The University of Manchester Humanitarian Scholarships to Study in UK
Social responsibility lies at the heart of our University and we are committed to playing our part in helping those fleeing conflict and persecution by offering the opportunity to study at Manchester.
Set up in 2022, our Humanitarian Scholarship programme supports individuals at immediate risk who have been forced to flee their homes as a direct result of armed conflict. The awards cover tuition fees, living expenses and visas.
2025 entry
For 2025 entry, we are offering up to five undergraduate scholarships. The scholarships are available for a wide range of full-time undergraduate courses, excluding medicine, dentistry, nursing and architecture.
To apply for the scholarship, you must have applied to The University of Manchester for a place on a course starting in September 2025.
Undergraduate applications for September 2025 entry are now open and you must apply via UCAS.
You don’t need to have received a course offer in order to submit your application (the scholarship application window opens in February 2025), but we will look at which applicants have been made an offer when shortlisting for the scholarship.
Timeline for 2025/26
| Applications open for academic admission in 2025 | 3 September 2024 |
| Scholarship applications open | 3 February 2025 |
| Application deadline | 31 March 2025 |
| Selection panel assesses applications | April 2025 |
| Applicants receive results | May 2025 |
| Students arrive in Manchester | September 2025 |
Eligibility criteria
To apply for a scholarship, you’ll need all of the following:
- be at serious risk as a direct result of armed conflict, and/or
- be displaced inside or have been forced to leave your home country within the last three years because of armed conflict;
- be unable to access or complete an undergraduate degree;
- have not previously studied, at any level, in the UK or EU;
- have applied for a place on a course starting in September 2025;
- be able to demonstrate knowledge of, and commitment, to, your chosen course;
- have an excellent academic background.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept applications from individuals who are currently in the UK or EU.
If you’re an asylum seeker or refugee in the UK and want to study for an undergraduate degree, we offer Article 26 Sanctuary Seeking Scholarships.
If you’re on one of the Ukraine visa schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Extension Scheme), you’ll have access to Student Finance England and can apply for tuition fees and maintenance loan funding through them.
Available courses
The scholarships are available for three-year undergraduate degrees plus a one-year foundation year if necessary
Applications for Medicine (MBChB), Dentistry (BDS), Nursing or Architecture degrees are not eligible.
We offer scholarships for our Integrated Foundation Year or Biosciences Foundation Year if you don’t have the right qualifications for direct entry to any of our three-year degree courses in engineering, natural sciences and biosciences. However, funding is not available for the foundation programme run in partnership with INTO Manchester for Humanities subjects.
Before you apply
Find your course
Choosing the course which is right for you is important and we have one of the largest selections of undergraduate courses in the UK.
- Use our course finder to find the subject area you are interested in and filter your selections to show courses with options to study abroad, or narrow down further to show industrial experience, foundation year and scholarship information.
- Watch our video to find out our top tips for choosing the right university course.
Check our entry requirements
We normally expect applicants to offer three full A Levels or an accepted equivalent qualification.
- Find out more about the University’s general entry requirements, included accepted qualifications and our English language and mathematics requirements, on our entry requirements pages.
- Course specific entry requirements can be found on our course pages.
How to apply
To apply for the scholarship, you must have applied to The University of Manchester for a place on a course starting in September 2025. Undergraduate applications for September 2025 entry are now open and you must apply via UCAS.
You’ll need to meet our general entry requirements, along with a specified level of ability in English language.
You can check the accepted qualifications listed for your country on our international webpages.
You don’t need to have received a course offer in order to submit your application, but we will look at which applicants have been made an offer when shortlisting for the scholarship.
Please note that obtaining an academic offer does not mean that you are guaranteed a scholarship. Academic admission and scholarship selection are two separate processes managed independently of each other.
Here you’ll find everything you need to know about applying for undergraduate study, including key dates and information for individual circumstances. Please read the guidance before you complete your application.
Applying for a course beginning in September 2025
- You can apply via UCAS for 2025 autumn entry from 3 September 2024.
- For 2025 entry, the closing date for receipt of applications to be given equal consideration is 29 January 2025 at 6pm (GMT).
- After this date, you can still apply if courses have vacancies, up to 30 June 2025.
- After 30 June, new applications will be considered in clearing. Vacancy status can be checked on the UCAS website.
- If you are applying to Oxford or Cambridge, or for courses leading to a professional qualification in medicine or dentistry, the closing date for 2025 entry is 15 October 2024 at 6pm (GMT).
- Note: applications open for 2025 entry on 14 May 2024. From this date, you can start your application in the UCAS hub.
How to apply
- You make your undergraduate application via UCAS.
- The UCAS code to apply to The University of Manchester is M20 MANU.
- You can find the course code on each individual course page.
Applying for the scholarship
In addition to applying for academic admission, you must make a separate application for the scholarship. Applications open on Monday, 3 February 2025 and close at 5pm (GMT) on Monday 31, March 2025.
Selection process
After submitting your application please wait to hear if you’ve been selected. There is no interview requirement.
We guarantee to be in touch with you by 30 May 2025.
We’ll email you to let you know our decision, whether successful or unsuccessful.
About The University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a centre of teaching excellence, world-class research, outstanding student experience, and social responsibility. Part of the prestigious Russell Group of universities, it’s institutions like ours that have the greatest responsibility to act as the world faces big challenges. Together, we face this head on.
Founded in 1824 for the advancement of education, we’ve since been home to 26 Nobel Prize winners and worked across disciplinary and geographic boundaries to give the world new ideas, discoveries and innovations.
Inspired by and connected with our city – the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, home to an iconic arts, music and culture scene, and now the driving force of the Northern Powerhouse scheme – Manchester remains at the heart of everything we do.
We’ve been making an impact since day one; from creating the world’s first nuclear reaction, to building the modern computer, isolating graphene, pioneering development economics, and transforming cancer diagnosis and treatment across the world. And it doesn’t stop there – our teaching and learning approach creates life-changing student experiences, inspires lifelong learning and shapes exceptional graduate outcomes for global citizens of the future.
As we enter our third century, we’re not letting anything stand in our way as we continue to tackle the world’s biggest problems with unbreakable resolve.
Our facts and figures
We’re ranked the 6th best university in the UK and 52nd overall in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (2024).
A truly international university, our community includes more than 44,000 students, 12,000 staff, and 550,000 alumni from 190 countries working together to tackle the world’s biggest challenges.
Our commitment to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is unmatched. That’s why we’re the only university in the world to rank in the top ten for social and environmental impact in every year of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.
Our university is a powerhouse of research and discovery; we were ranked fifth for research power – the quality and scale of research and impact – in the UK government’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.
The institution is the most popular in the UK for undergraduate applications (UCAS 2023 cycle), and it is the second most targeted university by the UK’s leading employers (The Graduate Market, 2024).
