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

Latest funding calls: Funding Opportunities 2024_2025

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

DSI-NRF Postgraduate Student Funding for the 2025 Academic Year

The DSI and NRF are pleased to announce a call for new applications for DSI-NRF Postgraduate Student Funding for the academic year 2025. 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%.
• The entry age requirement is 28, 30 and 32 years or younger for honours, master’s and doctoral studies respectively, in the year of application, regardless of the first year of registration.

Successful applicants will be funded either at Full Cost of Study (FCS) or Partial Cost of Study (PCS).

Full Cost of Study (FCS)

The FCS funding will be awarded to

• South African citizens and Permanent Residents only, who are either financially needy
• living with a disability or
• exceptional academic achievers.

Partial Cost of Study (PCS)

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 honours, master’s and doctoral candidates to pursue studies in all areas of Science, Engineering, Technology, Social Sciences, and Humanities.

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.

Please use the attached application guidelines to complete your application thoroughly.

Please adhere to internal closing dates, applications received thereafter will not be regarded.

Students’ Applications Opening and Closing Dates:

Please ensure that you apply for the correct scholarship, incorrect applications will not be considered (attached is the SARAO framework guidelines for criteria)

NB: Honours General Scholarships will open in July 2024

Honours applicants requiring ISFAP assessment should submit their applications by 02 September 2024.

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

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