The Cardiff University international excellence scholarship (full name: Undergraduate International Excellence Scholarship) is a £10,000 discount on first-year tuition for international students starting a full-time bachelor’s degree at Cardiff, Wales, in autumn 2027. Cardiff offers nine of these awards. The money comes off your fee bill only; there is no cash payment, and it does not continue after year one.
You cannot apply until you hold an offer. Cardiff then emails eligible offer holders an invitation to a one-question application form, which must be in by 23:59 UK time on Friday 2 April 2027. Medicine, dentistry and the healthcare degrees are excluded, and the award is not fully funded, so you still need to show the UK visa office that you can pay the rest yourself.
Cardiff University international excellence scholarship 2027 in brief
| Detail | 2027 entry |
|---|---|
| Number of awards | 9 |
| Value | £10,000, first year only |
| Form | Tuition fee discount; no cash alternative, cannot be used for a deposit |
| Intake | Autumn (September) 2027, full time on the Cardiff campus |
| Application | One question, 300 words maximum, by email invitation |
| Deadline | 23:59 UK time, Friday 2 April 2027 (22:59 GMT, as UK clocks are on summer time) |
| Decision to accept | Within 14 days of the award, or it may go to someone else |
Cardiff’s pages also use the name Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholarship in places, and one eligibility line still says autumn 2026. The 2027 terms, updated on 26 August 2026, and the deadline make clear that this round is for September 2027 entry.
Who is eligible
- You are classed as an international student for fee purposes. Your fee status is in your offer letter; if a fee query moves you to home fees, you lose eligibility.
- You pay for yourself. You may take an education loan, but not a grant, bursary or sponsorship that you do not repay, and not a sponsor who is invoiced for your fees.
- You hold an offer for an eligible undergraduate degree at the time you apply.
- You meet the original, published entry requirements. If Cardiff admits you below them, you are still ineligible.
- You will study full time on the Cardiff campus, starting in autumn 2027.
- You are not on a semester or year abroad from another university, and you are not repeating a year.
Firm choice rule
Conditional offer holders must make Cardiff their firm choice by the UCAS deadline and meet every condition, including English, by 31 August 2027. Unconditional offer holders must also make Cardiff their firm choice. Anyone who puts Cardiff as their insurance choice is ineligible. If you defer to 2028, the award does not move with you, but you can apply again for 2028/29.
Excluded programmes
All undergraduate courses in the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Healthcare are left out. That covers:
| School | Programmes excluded |
|---|---|
| Dentistry | Dental Hygiene (DipHE), Dental Surgery (BDS), Dental Therapy and Dental Hygiene (BSc) |
| Medicine | Medicine (MBBCh), Medicine: Graduate Entry (MBBCh) |
| Healthcare | Nursing (Adult, Child, Mental Health) (BN), Diagnostic Radiography and Imaging (BSc), Midwifery (BMid), Occupational Therapy (BSc), Physiotherapy (BSc), Radiotherapy and Oncology (BSc) |
If you change to an excluded programme after enrolling, you lose the award.
How to apply
- Apply for your degree: international applicants apply through UCAS and need an offer before anything else happens.
- Wait for the invitation: Cardiff emails eligible offer holders a link to the scholarship form. If you think you qualify and have no email, write to InternationalScholarships@cardiff.ac.uk.
- Answer the one question: in 300 words or fewer, say what specific achievements, actions or evidence show you deserve the award. Anything past 300 words is ignored.
- Submit before 2 April 2027, 23:59 UK time: Cardiff accepts no late applications. Allow up to 10 working days for review.
- Firm your offer: make Cardiff your firm choice on UCAS by the deadline.
- Accept within 14 days: if you win, reply quickly or the award may be reassigned.
Cardiff assesses your scholarship answer, your academic application and your predicted and final grades. With 300 words, I would skip a life story and give three or four concrete results: a class rank, a competition placing, a project you ran, with numbers and dates.
Is the Cardiff University international excellence scholarship fully funded?
No. It is a one-off £10,000 discount in year one. You pay the rest of first-year tuition, all later years, and your living costs. Cardiff’s terms also say you must meet UK visa financial rules on your own, without relying on the scholarship alone.
You cannot hold it alongside any other scholarship, bursary or fee discount, so if Cardiff or a sponsor offers you a different award, compare the two before you accept. For more UK and European options, see our list of scholarships in Europe.
The full timeline, from UCAS to enrolment
Because the scholarship sits on top of your degree application, the real work starts months before the scholarship form appears. Here is how the 2027 cycle lines up.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| By 13 January 2027, 18:00 UK time | UCAS equal consideration deadline for most 2027 courses. Applying by then gives you the best chance of an early offer. |
| Once you hold an offer | Cardiff emails eligible offer holders the scholarship form link |
| 2 April 2027, 23:59 UK time | Scholarship deadline |
| Up to 10 working days after you submit | Cardiff’s stated review time for applications |
| Within 14 days of an award | Accept, or the award may be reallocated |
| Your UCAS reply date | Make Cardiff your firm choice |
| 31 August 2027 | All offer conditions, including English, must be met |
| September 2027 | Enrol; £10,000 comes off your first-year fee |
The UCAS date comes from UCAS’s own 2027 entry calendar. Universities may still consider applications after it, but a late UCAS application leaves you less time to get an offer before 2 April.
How to write the 300-word Cardiff scholarship answer
The form asks one thing: what specific achievements, actions or evidence show you should receive the scholarship. Cardiff reads this alongside your UCAS application and grades, and says applicants must show academic potential. Nine awards across every eligible degree means the panel reads many strong answers, so specifics beat adjectives.
A simple structure
- One line on your course (about 30 words): the degree you hold an offer for and the one thing that drew you to it.
- Three pieces of evidence (about 200 words): each with a number, a date or a named result. Grades and rank, a competition or olympiad, a project, research, a leadership role with an outcome.
- What you will do at Cardiff (about 70 words): a society, a research group, a module or an outreach plan, tied to the evidence you just gave.
A sample opening
“I hold an offer for BSc Computer Science. In my final school year I ranked first of 142 students in mathematics, placed in the top 50 of my country’s national olympiad, and built a free revision app that 600 classmates used before their exams.”
That is 45 words and already carries three checkable facts. Swap in your own; never borrow numbers. Leave out hardship stories unless they directly explain an achievement, because this is a merit award, not a need-based one.
Eligibility edge cases
- Government or employer sponsorship: any non-repayable funding from a government, charity or company makes you ineligible. A bank or family loan is fine.
- Foundation year or international year one: the award is for an eligible undergraduate degree on the Cardiff campus. If your route starts with a pathway programme, ask InternationalScholarships@cardiff.ac.uk whether your course counts before relying on it.
- Admitted below the published grades: ineligible, even if Cardiff confirms your place.
- Fee status unclear: students with UK residence history or settled status may be classed as home. Settle fee status first, since a change to home fees ends eligibility.
- Deferring to 2028: the 2027 award does not carry over; you reapply in the 2028 round.
- Switching courses later: moving into Dentistry, Medicine or Healthcare after enrolling cancels the award.
Common mistakes
- Waiting for the email without checking spam folders, then missing the April deadline. If nothing has arrived by early March and you hold an offer, write to the scholarships team.
- Writing 450 words. Cardiff ignores everything after 300.
- Listing qualities (“hardworking, passionate, resilient”) instead of results.
- Choosing Cardiff as insurance rather than firm, which voids the award.
- Missing the 14-day acceptance window because the offer email went to an old address.
- Planning the visa budget as if the £10,000 removes the need to show funds. It reduces what you owe Cardiff, but you still need the rest of the fee and living costs.
Costs the scholarship does not cover
After the £10,000 comes off, you still pay the following yourself:
- The balance of first-year tuition, and full tuition for every later year. International fees differ by course, so check the fee on your course page.
- Any tuition deposit Cardiff asks for. The scholarship cannot be used in place of it.
- Living costs. For Student visa applications made from 30 November 2026, the Home Office maintenance figure for study outside London is £1,203 a month for up to nine months, which is £10,827.
- The visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, both paid when you apply for the visa.
- Flights, accommodation deposits, course materials and any placement year costs.
Confirm the current visa fee, surcharge and maintenance amounts on GOV.UK on the day you apply, since the Home Office changes them from time to time.
What happens after you apply
Cardiff reviews the form together with your academic application and your predicted or achieved grades, and says to allow up to 10 working days. Cardiff does not publish a single results date. If you win, you get an award notice and have 14 days to accept. If you hold a conditional offer, the award only becomes final when you meet every condition by 31 August 2027 and enrol in September. The discount then appears on your first-year fee invoice.
How it compares with other UK and international awards
| Scholarship | Value | Level | How you get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff Undergraduate International Excellence | £10,000 off year one | Undergraduate | Invitation to offer holders, 300-word answer |
| Manchester Global Futures Scholarship | £10,000 to £36,000 tuition discount | Undergraduate and postgraduate, 23 countries | Regional deadlines |
| UCB Vice-Chancellor’s Award | Full first-year tuition | Undergraduate and postgraduate | 144 UCAS points or a first, 500-word statement |
| Lester B. Pearson (Toronto) | Tuition, books, fees and residence for four years | Undergraduate | School nomination only |
Who should apply, and who should not
Apply if you are a self-funded international student with an offer for a non-health degree at Cardiff, your grades meet or beat the published entry requirements, and you have concrete achievements to point to. The form is short, so there is little reason not to try once you are invited.
Do not count on it if you need full funding to enrol. Nine awards worth £10,000 each will not make a UK degree affordable on their own. Students on government or employer sponsorship, applicants to Medicine, Dentistry or Healthcare, and anyone using Cardiff as an insurance choice cannot hold it.
FAQ on the Cardiff University international excellence scholarship
How much is the Cardiff University international excellence scholarship?
£10,000, taken off your first-year tuition fee. It is paid once, with no cash alternative.
Can medical students get the Cardiff undergraduate excellence scholarship?
No. Medicine, dentistry, nursing and the other healthcare degrees in those three schools are excluded.
When is the Cardiff international excellence scholarship deadline for 2027?
23:59 UK time on Friday 2 April 2027. Late applications are not accepted.
Do I need an offer before applying for the Cardiff scholarship?
Yes. Only offer holders receive the email invitation to the scholarship form, and you must make Cardiff your firm choice.
Sources and updates
Facts come from Cardiff University’s Undergraduate International Excellence Scholarships page and its 2027 terms and eligibility criteria (last updated 26 August 2026). The 13 January 2027 date is from UCAS’s 2027 entry deadline listing. The £1,203 monthly maintenance figure comes from the Home Office Statement of Changes as summarised by ApplyBoard; confirm it on GOV.UK before you apply for a visa. Information checked on 24 October 2026.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
