Postgraduate funding
University and external funding opportunities
Please note that the Postgraduate Travel Grant and Wits Bursaries funding have been discontinued.
Please note that the Postgraduate Travel Grant and Wits Bursaries funding have been discontinued.
The aim of the University Postgraduate Merit Award (PMA) is to assist graduates to complete Honours, Masters or PhD degrees by research or by a combination of course work and research on both a full-time and part-time basis. No application is necessary for the Postgraduate Merit Award. Please note, the Award does not fund all courses.
PLEASE NOTE REVISED 2020 RULES (VCO) for the PG Merit Award
The DSI and NRF are pleased to announce a call of new applications for NRF Postgraduate Student Funding for the 2021 Academic year. All continuing students who are eligible for a second or third year of funding must submit a Progress Report and not a new application.
The NRF minimum academic requirement for postgraduate funding is 65%.
Applicants for honours, masters and doctoral funding must be 28, 30 and 32 years of age or younger respectively in the year of application. Successful applicants will be funded either at Full Cost Study (FCS) or Partial Cost of Study (PCS).
The FCS funding will be awarded to South African citizens and permanent residents only, who are either financially needy (i.e., those whose combined household family income is less or equal to R350 000 per annum), living with a disability or exceptional academic achievers. However, the PCS funding will be awarded to 5% of international students including South African citizens and permanent residents who could not be funded under FCS but meet other minimum requirements for the NRF scholarship funding criteria.
Scholarships are intended to support honours, masters and doctoral candidates to pursue studies in all areas of Science, Engineering, Technology, Social Sciences, and Humanities.
The NRF has phased out the block grant nomination process as well as the grant-holder linked modalities of funding postgraduate students in 2020. As from 2021 funding year, all the postgraduate students will be expected to apply on the NRF Online Submission System by accessing this link: no manual applications will be accepted.
Universities will set their own internal cut-off dates for applications and the applicants must abide by those dates.
The WITS internal closing dates are as follows:
Documents
Please refer to the attached presentation when completing the online application form.
This Scholarship is available to all full-time Masters and PHD students studying English or English related fields. The amount is determined by a committee. Closing date for these applications are the 31st of March.
Applications are dependant on the availabilty of funds.
Application form available here. Applications must be emailed to Nandy.theka@wits.ac.za and Andrea.ogle@wits.ac.za
The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship is available for full-time students who are citizens of African countries.
Registered Wits students studying towards an Honours or Masters Degrees under the age of 30 years old may apply online at www.mandelarhodes.org
The NRF offers Scholarships for Honours, Masters and PHD. The Free-standing, Innovation, and Scarce Skills NRF scholarships are offered to full - time students who are South African citizens and permanent residents. A small percentage is awarded to non-SA citizens.
To view NRF opportunities please click here.
The Commonwealth Scholarship.
Full-time, South African students who intend on enrolling at a United Kingdom University can apply online at http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/apply. Applications usually open at the end of August.
The Rhodes Scholarship
Students who are applying to study at Oxford University are able to apply for this scholarship. Please consult the website for more details https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/scholarships/the-rhodes-scholarship/