnnual · usually closes in MarchIELTS 6.5+GPA 3.0+ / 4.0Official application page →Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation Scholarship
Multiple countries · Master's
$21,000
≈ ₹20.1 lakh
Interest-free loan scholarship of up to ₹20 lakh for Indian students taking a postgraduate degree abroad in applied sciences, pure sciences, humanities, social sciences, architecture, management or law. Repayment starts a year after you finish and is spread over two to three years.
For Indian nationalsCheck the official siteOfficial application page →K. C. Mahindra Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies Abroad
Multiple countries · Master's
$8,400
≈ ₹8.0 lakh
Interest-free loan scholarship of up to ₹8 lakh from the K. C. Mahindra Education Trust, for Indian graduates taking a master's abroad. Preference goes to fields with a direct bearing on India's development. Applications typically open in January and close at the end of March.
For Indian nationalsAnnual · usually closes in MarchOfficial application page →
Which of these would actually take you?
The list above is the easy part. The hard part is working out which ones your profile clears, which ones are a realistic shot rather than a lottery ticket, and which deadlines fall inside your intake. A free account scores every scholarship here against your actual grades, test scores and target countries — and tells you why, not just yes or no.
Check my eligibility free →Free to start, no card needed. We earn nothing from any university or scholarship body — no commission, no referral fee, ever.
How study-abroad scholarships actually work
Full rides are rarer than the internet suggests. Most funding is partial — a fee waiver, a stipend, a percentage off tuition. Planning your finances around winning a full scholarship is how families end up short in year two. Treat any award as a reduction on a number you could already survive, not as the thing that makes the plan possible.
Deadlines run six to twelve months ahead of the intake. This is the single biggest reason strong candidates miss out. Chevening and Commonwealth close a full year before you would start; several university awards close before you have even received an admission decision. If you are reading this in August for a September intake, you are looking at next year's cycle, not this one.
University departmental funding is the most under-used pool. Many assistantships, fellowships and fee waivers are assessed automatically when you apply for admission — no separate form, no separate deadline. Applying early to more departments often does more for your funding than chasing another external award.
Government awards weigh more than your marks. Chevening, Fulbright-Nehru and Commonwealth assess leadership, work experience and what you intend to do afterwards. A 3.2 GPA with a clear track record of impact can beat a 3.9 with none. If you have been ruling these out on grades alone, reconsider.
Nobody can guarantee you a scholarship. Any agent who promises one, or charges a fee contingent on winning one, is selling something they do not control. Every award on this page is applied for directly with the body that funds it, through the official link — never through an intermediary, and never for a fee.
Frequently asked
Can an Indian student get a 100% scholarship to study abroad?
Yes, but they are genuinely competitive. Chevening, Fulbright-Nehru, Gates Cambridge, Rhodes, Inlaks and Knight-Hennessy all cover full tuition and more — and each takes a small fraction of applicants. A realistic plan treats a full ride as the best case and stays solvent without it.
When should I start applying?
Twelve to eighteen months before your intended intake. Work backwards from the deadline, not forwards from today: most awards need referees, essays and often a test score already in hand, and those take months to assemble properly.
Do I need IELTS before applying for a scholarship?
Usually yes, or at least booked. The IELTS bars shown above are the scholarship's own minimums, which are sometimes higher than the university's. The GPA figures are on the US 4.0 scale — as a rough guide, 3.0 is around 60%, 3.5 around 75% and 3.7 around 80% on a typical Indian percentage marksheet, though conversions vary by university.
Does Oxbrivy charge for this?
No. This page is free and needs no account. We are not an agent — we take no commission from universities or scholarship bodies, so nothing here is ranked by what pays us. Paid plans exist for the AI matching, document drafting and interview practice, and are priced openly on our pricing page.