A funded master's in Cairo, from Nigeria

This guide is for a Nigerian graduate who lives in Nigeria, is 35 or younger, holds a bachelor's degree at 3.2 on a 4.0 scale or its equal (the scholarship's line, stricter than AUC's own admission, so it is the one you must meet) and has no money for a master's. It walks you, from the course you choose tonight to your first semester in Cairo in the autumn of 2027 (AUC calls it Fall 2027), through applying for a full master's at the American University in Cairo, a university in Egypt that teaches in English, and for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at AUC, which, for the fellows it chooses, pays the school fees, a stipend, a room in the university's housing, health insurance, a laptop and the flight. You apply yourself, on the university's own online application, and you pay nobody to apply. Every fee, date and rule in it comes from the official page that sets it. Updated on 3 November 2026. Naira figures are at ₦1,333 to the US dollar, the rate of 20 October 2026.

The programme is new at this university: its own page says "Starting Spring 2027", so it has no graduates yet. Where this guide says what people report, it is about living in Cairo, the visa or what websites repost, and it is never a rule.

Nobody can promise you a place, the scholarship or the visa. The university's departments choose who gets a place, the university's committee chooses its fellows, and Egypt decides your visa. What this guide gives you is every step, in order, and what we cannot tell yet.

The course list, the papers to send and the two dates

These are the three things you came for. Each is walked in full in its stage below.

1. The course list. The American University in Cairo (AUC) lists every master's it runs on its Graduate Programs, opens in a new tab page, with a filter by degree (MA, MSc, MPH, MPA, MBA and others). AUC says it runs 52 master's programmes. The scholarship is listed for students "admitted to any field of graduate studies at AUC", so you can choose any of them, with two cautions. AUC's list of fellowships says three courses carry no fellowship at all: the MSc in Architecture, the MSc in Petroleum Engineering and the Master in International Management (CEMS). Do not choose them for this scholarship. And AUC says students of its Master of Engineering (MEng) and Master in Computing (MComp) cannot hold its own fellowships, and it does not say how that touches this one. Choose one or two courses; the form takes up to two, and you write a separate statement for each. Stage 2 walks it.

2. The papers to send. On AUC's own online application, opens in a new tab (choose Graduate, Degree seeking):

• the application fee, US$50 (about ₦67,000), paid online, not refunded;
• a statement of purpose of about 500 words for each course you choose;
• your CV;
• a clear copy of the information pages of your international passport;
• one recent passport photograph, scanned;
• your transcript and proof that you finished your degree, scanned (scans are enough to apply; AUC may ask for the stamped originals before its decision, and does after admission);
• an English test result: IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with 7 in writing, or TOEFL iBT 79 overall with 21 in writing (on TOEFL's new 1 to 6 scale: 4.5 overall and 4.5 in writing), or the Cambridge Advanced or Proficiency exam (a scan is enough to apply);
• at least two letters of recommendation, sent online by your referees themselves;
• AUC's Student Data Form, which AUC's instructions list with the application for international applicants.

Stages 3 to 7 walk each paper.

3. The two dates.

The order is the trap. The scholarship form will not open for you until your admission form is in: AUC says "The system will not allow you to apply for fellowships unless your graduate admission application is on record." After you send the admission form, AUC emails you a student number (your AUC ID) within two days, and asks you to wait seven working days after it before you start the scholarship form. AUC also says the admission form must be in at least two weeks before the scholarship's deadline. You do not need your admission answer before you send the scholarship form. So: the admission form first, well before 15 December; the scholarship form from 22 December.

If you have seen "6 May 2027" online, that is the close of the second scholarship round (cycle 2, 6 April to 6 May 2027), whose admission date is 1 April 2027 (AUC's late admission). For the first round, the two dates above are the ones.

Where the window stands today (3 November 2026)

Open. The admission form for Fall 2027 is open now on AUC's online application. On 3 November 2026 there are 42 days to the admission date (15 December 2026), 49 days to the day the scholarship form opens (22 December 2026) and 75 days to its close (17 January 2027).

What is not yours. The Spring 2027 intake: its admission date was 1 October 2026, and its scholarship round, open until 8 November 2026, is for people already in that intake. Fall 2027, which starts in the autumn of 2027, is the intake this guide walks.

Is Fall 2027 open to the Mastercard scholarship? The programme starts with the spring 2027 semester ("Starting Spring 2027"), and AUC's list of fellowships puts it under "Master Degree Fellowships for all Programs" and sends it to the dates page that shows the two Fall 2027 rounds. So this guide walks Fall 2027, round 1. Write to the programme at mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu this week and ask: "Does the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program take new master's fellows for Fall 2027, and in which fellowship cycle?" Apply in the cycle it names, and apply for AUC's African Graduate Fellowship in round 1 all the same (Stage 9). Send this email, and any other this guide gives you, this week. If no answer has come by 7 December, send the admission form by 14 December all the same, with your transcript as your university gave it.

The hour. Neither AUC page prints an hour for any of these dates. Send each form by the end of the day before, Nigerian time, so that no hour on the last day can shut you out.

What happens after the close. AUC says international applicants who send the admission form by 15 December should expect the admission answer before 1 April 2027. A committee reads the scholarship forms; when it answers: we cannot tell yet.

What we cannot tell yet, each said again at its stage:

• the questions on the scholarship form and the papers that show financial need: we cannot tell yet;
• the stipend's amount: we cannot tell yet;
• the first day of the Fall 2027 semester and the orientation: we cannot tell yet;
• the deposit AUC asks of admitted students, and whether the scholarship pays it: we cannot tell yet;
• the Egyptian embassy's own page in Nigeria for the study visa (its papers, fee and time): we cannot tell yet.

From today: what you can still finish

Two things take longest and are not in your hands: your English test result and your referees' letters. Your transcript is the third, if your university is slow. Your international passport is a fourth, if you have none. Everything else (choosing the course, the statement, the CV, the form) is yours to do. Each row says what must already be in your hands to send the admission form by 14 December.

No passport. The form asks a clear copy of your passport's information pages, so you need it to apply. A fresh Nigerian passport takes 42 days after your enrolment (the day your fingerprints and photograph are taken at the passport office), and a renewal (re-issue) 21 days, on the Nigeria Immigration Service's own service terms; a 32-page, five-year passport costs ₦100,000. Enrolled today, a fresh passport is due about 15 December, the admission date itself, so plan on the late dates in the table above: send the admission form the day the passport is in your hands; the closer to 3 January, the less time for the scholarship form. Apply today all the same on the Nigeria Immigration Service's passport site, www.passport.gov.ng, opens in a new tab, and enrol as soon as you can. A renewal enrolled by 23 November is due by 14 December.

The English test. IELTS on computer at IDP Nigeria, which holds IELTS tests in Nigeria, gives your result in 1 to 5 days, and the test costs ₦299,000. Book a date in November if you can, so a short score leaves you time to sit again (Stage 4).

Part 1. Before you start

What the scholarship is

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at AUC is a scholarship run by the American University in Cairo with money from the Mastercard Foundation, which pays for the programme. In AUC's words, it "provides full scholarships and comprehensive support to talented young people from across Africa", and its scholars "participate in leadership development activities, workshops, and fieldwork experiences". AUC lists it among its fellowships (the word AUC uses for its scholarships), as an award paid by an outside donor.

What it covers, in AUC's words:

• "Tuition fees for nine credits per semester";
• "Stipend during the fall and spring semesters" (AUC prints no amount: we cannot tell yet);
• "One laptop is provided";
• "Student services and activities fees";
• "Medical service and health insurance fees";
• "Accommodation in University dorms/residence for those residing outside of Cairo";
• "AUC bus subscription (or travel allowance)";
• "May cover remedial English modules or intensive English courses";
• "Roundtrip airfare provided for fellows not residing in Egypt";
• for some, "additional funding to cover research, publication fees and conference attendance".

The cover names nine credits a semester. If your course's plan of study sets more in a semester, ask mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu who pays the rest.

It is "Awarded for the total study period of the degree, based on full-time enrollment, subject to review every semester for satisfactory academic performance."

For scale: AUC's 2026-2027 fee for an international master's student is US$735 (about ₦980,000) per credit hour, so nine credits are US$6,615 a semester (about ₦8.8 million). The 2027-2028 rate is not printed yet.

What it does not name: the US$50 application fee, your English test, your passport, the entry visa, Egypt's residency fees and the deposit. Plan to pay those yourself unless AUC tells you otherwise (Part 7).

The bodies you will deal with

The American University in Cairo (AUC), a university in Egypt that teaches in English, with its campus in New Cairo. You apply to it, on its website. Inside it, five offices touch your file:

• The Office of Enrollment, Admissions and Student Service Center (enrolauc@aucegypt.edu) receives your admission form and emails you your student number (your AUC ID).
• The Office of Graduate Admissions checks your file and contacts you once it reaches them.
• Your department, the part of AUC that teaches your course, which may set an entrance examination.
• The fellowship committee, which reads the scholarship forms and chooses the fellows. The programme's questions go to mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu.
• The Business Support Office (students.residency@aucegypt.edu), which handles your passport registration and your residence permit in Egypt.

The Mastercard Foundation, which pays for the programme. You do not apply to the Foundation; you apply to AUC.

ApplyWeb, the website AUC uses for its admission form (applyweb.com/auc, opens in a new tab). You make an account there.

Banner Self-Service, AUC's own student website (aucbanner.aucegypt.edu, opens in a new tab). You fill the scholarship form there, after your AUC ID comes.

Egypt's embassy or consulate in Nigeria, which decides your entry visa. AUC asks you to get a 90-day visa there before you travel (Stage 12).

Egypt's Supreme Council of Universities, whose equivalency letter AUC may ask for your degree.

Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education, whose stamp AUC asks on your original transcript (Stage 11).

Who can apply, and the rule that governs you

Two sets of rules apply to you: the scholarship's and AUC's admission rules. You must meet both, so the stricter one governs. Here is the answer for your case.

The scholarship's rules. You must be a citizen of an African country and live in one now. A Nigerian who lives in Nigeria meets both. You must be 35 or younger on the day you apply. You must be a new master's student (someone moving from another university's master's into AUC cannot apply: AUC shuts the scholarship to transfers). You must hold a bachelor's degree with "a minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale or equivalent". And you must show financial need.

AUC's admission rules. "An acceptable bachelor's degree, with a record at the required level", and good results on any entrance examination your department sets. Each department can ask more. If AUC admits you on condition of undergraduate prerequisite courses, no fellowship can pay for you (Stage 2).

The answer for your case.

• Over 35 on the day you apply: this scholarship is not for you. AUC's African Graduate Fellowship, for non-Egyptian Africans, prints no age line (Part 4). If you turn 36 between now and 17 January 2027, read Stage 1, step 2.
• Your grade. The scholarship's line is a grade point average, not a class: your 2:1 or first class is not the number. Find your CGPA and the scale under it (out of 4, out of 5 or another) on your transcript or statement of result.
• A Nigerian CGPA on a 5-point scale: AUC prints no table that turns a Nigerian CGPA into its 4-point scale. Do not convert it yourself and do not write a converted figure anywhere: send your transcript as your university gave it, and AUC reads it. A figure you work out and write as your GPA misstates your grades; sending your transcript as your university issued it is the lawful option. If you want to know before you pay the application fee, email your transcript to mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu and ask: "Does my CGPA of [yours] out of 5 meet the programme's 3.2 on a 4.0 scale or equivalent?" A yes, apply. A no, the scholarship is closed to you on this degree (Part 4 has what is left). If no answer has come by 7 December, send the admission form by 14 December all the same.
• A CGPA on a 4-point scale: compare it with 3.2 directly.
• An HND: AUC and the scholarship both ask a bachelor's degree. Ask enrolauc@aucegypt.edu before you pay: "Does AUC accept a Nigerian Higher National Diploma as a bachelor's degree for master's admission?" A yes, apply. A no, this scholarship is closed to you on that diploma.
• In your final year: AUC asks your transcript "and proof of degree completion" with the form. Ask enrolauc@aucegypt.edu: "I finish my bachelor's in [month] 2027. Can I apply for Fall 2027 with my results to date and send proof of completion later?" A yes, apply now. A no, apply for the next intake once you hold your result (Part 8).
• Already at AUC on a master's, or moving from another university's master's: this scholarship is only for new master's students.
• You want an MEng or MComp: read Stage 2 before you choose.

You do not need an admission, an employer, a contact in Egypt or a sponsor to start. You need your degree, your passport, an English result, two referees and the application fee, US$50 (about ₦67,000).

Do you need an agent? No

The form is AUC's own, on its website. Your referees send their letters themselves. The only fee is AUC's application fee. The Mastercard Foundation says on its home page: "The Mastercard Foundation never solicits funding, issues credit cards, or requests payment from individuals." Anyone who asks you for money to get you this scholarship, a place or a faster answer is not from AUC or the Foundation.

What it asks of you

A full-time master's in Cairo, keeping a GPA of at least 3.2, reviewed every semester, with the programme's workshops on leadership, civic engagement and entrepreneurship, and reports when AUC or the programme asks for them.

The route this guide walks

One or two courses, the admission form by 15 December 2026, the Mastercard Foundation scholarship form in round 1 (22 December 2026 to 17 January 2027), from Nigeria. That is the main route, walked stage by stage. Round 2 and the late admission date are in Part 8.

Other AUC fellowships beside it. AUC lets you apply for three fellowships in one round, and its African Graduate Fellowship, for non-Egyptian Africans in any master's, is on the same list. A fellowship and AUC's own financial aid can be combined. Stage 9 says how.

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Check that you can apply. Your citizenship, where you live, your age on the day you apply, your degree and your CGPA against the 3.2 line. Free. One evening.

Stage 2. Choose your course. One or two from AUC's Graduate Programs list. Free. An evening or two.

Stage 3. Get your papers out. Your passport, your transcript, your degree certificate, a photograph. ₦5,000 to ₦12,000 for a transcript within Nigeria at the universities in this guide; ₦100,000 for a passport if you have none. From a day to six weeks.

Stage 4. Book your English test. IELTS Academic (₦299,000) or TOEFL iBT (US$170, about ₦227,000). Results in 1 to 5 days for IELTS on computer.

Stage 5. Line up your referees. Two at least, three to be safe, who know your studies or your work. Free. Ask in the first week.

Stage 6. Write your statement of purpose and your CV. About 500 words a course. Free. A week of evenings.

Stage 7. Fill and send the admission form, by 15 December 2026. On ApplyWeb, with US$50 (about ₦67,000).

Stage 8. Your AUC ID, and your Banner account. The ID by email within two days; then wait seven working days.

Stage 9. Send the scholarship form, 22 December 2026 to 17 January 2027. On Banner Self-Service. Free.

Stage 10. The answers. The admission answer before 1 April 2027; the scholarship's answer when the committee sends it.

Stage 11. After a yes: the deposit, your AUC email, housing and your original papers.

Stage 12. Your entry visa, from Nigeria. A 90-day visa from Egypt's embassy or consulate in Nigeria, with study as the purpose.

Stage 13. Travel, and your first weeks in Cairo. The flight is the programme's. Register your passport within seven days, the orientation, your residence permit. Your first semester begins.

Stage 14. The year, and after it. A GPA of at least 3.2, reviewed every semester, the workshops, your residence card renewed each year.

The money. Up to submitting, you pay the US$50 fee (about ₦67,000), your English test (₦299,000 for IELTS), your transcript and, if you have none, your passport. After a yes, the visa: we cannot tell yet, the deposit: we cannot tell yet, and Egypt's residency fees. The programme covers your fees, a stipend, housing, health insurance, a laptop, the bus and your flight (Part 7).

The time. From tonight to the admission date: six weeks. The scholarship form: 22 December to 17 January. The admission answer: before 1 April 2027. From tonight to your first semester in Cairo: the autumn of 2027; its first day: we cannot tell yet.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Check that you can apply

Back to the short stages

You want a funded master's and you hold a degree. Before you spend a naira, check yourself against both sets of rules.

Do.

1. Check your citizenship and where you live: a citizen of an African country who lives in Africa now. A Nigerian in Nigeria meets both.
2. Count your age on the day you will send the forms. You must be 35 or younger "at the time of application". If you turn 36 before 22 December 2026, the scholarship form will not be open while you are 35, and no AUC page says whether "the time of application" means the admission form or the scholarship form. Email mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu this week: "I turn 36 on [date]. Is my age counted on the day I send the admission form or the day I send the scholarship form?" If it is the admission form, send it before your birthday. If it is the scholarship form, this scholarship is closed to you; AUC's African Graduate Fellowship prints no age line (Part 4). If you turn 36 between 22 December and 17 January, send both forms before your birthday.
3. Find your CGPA on your transcript or statement of result. Read Part 1, "The answer for your case". If you are unsure, email mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu with your transcript this week and ask the one question in Part 1.
4. Be ready to show financial need: the scholarship is for applicants who cannot pay. What papers prove it: we cannot tell yet.

Where. The programme's page, opens in a new tab, in its first list (who can apply).

What you need. Your transcript or result, and your birth date.

Cost and time. Free. One evening; a few days if you email.

You are done when you know you meet the age, the citizenship and the residence lines, and you know how AUC will read your CGPA, or you have asked.

If it goes wrong. Over 35: this scholarship is closed to you; read "If this is not for you" (Part 4). A CGPA AUC says does not meet 3.2: the same.

Next. Choose your course, the same week (Stage 2).

Stage 2. Choose your course

Back to the short stages

You can apply. Now choose the course, because everything you write is for it.

Do.

1. Open AUC's Graduate Programs, opens in a new tab list. Use the "Degree Type" filter: MA (arts and social sciences), MSc (sciences and engineering), MPH (public health), MPA (public administration), MBA and others.
2. Open each course you like and write down: what it teaches, whether it asks an entrance examination ("The department of major may require applicants to sit for a graduate entrance examination"), any higher English score, how many credits a semester its plan of study sets, and whether it starts only in the autumn (Fall).
3. Choose one course, or two. The form takes "up to two graduate programs", and "If you are not admitted to your first choice, you might be admitted to the program of your second choice." Each course needs its own statement of purpose.
4. The MEng and MComp caution. AUC says students of its Master of Engineering (M Eng) and Master in Computing (M Comp) cannot hold its "institutional fellowships", meaning the fellowships AUC pays for itself. The Mastercard scholarship is paid by a donor. If you want an engineering or computing master's, prefer the MSc in the same subject (AUC's Master of Science list includes Computer Science, Construction, Electronics and Communications, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, and Robotics), or ask mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu before you choose: "Can a Master of Engineering or Master in Computing student hold the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program?" A yes, choose freely; a no, choose the MSc.
5. Three courses with no fellowship. AUC's list of fellowships says "No fellowships are available" to the MSc in Architecture, the MSc in Petroleum Engineering and the Master in International Management (CEMS). Choose another.
6. Stay close to your degree. AUC says applicants admitted on condition that they first take undergraduate prerequisite courses cannot have fellowship support. If a course needs subjects your first degree did not teach, choose one your degree prepared you for; the course's own page says what background it asks.
7. The MBA. AUC recommends the GMAT (an admission test for business schools) for MBA applicants, "especially if applying for fellowship consideration", and asks three years of full-time work after the degree. If you have neither, choose another course.

Where. Graduate Programs, opens in a new tab; the Graduate Degree Programs list on the online application, opens in a new tab page.

What you need. Your degree and what you want to do with the master's.

Cost and time. Free. An evening or two.

You are done when you have one or two courses written down, with any entrance examination and English score they ask.

If it goes wrong. A course you want asks an examination you cannot sit in time, or a higher English score than you hold: choose another.

What you will see online. Websites that repost this scholarship in October and November 2026 lead with the scholarship's dates and leave out the admission date, so send the admission form first.

Next. Your papers (Stage 3), this week.

Stage 3. Get your papers out

Back to the short stages

The admission form needs scans of your passport, your transcript, your proof of graduation and a photograph. The transcript and the passport are the papers most likely to keep you waiting, so request them first. A late transcript can follow the form, after your AUC ID comes; the passport copy cannot.

Your international passport. "A clear copy of the information pages of your passport" goes with the form, and you will need the passport for the visa, valid "for at least six months beyond your arrival date". A 32-page, five-year passport costs ₦100,000 and a 64-page, ten-year one ₦200,000, applied for on the Nigeria Immigration Service's passport site, www.passport.gov.ng, opens in a new tab, and enrolled at a passport office; a fresh one takes 42 days after enrolment and a re-issue 21 days. If your passport runs out less than six months after you will arrive, AUC says to renew it "at least three months before departure": plan the renewal for early 2027, and send AUC your new passport's pages when it comes. If you have none, start today ("No passport", above).

Your transcript. To apply, AUC takes scans: "Photocopies or unofficial transcripts will be accepted for evaluation purposes only." The transcript must show your courses and grades and your start and end dates; if it does not show the dates, AUC asks "an official enrollment certificate from your home university". Request from your university's transcript portal a copy issued to you, and scan it. What the universities print:

• University of Lagos: a Student Copy transcript on the student portal, opens in a new tab, emailed to you; the records portal prints no fee for it. An official transcript costs ₦10,000. No time stated.
• University of Ibadan: on its transcript portal, opens in a new tab, a copy to your own address is marked "Student's Copy" (₦10,000 on the portal's own sheet). No time stated.
• University of Nigeria, Nsukka: on its iTranscript portal, opens in a new tab, sent by email by default; ₦12,000 within Nigeria, ₦25,000 outside. Apply with the name you were admitted with. No time stated.
• Obafemi Awolowo University: the transcript portal, opens in a new tab prints no fee or time before you make an account.
• Ahmadu Bello University: on its transcript site, opens in a new tab, ₦5,000 for an official e-copy, in 24 to 48 hours; the page prints no separate price for a personal copy.
• Another university: its records office (the Registry) names its own transcript portal on its website.

Your degree certificate, or your university's statement of result, scanned, as proof that you finished.

A photograph: "One recent passport-size photograph (a clear electronic copy)".

What comes later, not now. After admission AUC wants your original transcript, stamped and sealed, with the stamp of Nigeria's education ministry, and it may ask an equivalency letter from Egypt's Supreme Council of Universities (Stage 11). You do not need either to send the form, but AUC says "the original documents may be required prior to the announcement of the final decision", so start the ministry's authentication (Stage 11) once your form is in.

Cost and time. Transcript ₦5,000 to ₦12,000 within Nigeria at the universities above (₦25,000 at Nsukka for one sent abroad), from a day to weeks. Passport ₦100,000 if you have none: 42 days for a fresh one, 21 for a renewal.

You are done when your passport's information pages, your transcript, your certificate or result, and your photograph are scanned and saved on your phone or computer.

If it goes wrong. Your transcript has not come by 7 December: follow up with your university's records office by its own email; if it is still not in your hands on 14 December, send the admission form by 14 December all the same without it, and upload the transcript the day it comes, after your AUC ID arrives (AUC: "Electronic credentials can be attached to this application form or submitted after receiving your AUC ID number"). Keep pressing your university: AUC reads your file once the transcript is in. Never pay anyone outside the university's own portal to hurry a transcript. Your name differs between papers: AUC asks your "full name as it appears on your ... passport"; "If your name has changed, you must provide official documentation and a brief letter explaining any other names you have used."

What runs at the same time. Book your English test (Stage 4) and ask your referees (Stage 5) this same week.

Next. Your English test (Stage 4).

Stage 4. Book your English test

Back to the short stages

AUC asks every applicant for an English result to be admitted in full, and your degree being taught in English does not settle it for you in advance.

What AUC takes. "Only the following English tests are acceptable":

• IELTS Academic: "6.5 for total and 7 for writing". The 7 in writing is higher than the 6.5 overall: plan for it.
• TOEFL iBT: "79 for total and 21 for writing" (on TOEFL's new 1 to 6 scale, AUC's checklist puts full admission at 4.5 overall and 4.5 in writing); send the official scores to AUC's code 0903. AUC also takes the TOEFL home edition.
• The Cambridge Advanced (CAE) or Proficiency (CPE) exam: "176 for total and 185 for writing".
• Not the IELTS Indicator: "AUC will not accept test results for the IELTS indicator". You cannot mix scores from two tests.

Below the line. If your score is lower but you are otherwise admitted, AUC places you in its English courses first ("placed in an English language course for further language study"); on IELTS, 6.5 overall with 6.5 or 6 in writing puts you in one module; lower scores put you in more; below 5 you are not admitted. The scholarship "May cover remedial English modules or intensive English courses". Some courses (law, human rights law and psychology among them) do not let you take their classes while you are in those English courses. Aim for the full line.

The exemption. AUC's checklist says graduates of "an accredited English-language-only university may be exempted ... where at least one consecutive academic year of full-time studies was recently completed", and that the admissions office decides this when it reads your file. Nobody can tell you in advance that your Nigerian degree counts, and its own African Graduate Fellowship does not take the exemption at all. Book the test.

Do.

1. Book IELTS Academic on computer at IDP Nigeria, which holds IELTS tests in Nigeria, on its test dates, opens in a new tab page, for a date in November if you can: the result comes in 1 to 5 days. Or book TOEFL iBT with ETS, the body that runs it, on its TOEFL iBT registration, opens in a new tab page; you make an account there. TOEFL costs about ₦227,000 against IELTS's ₦299,000, and AUC takes either.
2. Practise writing to a band 7: an essay and a report against the clock.
3. When your result comes, scan the Test Report Form; for TOEFL, send the official scores to code 0903.

What you need. A card that pays online.

Cost and time. IELTS Academic at a test centre on computer: ₦299,000. TOEFL iBT in Nigeria: US$170 (about ₦227,000). Results: 1 to 5 days for IELTS on computer.

How long it counts. "Two years from the day of the exam", and it must still be valid on your first day of classes at AUC.

You are done when you hold a result of 6.5 with 7 in writing, or TOEFL 79 with 21 in writing (4.5 and 4.5 on the new scale), or the Cambridge line, scanned.

If it goes wrong. Writing below 7: AUC takes "The 'One Skill' retake of the academic IELTS" for official results verified online, so you can sit the writing part again. Time short: send the form with your test date entered and your result as soon as it comes; AUC says "Delaying the submission of the required documents will hinder the processing of the application form".

Next. Your referees (Stage 5), the same week.

Stage 5. Line up your referees

Back to the short stages

AUC needs at least two letters of recommendation, and it takes them only online, from the referees themselves.

The rules, in AUC's words.

• "At least two online letters of recommendation from persons familiar with your academic or professional background."
• "Recommendation letters must be submitted directly by the recommenders; applicants cannot provide them to AUC by themselves."
• "It is the responsibility of the applicant, not that of AUC, to follow up with the evaluators". "AUC will not contact the referees to submit the letters."
• "You are highly advised to request letters from more than two recommenders".
• "Applicants will not be able to submit their applications for graduate admission unless at least two referees are indicated, and online requests are sent out to their respective email accounts."
• Give "only the active, professional email addresses of your evaluators" (a university or company address), or explain why a referee has none.
• Each referee fills AUC's online form and also attaches or types a letter: "This form is required as well as a written or typed letter".
• "You are advised that academic letters of recommendation will better enhance your application."

Do.

1. This week, ask three people: two lecturers who taught you, and a third (a lecturer or your boss at work). Tell each the course, the date (14 December) and that AUC will email them a link.
2. Get each one's work email address, spelt exactly.
3. This week, make your account on AUC's online application (Stage 7, steps 1 and 2), enter your three referees and send the requests. You fill the rest of the form later; your referees start writing now. AUC lets you replace a referee only if that referee has not started.
4. Follow each letter on the "Recommender List" in your ApplyWeb account, which shows each referee's status and lets you "Send reminder".

Cost and time. Free. Ask in the first week; give them two weeks.

You are done when at least two letters show as submitted on your Recommender List.

If it goes wrong. A referee goes silent: send the reminder from the list, then call. A referee cannot write: if that referee has not started, you can replace the details with another person's; ApplyWeb's help desk resets a referee's access at help@applyweb.com or lor_help@collegenet.com. Once the form is submitted you cannot add a new referee, which is why you name three.

Next. Your statement and CV (Stage 6).

Stage 6. Write your statement of purpose and your CV

Back to the short stages

Your statement of purpose. "About 500 words for each graduate program selected", "indicating the reasons for interest in the specific program, what you will bring as skills and/or experiences to the program, and how graduate studies fit in your long-term academic and professional objectives". Two courses mean two statements. Write it yourself, in your own words, in three parts that answer AUC's three questions: why this course, what you bring (a project, a job, something you built or led), and what you will do with the degree afterwards, in Nigeria or in Africa.

Your CV. "An updated resume (CV) that must include work experience (if any) and educational background." Put your degree with its CGPA and class, every job with its dates, any NYSC posting, and anything you led in your community.

The money question on the form. The admission form asks how you will pay ("Candidates must prove they can afford AUC tuition and cover their living expenses prior to enrolling"). Mark the boxes that are true for you, including that you are applying for an AUC fellowship: AUC says the fellowship form "is separate from this application" (Stage 9). Attach only real papers.

Cost and time. Free. A week of evenings.

You are done when each statement is about 500 words, reads in your own voice, and your CV fits two pages.

Next. The form (Stage 7).

Stage 7. Fill and send the admission form, by 15 December 2026

Back to the short stages

Why first. This is the form for the master's itself, and the scholarship form stays shut until it is on record.

Do.

1. Open AUC's online application, opens in a new tab. Click "Create Your Account" and make it with an email address you check every day.
2. Under "Graduate Degree/Non-Degree/Exchange/Study Abroad", "Online Application", choose Degree seeking. Read the "Degree seeking" Application Checklist and Instructions beside it.
3. Fill the form: your name exactly as on your passport, your citizenship (Nigerian), the semester you want (Fall 2027), your course or two, your education with your degree, your English test date or result, your work.
4. Check that your three referees' requests show as sent (you sent them in Stage 5).
5. Upload your statement(s), your CV, your passport's information pages, your photograph, your transcript and your certificate or result. "Electronic credentials can be attached to this application form or submitted after receiving your AUC ID number".
6. Fill the Student Data Form, which AUC's instructions list with the application for international applicants only; its notes are inside it.
7. Pay the application fee online and submit, by the end of 14 December, Nigerian time.

The fee. "Application fee of $50 (nonrefundable)". AUC's checklist waives it for three groups only: African Graduate Fellowship applicants, refugees and applicants of one other foundation AUC names. It does not name the Mastercard programme, so plan to pay it. If you will also apply for AUC's African Graduate Fellowship (Stage 9), its applicants are on the waiver list. Before you pay, ask enrolauc@aucegypt.edu: "I am applying for the African Graduate Fellowship with the Mastercard programme. Is the US$50 fee waived for me, and how do I claim it on the form?" Ask your bank this week, in its app or at a branch: "Can this card pay US$50 online to a foreign website?" If not, ask which of its cards can.

Submit it this semester, or it is lost. AUC warns: "applications that are not completed and submitted for this semester will be deleted and cannot be retrieved for future use". Save often, and submit within the season.

What you need. Your scans (Stages 3 and 4), your statements and CV (Stage 6), your referees' emails (Stage 5), a card that can pay the fee.

Cost and time. US$50 (about ₦67,000). One or two evenings.

You are done when ApplyWeb shows the form submitted and paid, and your referees' requests show as sent.

If it goes wrong. The page will not load: try another browser or network. The card is refused: ask your bank the question above, and use the card it names.

Next. Your AUC ID (Stage 8), within two days.

Stage 8. Your AUC ID, and your Banner account

Back to the short stages

What happens. "Within two days of submitting your online admission application form, an email will be sent to you from enrolauc@aucegypt.edu to inform you of your AUC ID number", with "instructions to upload credentials". Your AUC ID is your student number; it goes in the subject of every email you send AUC.

Do.

1. Watch your inbox and spam for the email from enrolauc@aucegypt.edu.
2. Make your Banner Self-Service account on AUC's sign-up page, opens in a new tab with your AUC ID, and keep the username and password.
3. Upload any paper you did not attach, as the email says.
4. Count seven working days from the day the ID came. AUC's fellowships page: "allow seven working days before starting the online fellowship web application process." (Its admissions page says five; wait the seven.)

Cost and time. Free. The ID in two days; then seven working days.

You are done when you can log in to Banner Self-Service, opens in a new tab and seven working days have passed.

If it goes wrong. No ID email after two days: write to enrolauc@aucegypt.edu with your full name and the course you applied for. "If, one week after receiving your student ID number, the system still does not allow you to start the process, contact gradwebapp@aucegypt.edu".

What runs at the same time. Your referees' letters (Stage 5). When your file reaches the Office of Graduate Admissions, "you will be contacted by a team member who will be responsible for the processing of your application".

Next. The scholarship form, from 22 December (Stage 9).

Stage 9. Send the scholarship form, 22 December 2026 to 17 January 2027

Back to the short stages

Why. The admission form gets you considered for a place; this form gets you considered for the scholarship. Without it, you are not in the running for the Mastercard award.

Do.

1. From 22 December, log in to Banner Self-Service, opens in a new tab and open the fellowship application.
2. Apply for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program on the form (the form's own questions: we cannot tell yet). AUC says "You may apply for three fellowships per application cycle": add its African Graduate Fellowship (for non-Egyptian Africans, any master's) and its International Graduate Fellowships (for international students fully admitted to any master's).
3. Fill every part. AUC's note on the programme: "You may be required to submit additional paperwork to be considered for this fellowship." Answer in the same names, dates and course as your admission form.
4. Submit by the end of 16 January, Nigerian time.

Financial aid beside it. AUC also gives graduate students financial aid, "a partial tuition reduction for students who demonstrate financial need", applied for on Banner once you have your AUC ID, and "Fellowship support and financial aid can be combined." Its Fall 2027 dates are not printed yet. Apply for it too when they are, as a second line under your fees.

How the committee chooses. "Fellowships are highly competitive awards." "The University considers financial need as well as academic merit." The committee weighs "academic performance, individual circumstances, and demand for a fellowship from other applicants", and gives priority to applicants "who are fully admitted", which is one more reason to reach the full English line (Stage 4).

Cost and time. Free. An evening or two.

You are done when Banner shows your fellowship application submitted.

If it goes wrong. Banner will not let you start: your admission form is not on record yet, or seven working days have not passed. Write to gradwebapp@aucegypt.edu.

Next. The answers (Stage 10).

Stage 10. The answers

Back to the short stages

The admission answer. AUC says international applicants who send the admission form by 15 December should expect the admission decision before 1 April 2027. It comes as full admission, provisional admission (with English courses or conditions first) or, rarely, conditional admission (for example when an original paper is delayed: you may attend the orientation but not register for classes until the condition is met). A provisional admission with English courses still lets you hold a fellowship; one with undergraduate prerequisite courses does not.

The scholarship's answer. When the committee writes: we cannot tell yet. A place and the scholarship are two separate answers: you can be admitted without the scholarship.

Do.

1. Check your email and spam every day from January.
2. When the scholarship letter comes, read every term. AUC says that for an award from an outside donor, "you need to check the specified duration of coverage and terms provided in your signed letter of award", and that you must agree to answer reporting requests ("an academic performance progress report and photo") and to attend orientation and donor events. AUC's words on refusing: "The inability or unwillingness to provide any of the below gives nominated candidates the right to decline the award of a fellowship."
3. Sign and return the award letter in the time it gives.

You are done when you hold the admission letter and the signed award letter.

If the answer is no. A place without the scholarship is a place you must pay for, at about US$6,615 (about ₦8.8 million) a semester in fees alone. If you cannot pay, do not accept it. If the Mastercard scholarship says no and AUC's African Graduate Fellowship or financial aid says yes, read that award's letter for what it pays. Whether a round 1 applicant may apply again in round 2: ask mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu; a yes, Part 8; a no, the next intake.

Next. After a yes (Stage 11).

Stage 11. After a yes: the deposit, your AUC email, housing and your original papers

Back to the short stages

AUC's steps for an admitted international student, "Before You Arrive":

1. "Pay your required deposit (degree-seeking students only ...)". The amount, and whether the scholarship pays it: we cannot tell yet. Before you pay, write to mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu and ask: "Does the programme pay my admission deposit, or do I?"
2. "Follow instructions you receive to create an AUC email address."
3. "Apply for AUC housing." AUC says housing applications open only "to admitted students who pay the deposit for admission and then create an AUC email account". The scholarship covers "Accommodation in University dorms/residence for those residing outside of Cairo".
4. "Prepare for your tourist visa to enter Egypt." AUC's own words for the entry visa (the 90-day visa from Egypt's embassy or consulate in Nigeria, Stage 12).
5. Your courses: "Finalize your advising and registration of courses".

Your original papers. "Upon admission", AUC wants "The official original final bachelor's transcript with proof of degree completion", with "stamps and signatures/watermarks". Its checklist: "Original transcripts will only be accepted if they bear an official stamp and are in sealed envelopes. The stamp of the Ministry of Higher Education of the country where the home university is located, verifying the degree and major, is required." For a Nigerian degree that is the Federal Ministry of Education's authentication, done online only since April 2026 on its portal, essverify.education.gov.ng, opens in a new tab: you register and upload your papers, and your university sends your transcript from its official email to the ministry. AUC may also ask "an equivalency letter from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Universities"; it decides when. Hand the originals in at AUC's Student Service Center when you arrive (they are returned once checked), or post them by registered mail to the Office of Graduate Admissions with your AUC ID on the package.

You are done when your deposit question is answered, your AUC email works, your housing application is in, and your stamped transcript is in your hands or already sent.

Next. Your visa (Stage 12).

Stage 12. Your entry visa, from Nigeria

Back to the short stages

What AUC asks. "Obtain a 90-day visa application from the Egyptian consulate in your home country and apply well in advance", and "make sure to state studying as your purpose of stay in the country, as this is important at the immigration office". AUC also says: "Ensure your passport is valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date."

Where. Egypt's embassy or consulate in Nigeria. Its own page, its address, papers, fee and time: we cannot tell yet. Egypt's e-Visa website is not for you: its list of nationalities that "may be issued with an e-Visa" does not include Nigeria.

What to carry to the embassy. Your passport, your AUC admission letter and your scholarship award letter, which shows who pays your fees and your living costs. The embassy's own list of papers: we cannot tell yet. AUC's residency office answers questions at students.residency@aucegypt.edu: ask it, the day your admission comes, what letter the embassy wants from AUC.

The trap: an agent's "visa on arrival". Agents online in 2025 and 2026 sell Nigerians an airline pre-clearance and a visa paid at Cairo airport. That is not what AUC asks of you. AUC names a visa on arrival only for "North American, Canadian, Australian and EU citizens", and asks everyone else to "Obtain a 90-day visa application from the Egyptian consulate in your home country", with studying stated as the purpose, "as this is important at the immigration office". AUC calls this entry visa a tourist visa too: what matters is that you get it from Egypt's embassy or consulate in Nigeria and state study as your purpose. The agents' arrangement is a tourist entry an airline may let you board on; it is not the study entry AUC asks for, and Nigeria is on AUC's list of countries whose citizens cannot extend a tourist visa in Egypt (Stage 13). Apply for the 90-day visa yourself.

Rekoja's desk. Every step here is free to do yourself. If you want help, Rekoja's desk can prepare your visa file and your documents with you in Nigeria, paid in naira, with official fees at cost. It never prepares your AUC or scholarship application and never charges for help with either: your statement, your CV and your forms are yours to do, free.

You are done when the visa is in your passport.

If it goes wrong. The visa is slow: tell AUC's Business Support Office at students.residency@aucegypt.edu at once, with your AUC ID. Refused: send the refusal to the same office and to mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu the same day.

Next. Travel (Stage 13).

Stage 13. Travel, and your first weeks in Cairo

Back to the short stages

Your flight. The scholarship gives "Roundtrip airfare provided for fellows not residing in Egypt". Whether the programme books your ticket or repays one you buy: we cannot tell yet. Do not buy a ticket until the programme tells you how.

When. The first day of the Fall 2027 semester and the date of the orientation: we cannot tell yet. AUC's Fall 2027 calendar is linked from its academic calendars, opens in a new tab page; arrive in time for the orientation.

Your first week, in order.

1. Register your passport within seven days. Nigeria is on AUC's list of countries whose citizens "must register their passports within seven days of arrival to avoid fines". You hand your original passport to AUC's Business Support Office and pay EGP 110 (its value in naira: we cannot tell yet). AUC's Business Support page says "within 48 hours of entry"; go in your first two days.
2. The orientation: "Attend the mandatory international student orientation."
3. Your residence permit. "Students must visit the Business Support Office to initiate the residency process." The residency visa fee is EGP 7,100, paid online "as soon as you arrive in Egypt"; tell students.residency@aucegypt.edu once you have paid. The scholarship names "Student services and activities fees", not visa fees: ask mastercardfdn@aucegypt.edu whether these are yours.
4. Photographs and insurance: "by the end of the first week of classes", "two hard copy passport-size photos to the Office of Business Support for student visa purposes", and proof of health insurance. AUC enrols every international student in its own health insurance automatically (US$190 for the autumn semester of 2026, about ₦253,000), and the scholarship covers "Medical service and health insurance fees".
5. Carry your papers. If your security approval is slow, "the student will receive a letter from the Business Support Office confirming enrollment at AUC and that the visa is under processing, for presentation at security checkpoints". Nigeria is on AUC's list of countries whose citizens "are not permitted to extend tourist visas"; while your security approval is pending, AUC's letter is what you show. Rights groups reported in 2026 that police in Egypt were arresting refugees and migrants from Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and other countries in residency checks, and that some university students with valid papers were among those held. Keep your passport, your registration receipt and AUC's letter on you.

Where you live. In AUC's housing: the scholarship covers it for fellows from outside Cairo. People who live in New Cairo wrote online in 2026 that rent and transport take most of a budget there; as a fellow, your room and your bus are the scholarship's.

You are done when your passport is registered, you have been to the orientation, your residency is started and your first classes have begun. You have arrived.

Stage 14. The year, and after it

Back to the short stages

What keeps the award. "Must maintain full-time status"; "Must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.2"; attend "all supplemental workshops designed by the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program", on "leadership, civic engagement, and entrepreneurship"; answer reporting requests by their dates. The award is "subject to review every semester for satisfactory academic performance".

Leaving a course. If you leave a course after the deadline for changing courses, AUC asks you to pay back that course's fees.

Your residence. "Residency cards are renewed annually." To travel out of Egypt and back during your studies, "apply for a re-entry visa at least one week before traveling" (EGP 850).

Your stipend. Paid "during the fall and spring semesters"; its amount: we cannot tell yet. Bring money of your own for your first weeks: EGP 7,210 of government fees in your first week (EGP 110 and EGP 7,100, unless the programme pays them; their naira value: we cannot tell yet) and your food until the first stipend is paid.

After the course. AUC says the programme's activities "equip them to become agents of meaningful change in their communities, countries, and across the continent".

Part 4. What can stop you

Your deadlines

What stops people, and what you do

• Waiting for the scholarship form before the admission form. The admission form closes first, and the scholarship form stays shut until it is in.
• A reposted date. A website's "2 November" is the first close of the spring round, since moved to 8 November, which is not yours, and its "6 May" is round 2's close: neither is your date for round 1.
• The IELTS Indicator, or 6.5 in writing. AUC refuses the Indicator and wants 7 in writing for full admission.
• Converting your CGPA yourself. Send the transcript as it is; ask if unsure (Part 1).
• Referees you have not told. They must send their letters online themselves; name three.
• A card that cannot pay the fee online. Ask your bank this week: "Can this card pay US$50 online to a foreign website?"
• Over 35 on the day you apply. The scholarship is closed to you.
• An agent's "visa on arrival". AUC names it only for North American, Canadian, Australian and EU citizens. Apply for the 90-day visa yourself, with study as the purpose.
• Paying anybody to apply for you. The only fee is AUC's application fee.
• Not registering your passport in seven days. Go to the Business Support Office in your first two days.

If this is not for you

• Over 35: AUC's African Graduate Fellowship, opens in a new tab, for non-Egyptian Africans in any master's, covers fees, a stipend, health insurance and housing or a housing allowance, prints no age line, and asks 12 hours a week of academic work; it asks an English test with no exemption. Apply for it in the same round.
• A CGPA below the programme's line: AUC's African Graduate Fellowship, for non-Egyptian Africans, prints no entry grade of its own, though AUC's admission still asks "a record at the required level". Ask its office, gradserv@aucegypt.edu, before you pay. Other funded options on Rekoja fit: tell us about yourself, opens in a new tab.
• You want a PhD: not this programme. Other funded options on Rekoja fit: tell us about yourself, opens in a new tab and see them.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You have chosen your course: Stage 3, your papers, this week.
• You hold your English result: Stage 5, your referees, and Stage 7, the form.
• You sent the admission form: watch for your AUC ID (Stage 8), then the scholarship form from 22 December (Stage 9).
• You hold your AUC ID and seven working days have passed: Stage 9, from 22 December.
• You sent both forms: Stage 10, the answers.
• You hold the admission and the award: Stage 11, then your visa (Stage 12).

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, check that you can apply: one evening (a few days if you email AUC).
• Stage 2, choose your course: an evening or two.
• Stage 3, your papers: a day to weeks for the transcript; 21 to 42 days for a passport.
• Stage 4, your English test: book this week; the IELTS result 1 to 5 days after the test.
• Stage 5, your referees: ask in week one; letters in by 14 December.
• Stage 6, statement and CV: a week of evenings.
• Stage 7, the admission form: one or two evenings, by 14 December 2026.
• Stage 8, your AUC ID: within two days; then seven working days.
• Stage 9, the scholarship form: an evening or two, between 22 December 2026 and 16 January 2027.
• Stage 10, the answers: the admission before 1 April 2027; the scholarship's answer: we cannot tell yet.
• Stage 11, after a yes: the weeks after the letters.
• Stage 12, your visa: apply well in advance; the embassy's time: we cannot tell yet.
• Stage 13, travel and arrival: the autumn of 2027; the start date: we cannot tell yet.

Part 7. The money, all of it

The naira value of the Egyptian pound figures: we cannot tell yet.

What you pay yourself, from tonight to submitting: about ₦366,000 with IELTS, or about ₦293,000 with TOEFL (the US$50 fee and the test), plus your transcript, and ₦100,000 more if you have no passport. After a yes: the visa, the ministry's authentication of your transcript, and the deposit and Egypt's residency fees unless the programme pays them.

AUC bills in US dollars and takes Visa and MasterCard online, with a 1.27 percent charge on international cards.

Part 8. If the window has closed: the closed plan

Round 1 closes on 17 January 2027, and your admission form had to be in two weeks before it. After that, Fall 2027 still has a second round:

Stage C1. Round 2 for Fall 2027

Back to the short stages

Send your admission form by 1 April 2027 (AUC's late admission date for Fall 2027), at least two weeks before the round 2 close (by 22 April); then the scholarship form between 6 April and 6 May 2027. Every stage above applies, with these dates. Courses marked "Fall admission only" take you only in the autumn, which is this intake.

Stage C2. After Fall 2027

Back to the short stages

The dates after Fall 2027: we cannot tell yet. AUC runs graduate admission for the spring and autumn semesters only. Use the time:

Stage C3. Get your papers out now

Back to the short stages

Your passport, your transcript, and the Federal Ministry of Education's authentication, which AUC asks after admission (Stages 3 and 11).

Stage C4. Settle your English

Back to the short stages

An IELTS result counts for two years and must still be valid on your first day of classes, so a test sat now covers an intake up to two years away. Aim for 6.5 with 7 in writing (Stage 4).

Stage C5. Choose your course and line up your referees

Back to the short stages

Read the course pages now (Stage 2) and tell three referees you will ask them (Stage 5). Letters sent for one form are not carried to a new one: AUC says letters from earlier semesters "will not be used to complete newly submitted admission application forms". Tell your referees now that you will ask again.

Stage C6. Watch the dates

Back to the short stages

Watch AUC's fellowship deadlines, opens in a new tab and graduate admissions, opens in a new tab pages for the next dates.