Scholarship for MBBS Students and Medical Students 2026

How to read this list of medical scholarships

Treat the list as a set of offers with different rules, not as one ranking. Each entry tells you the host, the level, what the money covers and the deadline. Read the funding line before the deadline line, because a full tuition award in a country with high living costs can still leave you short.

Start with the level. If you are still in secondary school and aiming at medicine, you are looking at undergraduate awards. If you already hold a medical degree and want to specialise or research, you are looking at postgraduate and master's awards, which is where most of the medicine-specific money sits.

Then check the subject fit. Some awards name medicine or health directly. Others are open to any field and simply accept medical students among applicants. Both are valid, but the open-field ones usually have more competition. Browse the filtered list for this page to see which rounds are open now, and use the scholarship finder to widen the search by country or level.

Medical and health scholarships grouped by what they pay

The awards below are grouped by funding type. Every figure and date comes from our listing for that round; where a listing gives an annual pattern, expect the next round in the same window.

Full tuition plus living support

• Glenmore Medical Postgraduate Scholarship at University of Edinburgh covers full tuition fees for the duration of the programme, with a deadline of 28 May 2026.
• Commonwealth Master's and PhD Scholarships for Developing Commonwealth Countries (DFID) pays airfare, tuition and examination fees, a monthly stipend and a study travel grant, with a deadline of 20 Oct 2026.
• TaiwanICDF International Higher Education Scholarship Program (ICDF/Taiwan Gov't) covers return airfare, housing, tuition, insurance, textbooks and a monthly allowance, with a deadline of 15 March 2027.

Full tuition only

• Karolinska Institutet Global Master’s Scholarships for Non-EU/EEA Students covers the tuition fee only, with a deadline window of 8 to 24 February 2027.
• Uppsala University Global Scholarships for Master's Study in Sweden covers the full tuition fee and not living costs, with a deadline of 15 January 2027.
• VU Amsterdam Fellowship Programme (VUFP) for International Master's Students covers tuition fees, with a deadline of 1 February 2027.

Partial tuition and smaller grants

• Developing Solutions Scholarships at University of Nottingham for Master's Study covers 50 to 100% of tuition fees, with a deadline of 15 April 2026.
• Wells Mountain Foundation Empowerment Through Education Scholarships for Developing Country Students pays between $300 and $3000 a year towards tuition, books and related costs, with a deadline of 1 March 2026.
• UCL Global Undergraduate Scholarships for International Students offers full tuition and maintenance awards and full tuition awards, with a deadline of 27 Apr 2026.

Which awards actually fit medicine, pharmacy, dental and veterinary study

Few listings carry the word medicine in the title, so match on subject and level instead. The table below shows how the main examples line up.

For pharmacy and dental applicants, the same logic applies: an award open to any field can fund a pharmacy or dental hygiene degree if the host university offers it. Check the host's programme list before you spend time on the application. The List of Medicine Scholarships, Grants, and Fellowships for International Students and the wider List of Health Scholarships, Grants, and Fellowships for International Students are the closest subject filters we hold.

Who qualifies for a medical scholarship

Eligibility differs by award, but the checks below cover most of what trips applicants up.

• Nationality and residence. Several awards are tied to developing countries or to non-EU/EEA status. The Karolinska award, for example, is for non-EU/EEA students.
• Level and subject. Confirm that the award accepts your degree level and that your programme is on the host's list.
• Admission first. Most university awards require you to hold an offer or to have applied to the programme before the scholarship deadline.
• Academic record. Transcripts and, for postgraduate medicine, proof of your prior clinical or research training.
• Language score. An English or local-language test result within the validity window the host sets.
• Financial need or development criteria. Some awards ask for a statement of need or a plan to return and work in your home country.

If a listing does not state a criterion, the official page has the current rule. Do not assume a rule carries over from a previous round.

How to apply, step by step

1. Pick your level and subject, then shortlist three to five awards from the filtered list for this page.
2. Read the official page for each one and note the exact deadline and time zone.
3. Apply to the degree programme first where the scholarship requires an offer.
4. Collect transcripts, degree certificates, language scores and passport details.
5. Draft the motivation letter around your clinical or research plans, not your childhood dream.
6. Ask two referees early and give them your CV and the award name.
7. Submit before the deadline and keep the confirmation email.

Work backwards from the deadline. If an award closes in February, your programme application and referees need to be moving in the months before that. Our scholarship tips cover letters and referees in more detail.

Documents to prepare before a deadline

• Academic transcripts and degree certificates, translated if the host asks.
• Language test result within the validity period.
• Passport or national ID.
• Curriculum vitae, including clinical placements or research.
• Motivation letter or statement of purpose.
• Two academic or professional references.
• Research proposal, for research master's and PhD awards.
• Proof of admission or application, where required.

Scan everything to PDF at the start, name the files clearly, and keep one folder per award. Missing documents are the most common reason an otherwise strong application is dropped.

How selection works

Most panels weigh three things: whether you meet the hard criteria, whether your academic record clears the bar, and whether your stated plans match the award's purpose. A development-focused award will favour a plan to use the training at home. A university award will favour a strong fit with that department.

Some awards add an interview or a nomination step through your home institution. Where that applies, the internal deadline is earlier than the published one. Ask your faculty office whether they nominate candidates.

Who these medical scholarships suit, and who should look elsewhere

Good fit: graduates heading into a master's or PhD in medicine, public health or a related science; students from developing countries eligible for the Commonwealth and Wells Mountain awards; undergraduates who can move to a host that offers a full tuition award.

Look elsewhere: applicants who need full living costs covered by an award that pays tuition only, such as the Uppsala or Karolinska awards; students who want funding for the first clinical years of an MBBS at a university with no undergraduate award on this list; anyone who cannot meet a language or admission condition in time.

Common mistakes with medical scholarship applications

• Applying to a tuition-only award without a plan for living costs.
• Missing the programme application deadline that sits before the scholarship deadline.
• Reusing a motivation letter that names the wrong university.
• Ignoring country-specific eligibility, such as non-EU/EEA or developing-country rules.
• Submitting transcripts without the required translation.
• Waiting for referees in the final week.
• Treating a past round's date as this year's deadline.

Alternatives if the medicine awards do not fit

Widen the field before you give up on funding. Awards open to any subject can pay for a health-related degree, and country pages show what is available in a specific destination. Try Scholarships in United Kingdom, Scholarships in Sweden or Scholarships in the Netherlands for the hosts named above.

Distance and online awards are another route, especially for working clinicians. The Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships for Developing Commonwealth Countries and the Edinburgh Global Online Distance Learning Scholarships at University of Edinburgh both cover tuition for online study. The List of Any field of study Scholarships, Grants, and Fellowships for International Students is the broadest fallback, and all guides explain how to compare offers.