Postgraduate Bursaries and Fees

The CGS provides funding to students in need of financial aid. Our focus is mainly on UFS Honours, Research Master's, and Research PHD students, as well as NRF bursaries. The funding office also informs and updates postgraduate students of available national and international bursaries and scholarship opportunities. Our funding consultants are available to assist with UFS and NRF funding enquiries.

For information regarding bursaries contact Lindiwe Booi at BooiLM@ufs.ac.za | +27 51 401 7222 or David MacHeu at macheutd@ufs.ac.za | +27 51 401 2174 

Click on the block displaying the funding level of your preference below. 

DSI-NRF Postgraduate Student Funding for the 2026 Academic Year

The DSTI and NRF are pleased to announce a call for new applications for DSTI-NRF Master’s and Doctoral Student Funding for the academic year 2026. All continuing students who are eligible for a second or third year of funding must submit a Progress Report and not a new application.

Eligibility criteria:

The NRF minimum academic requirement for postgraduate funding is 65% for the previous degree.

Age criteria:

1. “No age restriction” category and 20% of the funding would be allocated to students in this category; and

2. “Age restriction” category and 80% of the funding would be allocated to students in this category:

• a. Approved students for honours funding must be 28 years or younger in the year of application, i.e., applicants must not be older than 28 years by 31 December 2025;
• b. Approved students for master's funding must be 30 years or younger in the year of application, i.e., applicants must not be older than 30 years by 31 December 2025; and
• c. Approved students for doctoral funding must be 32 years of age or younger in the year of application, i.e., applicants must not be older than 32 years by 31 December 2025

All the postgraduate students will be expected to apply on the NRF Connect System by accessing the link: https://nrfconnect.nrf.ac.za/. No manual applications will be accepted.

Successful applicants will be funded either at Full Cost of 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 than 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. The scholarships are intended to support master’s and doctoral candidates to pursue studies in all areas of Science, Engineering, Technology, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

Students’ Applications Opening and Closing Dates:

NB: Honours General Scholarships will open in July 2025.

Honours applicants requiring ISFAP assessment should submit their applications by 02 September 2025.

Please refer to the Application and Funding Guide and Framework documents when completing the online application form at every step of the process.

*All postgraduate call documents can be accessed via the NRF website: https://www.nrf.ac.za/funding/nrf-call-for-proposals-for-funding-in-2025-and-2026/.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the Research or Postgraduate offices at their universities for enquiries. Should there still be a need to contact the NRF, below are the contact details:

For all enquiries, contact Lindiwe Booi BooiLM@ufs.ac.za | 051 401 7222 | Centre for Graduate Support, Office 9 Johannes Brill Building

For Technical related enquiries, please contact: NRF Support desk | Telephone: 012 481 4202 | Email: supportdesk@nrf.ac.za

For SARAO Honours-related enquiries, please contact Mkhululi Jodwana - mjodwana@sarao.ac.za | Telephone: 011 268 3412.

The subject line of your email must have the following information in order to be routed correctly:

• Level i.e., Honours, Master’s or Doctoral
• Funding opportunity e.g., General, SARChI, NRF-MINDS, Manus MatSci
• Application reference number starting with prefix PMDS25