GREAT Scholarships 2025 - India

The GREAT Scholarships 2025 programme, launched by the British Council together with 72 UK universities, supports postgraduate students from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam to access world-class UK higher education opportunities.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must be passport holders and a current resident of India.
• Your programme must commence at the University of Sheffield in Autumn 2025.
• You must receive an offer for a course studied in full at the University of Sheffield. Masters programmes split between the University of Sheffield and a partner institution are not eligible to apply for a scholarship.
• For tuition fee purposes you must be self-funded and required to pay the overseas tuition fee.
• You must not be a sponsored student*.
• Distance learning courses are ineligible for the GREAT scholarship.
• Part-time courses are ineligible for the GREAT scholarship.
• All Crossways courses and Erasmus Mundus courses are ineligible for a merit scholarship.
• Integrated PhD programmes are ineligible for the GREAT scholarship
• These scholarships are not applicable to any postgraduate courses which are more than one year in duration. This includes, but is not exclusive to, the following courses:
  • MArch Architecture
  • MArch Architecture and Landscape Architecture
  • MArch Architecture: Collaborative Practice
• The University of Sheffield reserves the right to review and change scholarship provision.

How to apply

Applications are now open. The deadline to apply is 1pm (UK time) on Monday 12 May 2025.

Apply for a GREAT Scholarship 2025 - India

A single application form enables applicants to be automatically considered for multiple scholarships if they meet the eligibility criteria; however, only one award can be received.

Selection criteria

This is a competitive process and not all applications will be successful. A panel of senior members of staff will select the strongest applications and will be looking for the following:

• Applicant has given examples of achievements which represent excellence and initiative in educational, voluntary, or professional areas.
• Applicant has shown how these achievements relate to the course they have applied for at the University of Sheffield and connected that to their future ambitions.
• Applicant meets the profile of a GREAT Scholar (see below section).

Award criteria

• You must commence your programme at the University of Sheffield in autumn 2025.
• The University of Sheffield - GREAT Scholarship 2025 cannot be awarded in conjunction with any of the following scholarships:
  • International Postgraduate Taught Merit Scholarship 2025
  • International Postgraduate Taught Scholarship 2025
  • NCUK Postgraduate Taught Scholarship 2025
  • Professor David Locker Scholarship in Social Science, Oral Health and Dentistry 2025
  • MBA Scholarship 2025
• In the event that you are selected for any of the above scholarships the most valuable award will take precedence.
• The scholarship can be awarded in conjunction with any available scholarships from the Department or Faculty you will be studying in, subject to not becoming a sponsored student*. Please use the funding calculator to find out if any scholarships are available from your Department/Faculty.
• The scholarship cannot be awarded in conjunction with any funding from an external sponsor**, excluding a loan, which has to be paid back in full.
• If you are receiving a loan (which has to be paid back in full) from an organisation to which we offer a discount, you are not able to combine this scholarship with the discount - the most valuable award will take precedence.
• If an offer of a place of study requires a deposit to be paid by a set date you must pay this deposit to continue to be eligible for the scholarship and to hold your offer for a place of study.
• If you are selected for the scholarship and you fail to meet the conditions of your offer you will no longer be eligible to receive the award.
• If you change your Masters programme during your studies your scholarship may be forfeited.
• The GREAT scholarship can be provided for a maximum of 1 full-time academic year. 
• The scholarship will be applied as a tuition fee discount only, there is no cash alternative.
• The decision of the scholarship panel is final. No scholarship applications or decision appeals will be considered.
• All decisions made by the University are made in good faith. If a scholarship is awarded on the basis of predicted grades and you do not achieve the predicted grades or if the information provided is false, the University reserves the right to remove the scholarship.
• If you are selected for the scholarship, you will be required to pay a tuition fee deposit by a fixed date.
• If you are offered the scholarship, we’ll ask that you confirm acceptance of your scholarship by a fixed date. You will also need to accept your course offer by 4pm (UK time) on Tuesday 8 July 2025.

* Sponsored student is defined as an individual who is in receipt of a total sum of funds that matches or exceeds the original tuition fee required by the University.

** Government or governmental organisation – international, national or regional; research council; charity; private enterprise; or any similar organisation (excluding the British Council).

For more information on the GREAT Scholarships 2025, please visit Study UK.

GREAT Scholar profile:

• be a citizen of a GREAT target country. 
• have an undergraduate degree that will enable you to gain entry onto a postgraduate programme at a UK university.
• be motivated and academically able to follow and benefit from a UK postgraduate taught course.
• be active in the field with work experience or with a proven interest in the proposed subject area.
• meet the English language requirement of the UK HEI.
• be willing to embody the UK Higher Education experience, by attending lectures and tutorials and engaging with extra-curricular activities, and act as an ambassador for UK Higher Education, by promoting the value of studying at a UK HEI.
• be willing to establish an engagement with the UK as a scholar, through personal and academic fulfilment.
• represent the high standards of the GREAT brand by becoming an advocate for scholarships.
• be willing to attend a networking event of all UK-based GREAT scholars, to discuss experiences and capture perceptions of studying in the UK.
• be willing to demonstrate future contribution to capacity-building and socio-economic advancement through the benefits achieved after graduating from UK higher education.
• be willing to maintain contact with the British Council and act as an ambassador for the GREAT Scholarships, by sharing experiences of studying in the UK with future GREAT scholars.
• as an alumnus of the GREAT Scholarships, willing occasionally to speak to potential candidates about his or her own experience of studying in the UK.