What UCD Global Excellence Scholarship Ireland actually covers.
The University College Dublin (UCD) Global Excellence Scholarship Programme provides 50% and 100% tuition fee scholarships to exceptional international students from outside the EU/EEA who are applying to undergraduate or graduate taught (master's) programmes at Ireland's largest university. UCD is ranked #176 globally by QS and is a member of Universitas 21 — an elite global network of leading research-intensive universities. The scholarship is particularly well-known among students from the Middle East, Africa, and South/Southeast Asia, and UCD specifically markets the award as a pathway for talented African students to access world-class Irish higher education. UCD receives a substantial number of applications from across sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the broader African continent each year. For graduate (master's) applicants, 100% awards cover the full master's tuition fee for one year, while 50% awards provide half the tuition fee. Both are based entirely on academic merit and are awarded at the time of admission offer without the need for a separate application form. The deadline for the 2026/27 cycle for the Middle East, Africa, and Pakistan region was February 28, 2026 — with the 2027/28 round expected to open October 2026 and close February 2027. Dublin is one of Europe's fastest-growing tech hubs, and UCD's strong ties to multinationals like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn create exceptional internship and employment pathways for African graduates.
Who can apply.
Open to undergraduate, masters applicants seeking to study in Ireland. Eligible nationalities are listed below.
46 more eligible countries — full list available on the official application page.
Every academic discipline is accepted.
This programme does not restrict by field. Research proposals across humanities, sciences, engineering, agriculture, and medicine are all accepted.
Four steps to a complete application.
Scholar Africa is a discovery and tracking platform — the application itself is submitted directly through the official provider site. The steps below mirror our HowTo schema.
Check eligibility
Confirm your nationality, academic level, and field of study match the criteria above.
Eligibility checklist
Prepare documents
Transcripts, recommendation letters, personal statement, and a valid passport.
Document checklist
Submit the application
Submit before February 28, 2027 via the official portal.
Submission checklist
Track your application
Use your Scholar Africa dashboard to monitor status and deadline reminders.
Post-submission checklist
What we checked, when we checked it.
Every scholarship on Scholar Africa goes through six checks (link, contact, organisation, winners, third-party, manual review). UCD Global Excellence Scholarship Ireland currently scores 0.0/10.
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Other scholarships worth a parallel application.
Same eligibility window or destination. Many strong applicants apply to three or four programmes per cycle.