The Funded Calendar Pack

Seven funded routes for Nigerians. Korea's GKS undergraduate window closed on 30 September 2026; the nearest open date is the ETH Zurich window from 1 to 30 November 2026. For each route below: what it pays, who it fits, the date, the documents, what the funder itself says it judges, and the first step you can take this week. Read the "how it is won" line before you decide which one is yours, because that line is the part people skip.

Which of these is you

• A first or a strong 2:1, and you want the largest award
• Top of your class in science or engineering
• You want something you can act on this week
• You would rather compete in an exam than in an essay
• Years of real work behind you, not a fresh degree
• A master's already, and a research project you can name
• I want Cambridge and I live in Africa
• You want the part that decides all seven

The seven routes at a glance

Gates Cambridge, United Kingdom

Open now.

Pays. The full University Composition Fee, £23,152 a year to live on (about ₦42m), one economy flight each way, visa costs and the health surcharge. Discretionary extras on top: academic development funding of £750 to £4,000, a dependent children allowance of up to £12,793 a year for one child and £18,244 for two or more (nothing for a partner), fieldwork, maternity or paternity, and hardship funding. Around 70 scholarships a year, about two-thirds of them for PhDs. Master's or PhD in any subject except the MBA, EMBA, MFin, PGCE, undergraduate degrees and a few others named on the funder's own list.

Fits. A strong 2:1 or a first, and many Cambridge courses ask for a high 2:1 or a first in their own right. Any age, any nationality except UK. Not open to someone already on a Cambridge course.

Date. 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027, decided by your course in the Cambridge course directory, not by you. Check your own course's date before you plan anything else. Applications opened on 11 September 2026 and outcomes are given by 8 March 2027.

Documents. One combined application on the Cambridge Graduate Application Portal, admission and funding together: transcripts, two academic references, the four Gates questions inside the funding section (academic excellence, about 200 words; why this course at Cambridge, about 200 words; commitment to improving the lives of others, about 300 words; capacity for leadership, about 300 words), a research proposal if you are applying for a PhD, and a third reference written to the Gates criteria by somebody who can rank you against a group. That third reference is not a copy of an academic reference, and sending one is the commonest way a good file weakens itself.

How it is won. Four things, judged equally: academic excellence; your reasons for choosing that exact Cambridge course (name the faculty, the group, the supervisor, and say why now); a commitment to improving the lives of others, shown as a sustained pattern rather than one weekend of volunteering; and capacity for leadership, shown as evidence of taking other people with you. Your department must nominate you before the Trust will interview you, so the academic application has to be strong on its own feet.

First step this week. Pick the course and read its page. Ask two academic referees, and one person who has watched you lead something.

Sources: Gates Cambridge, the criteria and Gates Cambridge, the timeline.

Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Cambridge

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at Cambridge University in the UK pays the course fees, a monthly living allowance, a return flight, the visa and the health charge for master's students who are from an African country and live in Africa.

Who it fits. You hold a bachelor's degree, you are from an African country and you live in one (a temporary stay abroad for study or work is allowed), and you meet the entry requirement of a full-time Cambridge master's. For Nigerian degrees Cambridge counts 4 out of 5 as a second class upper, 4.25 as a strong second class upper and 4.5 as a first class, and many courses ask for the first class.

Who it does not fit. Applicants for the Master of Accountancy, the MBA, the Master of Corporate Law or the Master of Finance, which are excluded. Holders of both an African and a UK passport.

The dates.

The documents. The Cambridge course application with its own references and transcripts, the fee waiver form, and the scholarship statement.

How it is won. Departments choose on the course application first. The scholarship team then selects on the course application and the scholarship statement together. The statement covers four things: your career and education so far, your leadership potential, how the scholarship will help you reach your goals, and how you hope to contribute to sustainable futures in Africa.

Referees and the statement. Ask two lecturers who taught or supervised you, and send them the course page. In the statement, give one real example for each of the four headings instead of general aims.

First step this week. Open your course in the Cambridge course directory, click "Apply Now", create the account, then send the waiver form. During the application tick "Yes, I wish to apply for funding" and choose the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.

Sources: how to apply, eligibility, what it offers, Cambridge funding deadlines, Cambridge, international qualifications

ETH Zurich Excellence Scholarship, Switzerland

Window 1 to 30 November 2026.

Pays. Tuition waived, plus CHF 13,500 a semester (about ₦23m a semester, ₦46m a year) towards living and study costs, at the rate set for the autumn 2027 start, for the regular length of the master's, three or four semesters. About 60 scholarships for 2027/28, decided by the end of March.

Fits. A bachelor's in a field that leads into an ETH master's, and a place in the top 10 percent of your class, self-assessed as grade A with references that back the claim. Not open to someone who already holds a master's. Keep the phone number on your CV live: there may be a phone or video interview in February.

Date. Inside the first ETH master's admission window only, 1 to 30 November 2026, closing at midday Swiss time on the last day. The exact time is printed on the page.

Documents. The ETH master's application on eApply, transcripts, a CV, two professor references if your programme does not already require them, and a pre-proposal for your master's thesis, written by you with proper citations. ETH publishes a guidelines PDF for it on the scholarship page, and plagiarism means exclusion.

How it is won. The pre-proposal and the grades. A pre-proposal that names a real ETH research group and a question that group is actually working on beats a general statement every time. Start it now, because the window is one month long.

First step this week. Choose the programme, read three papers from the group you want to join, and draft one page.

Source: ETH Zurich, Excellence Scholarship and Opportunity Programme.

Korea GKS

Closed: the undergraduate window ran from 15 to 30 September 2026 (read 8 October 2026).

Pays. The full degree, one year of Korean language study before it, a monthly stipend, and flights.

This one has its own pack, written the week it opened and carrying the document list and the authentication step: the GKS pack. Source: Study in Korea.

Russia Open Doors

Registration runs to 1 November 2026. Check the page again before you plan around that date.

Pays. Tuition-free master's, PhD and postdoctoral places under the government quota, plus a monthly university stipend. You budget the flights, housing, insurance and visa yourself.

Fits. A bachelor's degree for the master's track, a master's for the PhD track, and any nationality other than Russian.

How it is won. It is an online olympiad in your subject, sat in English or Russian, in stages from November to February. You win it by scoring, not by writing essays, which makes it the one route on this page where a quiet candidate with a strong subject brain has the advantage. Register, then practise the past tasks published on the site.

First step this week. Register, then sit one past paper under timed conditions to see where you stand.

Source: Open Doors, the rules.

Swedish Institute, for global professionals, Sweden

Dates for 2027/28 not yet published.

Pays. Full tuition paid straight to the university, SEK 12,000 a month (about ₦1.7m a month, ₦21m a year) for the whole programme, a one-time travel grant of SEK 15,000 (about ₦2.2m), and membership of the SI network. Not included: insurance, any money for family members, and the University Admissions application fee.

Fits. Nigeria is on the 34-country list. You need at least 3,000 hours of work experience from no more than three employers (full or part time, as an employee, a freelancer or an employer, proven on SI's own template forms), a demonstrated leadership record from work or civil society, liability for tuition fees in Sweden, and admission to one of the master's programmes on SI's own list on the first admissions day. A reserve-list place does not count. You do not qualify if you have lived in Sweden for two years or more, or already hold a Swedish degree.

Dates. Two applications, in order: the master's on universityadmissions.se, which historically opens in mid-October with a mid-January deadline, and then the SI portal, historically in February. The 2027/28 dates were not published on si.se on 21 September 2026, so watch that page.

How it is won. SI judges leadership, and your plan for sustainable development in your own country. Your motivation letter has to show a problem in Nigeria you have already worked on, and what you will do with the degree once you are back. This is a professional's scholarship, not a fresh graduate's, and the work-hours rule is where most Nigerian applications end.

First step this week. Count your hours and name your three employers. If you are under 3,000 hours, this route is next year's, and the move that pays is to pick a different route on this page.

Source: Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals.

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship

Open since 20 August 2026. Nigeria's own deadline is printed on the official country list.

Pays. CHF 2,450 a month (about ₦4.2m a month) for a research stay of 12 months or a PhD of 36 months. Tuition is not automatically covered, so check with the host university.

Fits, from the at-a-glance page, checked 21 September 2026: a master's degree completed by 31 July 2027 (30 June 2027 for ETH Zurich), born after 31 December 1991, a detailed research plan with a timeline, and a letter of support from an academic supervisor in Switzerland. Applications are free and go through the Swiss diplomatic representation for Nigeria. The Federal Commission for Scholarships judges three things: your profile, the quality of the project, and the potential for future research cooperation.

How it is won. The supervisor letter first, then the proposal. Without a Swiss host professor's written support the application is not considered at all. Email three professors whose recent papers match your topic, with a one-page proposal attached. Nigeria's deadline sits in the Africa list PDF, dated 4 August 2026, on the scholarship page; open it before you plan your weeks.

First step this week. Write the one-page proposal and send the three emails. Everything else waits on a professor's reply.

Source: State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships.

What every funded application needs

The seven routes judge different things, but the file underneath them is the same file.

References. Ask early. Send each referee your CV, your statement draft and the funder's own criteria in one email, and tell them the date. A referee who knows the criteria writes to them; a referee who does not writes a character note that helps nobody.

The statement. One problem you have actually worked on, one thing you did about it, one measurable result, then how this degree lets you do the next thing. Specific beats grand. Never open with "since childhood".

The course choice. Name the department, the group, the module or the supervisor. Funders read "prestigious university" as "did not research us".

Documents to scan tonight. Transcripts, degree certificate, passport valid past 2028, the English test the funder names, and your NYSC certificate if you have one.

The timeline rule. A strong application takes six weeks. Count back from the date, and if the count lands in the past, choose the route whose date it does not.

What quietly goes wrong

• Working to the scholarship's headline date instead of your own course's earlier one, which is how Gates applications die.
• An ETH pre-proposal that names no research group.
• A Swiss application sent before a host professor has replied.
• A Swedish Institute application under the 3,000 hours, or with the hours spread across four employers.
• A motivation letter written in the deadline week.
• Paying anybody for a form. Every route on this page is applied for on the funder's own portal.

What we do for you

The free steps are the whole application. Every route on this page is applied for on the funder's or the university's own site, and nobody needs to be paid to put you forward.

On a fully funded route, the only thing the desk charges for is retrieving a document. If your Nigerian university is slow to release your transcript, Rekoja's desk can collect it on your signed authorisation, at the document price published on the desk page. The desk does not edit statements, brief referees or review a scholarship file.

The free profile check comes first, and it stays free.

Before you go

Nobody can promise a scholarship, including us, and any agent who says otherwise is selling you something a funder alone decides. What you can control is which of these seven your file actually fits, and whether you start six weeks before the date instead of six days.

Naira figures on this page use the rates of 21 September 2026 (GBP ₦1,815, CHF ₦1,700, SEK ₦145), rounded. Only funders and immigration authorities decide.