Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship 2027: 50% to 100% Tuition, Eligibility and Deadline

The Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship pays 50% or 100% of master’s tuition fees at the University of Nottingham, UK, for students who live in Africa, India or a set list of Commonwealth countries and territories. It is for full-time master’s degrees, including the MRes, in the Faculties of Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, and Social Sciences. The university started the programme in 2001 for students who plan to use their degree to solve a development problem in their home country.

The 2026 round closed on 15 April 2026. The deadline for September 2027 entry is 15 April 2027, and you need a Nottingham offer before you can apply. The award covers tuition only, for one year, with no stipend. I checked every rule below against the University of Nottingham scholarship pages, guidance notes and FAQs on 25 October 2026.

Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship at a glance

Nottingham does not publish how many awards it makes each year or how many are at 100% rather than 50%.

What the scholarship covers, and what it does not

The award is taken off your tuition fee. Nottingham never pays it to you directly. A 100% award clears the full-time master’s fee for one year; a 50% award halves it. If your master’s runs for two years, the scholarship covers the first year’s tuition only and you pay the second year yourself.

Even on a 100% award, these costs stay with you:

• Rent, food, transport and study costs in Nottingham for the whole year
• The university’s application fee, which must be paid before your course application is assessed
• The Student visa fee, which UK universities quote at £524 for 2026
• The Immigration Health Surcharge, quoted at £776 per year of visa leave
• Flights, English tests, transcripts and courier fees

For the visa you must show your unpaid tuition plus living costs held for 28 days. Swansea University’s September 2026 visa guidance gives the figure outside London as £1,171 a month (£10,539 for a course of nine months or more) before 30 November 2026, and £1,203 a month (£10,827) after that date. Nottingham is outside London, so a 2027 applicant on a 100% award still needs about £10,827 in the bank, and a 50% winner needs that plus half the fee. GOV.UK sets the official amounts, so check there before you move money.

Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship eligibility

You must meet all of these conditions on the official page:

1. Domicile: you live in Africa, India or one of the listed Commonwealth countries or territories.
2. Fee status: Nottingham classes you as an overseas student for fee purposes.
3. Offer: you hold an offer for a full-time master’s or MRes starting in September 2027 at the UK campus.
4. Faculty: the course sits in Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, or Social Sciences.

Who is ruled out

• Current students and graduates of the University of Nottingham.
• Anyone who studied for and was awarded an undergraduate or postgraduate degree outside their home country. Nottingham looks at cases one by one where that degree was earned in another Developing Solutions country.
• Anyone currently studying in the UK.
• Arts students. The Faculty of Arts is not on the list.

Note the word domiciled. Several listing sites say the award is for “nationals” of these countries, but the official rule is where you live. A Ghanaian citizen living and working in Germany would struggle to qualify, while a citizen of another country who has made a long-term home in Kenya may qualify. If your situation is unusual, ask Nottingham through its enquiry form before you apply.

Eligible countries for the Developing Solutions Scholarship

China, the rest of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East outside Africa are not on the list. Students from those regions should look at Nottingham’s other international master’s awards instead.

Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship deadline and key dates

(Deadline based on this year’s date; confirm on the official page when the call opens.) The six-week rule comes from Nottingham’s scholarship FAQs: your master’s application must reach the university at least six weeks before the scholarship closes, so admissions has time to make an offer. Awards are not first come, first served, because assessment starts after the closing date, but a late course application can leave you without the offer you need to apply.

How to apply for the Developing Solutions Scholarship

1. Choose an eligible course: pick a full-time master’s or MRes in one of the four faculties on the Nottingham course search.
2. Apply for the course: submit your application through NottinghamHub with transcripts, degree certificate, personal statement, references and English test result if required, and pay the application fee.
3. Wait for your offer: a conditional or unconditional offer both count. You do not need to accept the offer before applying for the scholarship.
4. Open the scholarships section: log in to NottinghamHub and start the Developing Solutions application. MRes offer holders email scholarship-assistant@nottingham.ac.uk for instructions instead.
5. Answer the questions within the word limits: each question shows its limit at the end. The system does not stop you going over, but answers above the limit may not be read.
6. Edit until the deadline: you can change your answers until the scholarship closes, then they lock.
7. Accept your offer if you win: awards go only to students who accept their place.

How to answer the development impact question

Nottingham’s guidance notes list the questions used for this award. The Developing Solutions questions are these two, alongside general questions about why you chose the programme and Nottingham:

The first question decides whether you get a full review. Nottingham says only candidates with a satisfactory answer to it go forward, and that the main criterion is your vision and tangible plan for solving an economic, environmental, structural, social or political problem at home. Your reasons for choosing Nottingham, your achievements and your academic record count after that.

A structure that works within a short word limit:

1. The problem: one local problem, with a number that shows its size.
2. The gap: the skill or knowledge you lack to fix it.
3. The course link: two or three named modules or learning outcomes that fill that gap.
4. The plan: what you will do in the first two years after graduating, with whom, and where.
5. The result: what changes, and how you would measure it.

An example opening for an MSc in Environmental Engineering applicant: “In my district, two of every three boreholes I tested in 2025 failed basic water quality limits, and most households have no other source. I want to use the water treatment and environmental monitoring modules at Nottingham to design low-cost filtration units with my local water board.” A reader sees the problem, the evidence and the link to the course in two sentences. Keep the plan realistic. A promise to end poverty in your country reads worse than a clear plan for one district.

Common mistakes that cost applicants the award

• Applying for an Arts course, or for a part-time or distance master’s.
• Sending the course application in April and missing the offer you need.
• Writing a general essay on development with no link to your course’s learning outcomes.
• Going over the word limit because the system lets you.
• Copying text from websites or other applications. Nottingham asks for your own words and may withdraw an award given on inaccurate information.
• Applying while already studying in the UK, or after earning a degree abroad.
• Planning a budget around a 100% award when you might get 50%.

What happens after you apply

Assessment starts after the closing date. Reviewers screen the development impact answer first, then fully review the shortlisted applications. Nottingham emails results once they are final, normally within six weeks of closing; in the 2026 round it promised outcomes by the end of May. If you win, the 50% or 100% discount appears on your tuition fee once you accept your place.

You may apply for more than one Nottingham scholarship if you meet each one’s rules. You can only keep one competitive university award, though. If you win two, Nottingham applies the single highest-value award and may withdraw the other. If you are unsuccessful, your course offer still stands.

Who should apply, and who should not

Apply if you live in an eligible country, have never studied for a degree abroad, want a one-year science, engineering, health or social science master’s, and have a concrete idea of how you will use it at home. People who already work on a development problem, in a ministry, NGO, hospital, utility or local business, tend to write the strongest plans.

Look elsewhere if you need a living allowance you cannot raise yourself, want an Arts degree or a PhD, or already hold a foreign degree. Fully funded schemes such as Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, which Nottingham hosts on a few master’s courses, or the options in our guide to scholarships for African students, pay living costs as well.

How it compares with similar UK scholarships

For an undergraduate option in Wales, see our guide to the Cardiff University International Excellence Scholarship.

FAQs on the Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship

Is the Nottingham Developing Solutions Scholarship fully funded?

No. Even the 100% award covers tuition only, for one year. You pay your living costs, visa and flights.

When is the Developing Solutions Scholarship deadline for 2027?

The deadline is 15 April 2027, at midnight UK time. Send your course application by early March so you have an offer in time.

Can I apply for the scholarship with a conditional offer?

Yes. Nottingham accepts scholarship applications from holders of conditional and unconditional offers, and you do not have to accept the offer before applying.

Can I apply if I studied for my first degree in another country?

Usually not. Anyone awarded a degree outside their home country is ineligible, though Nottingham considers cases where that degree came from another eligible Developing Solutions country.

Sources and updates

The value, eligibility, country list, exclusions, assessment criteria and 2026 results timing come from the University of Nottingham Developing Solutions Masters Scholarship page. The questions and word limit rules come from Nottingham’s scholarship application guidance notes, and the six-week rule, midnight closing time and stacking rule from its international scholarships FAQs. The 15 April 2026 closing date is reported by Scholars4Dev, Al-Fanar Media and Opportunities for Africans, as the official page now only says the deadline has passed. Visa figures come from Swansea University’s September 2026 visa finance guidance; confirm them on GOV.UK. Checked on 25 October 2026. I will update this page when Nottingham opens the 2027 round.

Jude Chinecherem

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.