The University will offer up to 40 scholarships per annum per Faculty/School to new, academically-gifted international students, up to a total of 160 new PhD students each year.

This scholarship takes the form of a tuition fee reduction for 3.5 years. If you are in receipt of this scholarship, you will pay a reduced international tuition fee. For 2026/27 entry, the reduced fee has been set at £12,400. This reduced rate is applicable to PhD programmes in the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Design, and the School of Management.

Once you have commenced studying, the tuition fees you will be required to pay will be subject to no more than 8% increase on the previous year’s fees in the first 3.5 years. If you exceed the 3.5-year period, you will be subject to the full international fee rate for the remaining period of study.

View our current tuition fees.

You can apply for this award if you are applying to any full-time PhD programme. If you are currently studying a PhD programme at the University of Bath, you are not eligible for consideration.

If you are in receipt of partial funding from an international government ministry or sponsor, you are still eligible to be considered for this scholarship.

This scholarship may not be combined with any other University of Bath or UKRI funded scholarship or studentship.

These scholarships are intended to support academically excellent applicants. In order to be considered, you must have obtained, or be predicted to obtain:

Either:

• an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honours

Or:

• a postgraduate degree equivalent to a UK Master’s degree awarded with a Distinction

If you are applying for an integrated degree, where there is a taught Master’s course or a Master’s by Research course in the first year of the programme, the scholarship will be applied to the PhD element of the programme. This means that the scholarship will be awarded in year one but applied in year two (or at the point the taught phase ends and the student progresses to the research phase).

English language requirements must be met at the point of application, at the appropriate level for the programme. Details of English entry requirements can be found on the individual programme page to which a prospective student is applying.

Conditional offers will only be issued to those applicants who are waiting for their degree to be awarded.

International applicants must satisfy all visa and immigration requirements, including successfully obtaining ATAS clearance if their offer of study confirms this is required.

Please read our ‘How to apply for doctoral study’ webpage.

On completing the online application form:

• in the ‘Funding Your Studies’ section, you must select ‘Vice Chancellor’s International Scholarship’ from one of the drop-down menus.
• in the free text box in the same section, you must confirm that you have sufficient funds to cover fees for the whole of your programme as well as living expenses, UK Student Visa costs and the Immigration Health Surcharge. We recommend that the following text is used:

“I wish to be considered for a Vice Chancellor’s International Scholarship. I understand that, if I am awarded this scholarship, I will be still charged an annual tuition fee that fee may increase by up to 8% each year for every further year of study, and that the scholarship will be tenable for up to 3.5 years. I understand that, if I do not complete my studies within 3.5 years, I will be liable to pay tuition fees at the full Overseas rate. I confirm that I have sufficient funds to cover Student visa fees, the Immigration Health Surcharge, tuition fees, and my living costs throughout the whole period of registration for the programme. I am aware that, if I accept a Vice Chancellor’s International Scholarship, I will not be able to apply for further scholarship funding from the University of Bath.”

• in the ‘Your PhD project’ section, you must quote the intended project title and the name of your intended Bath supervisor in the appropriate boxes.

Failure to complete the above steps could result in your application not being considered for this scholarship award.

We welcome applications from individuals regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, or disability status.

For more information, please visit the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpage.

If you have circumstances that you feel we should be aware of that have affected your educational attainment, then please feel free to tell us about it in your application form. The best way to do this is a short paragraph at the end of your personal statement.