Why Study Medicine or Public Health in the UK?

The UK has a large higher-education and research sector covering medicine, biomedical sciences, epidemiology, health economics, infectious diseases, global health and health policy.

For international students, studying in the UK can provide access to academic training, research facilities and professional networks. Public-health programmes can also be relevant to applicants working in ministries of health, hospitals, NGOs, international development organisations, research institutions and community health programmes.

Possible areas of study include:

Medicine
Public Health
Global Health
Epidemiology
Tropical Medicine
Health Economics
Health Policy
Health Data Science
Clinical Research
Infectious Disease Research
Population Health
Healthcare Management
Biomedical Sciences
Medical Statistics
Pharmaceutical Sciences

The funding landscape is particularly strong at postgraduate level. For example, the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship programme’s 2026 approved courses included public health, global health policy, clinical research, respiratory medicine, medical statistics, infectious diseases and population health programmes at universities across the UK.

Types of UK Scholarships Available

International students should understand the difference between the main types of funding.

Fully funded scholarships

A fully funded scholarship may cover several components, such as:

Full tuition fees
Living allowance
Airfare
Visa-related costs
Health-related immigration costs
Study or research allowances

However, “fully funded” does not necessarily mean every personal expense will be covered.

Full tuition scholarships

These awards cover tuition but may leave the student responsible for accommodation, food, transportation and other living expenses.

Partial tuition scholarships

A scholarship may deduct a fixed amount from international tuition fees. For example, some GREAT Scholarships provide £10,000 toward tuition, while the Imperial College London GREAT award for 2026 is worth £15,000.

University bursaries and studentships

These are often attached to a particular course, department, faculty or research area.

Commonwealth Scholarships for Public Health

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) provides several scholarship programmes for eligible applicants from Commonwealth countries.

For public-health applicants, the Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are particularly relevant because the 2026 approved-course list includes numerous health-related master’s degrees.

Examples include:

MSc Public Health and Health Promotion at Bangor University
MPH Public Health at Newcastle University
MPH Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast
MPH Public Health at the University of Glasgow
MPH Public Health at the University of Leeds
MPH Public Health at the University of Warwick
MPH Public Health (International) at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
MPhil Population Health Sciences at Cambridge
MSc Global Health Science and Epidemiology at Oxford
MSc Global Health and Development at UCL
MSc Respiratory Medicine at Birmingham
MSc Emerging Infections and Pandemics at Liverpool.

For the 2026/27 cycle, Commonwealth Shared Scholarships were intended for master’s study beginning in September/October 2026. The CSC states that candidates generally needed to be citizens or refugees of an eligible Commonwealth country, permanently resident in an eligible Commonwealth country, hold the required first degree and demonstrate that they could not otherwise afford the UK study.

The 2026/27 application round is now closed, but the programme is important for applicants planning future Commonwealth scholarship cycles.

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission – Scholarships and Fellowships

Chevening Scholarships

The Chevening Scholarship is one of the UK’s major government-funded scholarship programmes for international students pursuing eligible one-year master’s degrees.

It can be particularly relevant to public-health professionals who already have professional experience and want to develop leadership skills in areas such as:

Health policy
Global health
Public administration
Healthcare management
Development
International health systems

According to Chevening’s eligibility requirements, applicants must be citizens of a Chevening-eligible country or territory, have at least two years of eligible work experience, hold an undergraduate degree that qualifies them for a UK master’s programme and apply to three eligible UK university courses. They must also commit to returning to their country of award for at least two years after the scholarship ends.

Chevening applicants should therefore consider not only the academic relevance of their proposed degree but also how their professional experience and future plans connect to their home country’s development.

The UK government’s international postgraduate scholarship guidance also identifies Chevening and Commonwealth scholarships as major routes for international students.

Chevening – Eligibility Criteria

GREAT Scholarships

The GREAT Scholarships programme is another important source of UK postgraduate funding.

For the 2026/27 academic year, more than 140 scholarships were available through more than 60 UK universities. Awards are generally worth £10,000 toward tuition fees, although individual university awards can differ.

GREAT Scholarships are available to students from a defined list of countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Egypt and several others.

GREAT Scholarships and medicine

This programme is especially relevant to health-related applicants because participating universities include institutions with medicine and public-health programmes.

For example, Imperial College London’s 2026 GREAT Scholarship is worth £15,000 toward tuition fees and is available to eligible applicants from France, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria studying eligible one-year full-time master’s programmes. Imperial’s eligible academic areas include the School of Public Health.

UCL also offered GREAT Scholarships worth £10,000 for eligible Nigerian and Pakistani students undertaking full-time postgraduate taught master’s programmes for 2026/27.

Brunel University London’s 2026 GREAT Scholarship included MSc Public Health and Health Promotion among its eligible programmes for students from Nigeria, China and Vietnam.

Study UK – GREAT Scholarships

LSHTM Scholarships for International Students

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is particularly relevant to students searching for UK scholarships for medicine and public health.

Its programmes cover areas such as:

Public health
Epidemiology
Tropical medicine
Infectious diseases
Global health
Health policy
Health data
Disease control

LSHTM Fund Scholarship

For 2026/27, LSHTM offered one LSHTM Fund Scholarship for an applicant intending to study a one-year, full-time London-based MSc.

The award includes:

Overseas tuition fees
Mandatory field-trip fees
A tax-free £22,000 living allowance.

The scholarship is aimed at an excellent candidate who would otherwise be unable to take up their place because of financial constraints.

GSK Scholarships for Future Health Leaders

LSHTM also offered three GSK Scholarships for Future Health Leaders for 2026/27.

Each scholarship covered:

Tuition fees
Mandatory field-trip fees
A tax-free £22,000 living allowance.

The programme was designed for applicants from sub-Saharan Africa who intended to return to the region after completing their MSc. Applicants needed an eligible first degree and an offer for an eligible LSHTM London-based intensive MSc.

The scholarship also placed emphasis on applicants who could make significant contributions to public health or health-related research in Africa.

LSHTM – Funding Scholarships

Imperial College London Scholarships

Imperial College London has several funding opportunities relevant to medicine, public health and health-related research.

The university’s School of Public Health offers scholarships for postgraduate programmes such as:

Master of Public Health
MSc Epidemiology
MSc Health Data Analytics and Machine Learning

For the 2026 entry cycle, Imperial stated that its School of Public Health scholarships could be available to UK, EU and overseas candidates. For on-campus programmes, some awards covered tuition at the home-student rate, meaning overseas recipients could still have a remaining tuition balance. The School also offered a full-fee scholarship for its online Master of Public Health programme.

This illustrates an important distinction for international applicants: a scholarship can be substantial without being fully funded.

Applicants should therefore calculate the remaining tuition balance and living expenses before accepting an award.

Imperial also advertised a £10,000 scholarship contribution for its MRes in Epidemiology, Evolution and Control of Infectious Diseases for October 2026 entry.

Imperial College London – School of Public Health Scholarships

UCL Scholarships for Public Health

University College London has a broad selection of funding opportunities for students interested in population health, global health and public health.

Its Institute for Global Health lists funding options including:

Institute for Global Health Postgraduate Bursaries
African Graduate Scholarship
GREAT Scholarship
Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme
Office of Health Economics Fellowship
Other external funding opportunities.

African Graduate Scholarship

For the MSc Global Health and Development, UCL listed an African Graduate Scholarship worth £40,670 for one year of full-time study for the 2026/27 academic year. The scholarship was assessed using academic merit and financial need.

Institute for Global Health Postgraduate Bursaries

UCL also listed £2,000 postgraduate bursaries for eligible MSc applicants in areas including:

Global Health and Development
Health Economics and Decision Science
Applied Infectious Diseases Epidemiology
Global Mental Health.

Dental Public Health scholarship

UCL’s Aubrey Sheiham Scholarship for overseas students undertaking the MSc Dental Public Health was worth £12,000 for one year. The award was intended for full-time overseas students in financial need, although recipients were expected to cover remaining tuition and living costs.

Oxford Clarendon Scholarships

The Clarendon Scholarship at the University of Oxford is another major funding route for international postgraduate students.

Oxford states that Clarendon scholarships are open across subject areas and to candidates applying for eligible new master’s and DPhil programmes by the relevant December or January admissions deadline.

For full-time scholars, Clarendon provides:

Full course-fee coverage
An annual living-cost grant

The scholarship has no nationality or ordinary-residence restriction.

This makes Clarendon potentially relevant to international applicants pursuing health-related graduate programmes at Oxford, provided their particular course qualifies.

Importantly, applicants do not submit a separate Clarendon scholarship application. They must apply for their Oxford graduate course by the relevant funding deadline to be automatically considered.

University of Oxford – Clarendon Scholarships

Cambridge Trust Scholarships

The Cambridge Trust provides funding opportunities for international students at the University of Cambridge.

The Cambridge International Scholarship is available to applicants from countries outside the UK and Ireland who are highly ranked by their prospective departments.

The award can cover:

International tuition fees
Annual maintenance
Student visa costs
Immigration Health Surcharge
Additional benefits.

The Cambridge Trust states that applicants need to submit their admission application by the relevant funding deadline and indicate that they wish to be considered for funding. A conditional offer is required for Trust funding consideration.

For health-focused applicants, prospective students should search Cambridge’s current postgraduate course directory and scholarship database to identify programmes and awards relevant to medicine, population health or biomedical research.

Cambridge Trust – Find a Scholarship

Scholarships for Medical and Health-Related Research

International students interested in medicine should not search only for scholarships containing the word “medicine.”

Many valuable awards are attached to related disciplines, including:

Epidemiology
Biomedical research
Medical statistics
Health data science
Infectious diseases
Global health
Population health
Tropical medicine
Clinical research
Pharmaceutical science
Health economics

The Commonwealth Shared Scholarship list demonstrates this broad funding landscape, with approved health programmes ranging from respiratory medicine and clinical research to global health and epidemiology.

This approach can significantly expand the number of relevant opportunities an applicant finds.

Who Can Apply?

Eligibility depends on the individual scholarship, but international applicants may commonly need:

An eligible nationality
A relevant undergraduate degree
Strong academic results
Admission or an offer from a UK university
Evidence of English-language proficiency where required
Relevant professional experience for certain awards
Leadership or community involvement for some scholarships
A strong personal statement
Academic or professional references

For example, Chevening requires at least two years of eligible work experience, while some university scholarships focus primarily on academic achievement and financial need.

Documents You May Need

Prepare your scholarship documents before application deadlines.

Common requirements include:

Academic documents

Degree certificate
Academic transcripts
Professional qualifications
Research publications, where applicable

Identity documents

Passport
National identification document where required

English-language evidence

IELTS, TOEFL or another accepted qualification where required

Professional documents

CV
Employment history
Professional registration where relevant

Application documents

Personal statement
Study plan
Research proposal for research programmes
Scholarship essays
Academic references
Professional references

Applicants for medical programmes may also need professional registration or evidence of clinical qualifications, depending on the course.

How to Find Suitable Scholarships

A successful funding search should begin with the course, not just the scholarship.

Start by identifying several UK programmes that match your academic and professional background.

Then check:

International tuition fee
Course duration
Scholarship eligibility
Scholarship value
Application deadline
Whether admission is required first
Whether the scholarship covers living expenses
Whether the programme is full-time or part-time
Whether the scholarship applies to overseas students

Use official scholarship databases and university funding pages rather than relying exclusively on social-media posts or third-party scholarship websites.

The UK government’s postgraduate scholarship guidance is a useful starting point for identifying major government-backed options.

How to Improve Your Scholarship Application

A strong scholarship application should explain more than why you want to study in the UK.

It should establish a logical connection between your:

Past → Proposed study → Future impact

For example:

A public-health professional may explain how their previous experience exposed a specific healthcare challenge, how an MSc in epidemiology or global health will provide the technical skills needed to address that challenge, and how they intend to apply those skills after returning home.

Evidence is important.

Instead of simply writing:

“I am passionate about public health.”

Explain what you have actually done.

Examples could include:

Working on disease-prevention programmes
Supporting vaccination campaigns
Conducting community health research
Working in a hospital
Managing health projects
Publishing research
Supporting vulnerable populations
Developing health education programmes

The strongest applications usually demonstrate a credible connection between education, experience and future objectives.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Applying without checking nationality requirements

Some scholarships are restricted to specific countries.

Assuming every scholarship is fully funded

A £10,000 or £15,000 award may cover only part of an international student’s tuition.

Ignoring the admission deadline

Some scholarships require applicants to hold an offer before funding can be considered.

Applying for the wrong academic level

A scholarship for a one-year master’s degree will not normally fund an undergraduate medical degree.

Waiting until the final day

University scholarship deadlines can differ considerably from general university admission deadlines.

Using outdated scholarship information

Funding programmes change frequently. Always verify the current scholarship year, eligibility criteria and closing date on the official provider’s website.

Can International Students Get Fully Funded Medical Scholarships?

Yes, fully funded opportunities exist for international students in health-related fields, but fully funded undergraduate medicine scholarships are considerably more limited than postgraduate public-health and research funding.

Many prominent UK scholarships concentrate on master’s, doctoral or research-level study.

For example, the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship programme is specifically for master’s courses, while Clarendon supports eligible master’s and DPhil study.

Students seeking undergraduate medicine should therefore search specifically for:

International undergraduate scholarships
Medical school bursaries
University-specific awards
Country-specific scholarships
External charitable funding
Government sponsorship programmes

Students seeking postgraduate medicine or public health have a broader scholarship landscape.

Funding Beyond Tuition Fees

Tuition is only one part of the cost of studying in the UK.

International students should budget for:

Accommodation
Food
Transportation
Books and equipment
Visa costs
Immigration-related charges
Health-related immigration costs where applicable
Flights
Personal expenses

A scholarship that covers tuition but not living costs can still leave a substantial financial requirement.

For example, Imperial’s School of Public Health explicitly notes that some overseas scholarship recipients may need to pay the difference between the home-rate scholarship contribution and the overseas tuition fee.

By contrast, some major awards such as Cambridge International Scholarships and Oxford Clarendon provide both tuition-related and living-cost support.

UK Student Visa and Financial Planning

Receiving a scholarship does not automatically mean that every UK student-visa requirement disappears.

Students should check the current UK government immigration requirements before submitting a visa application.

The scholarship award letter can be important evidence when determining how much funding is already covered, but applicants should carefully review their individual circumstances and the current requirements.

GOV.UK – Student Visa Guidance

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best UK scholarships for public health international students?

Relevant options include Commonwealth Scholarships, Chevening, GREAT Scholarships and university-specific awards at institutions such as LSHTM, Imperial College London, UCL, Oxford and Cambridge. Eligibility varies by nationality, programme and academic level.

Can Nigerian students apply for UK medicine and public-health scholarships?

Yes. Nigerian applicants are eligible for a number of UK scholarship programmes, depending on the specific award. Nigeria is included among the countries eligible for the 2026/27 GREAT Scholarship programme, and Imperial and UCL are among participating institutions.

Is LSHTM suitable for public-health scholarship applicants?

Yes. LSHTM offers a range of public-health and global-health programmes and has dedicated scholarship opportunities. Its 2026/27 funding included the LSHTM Fund Scholarship and GSK Scholarships for Future Health Leaders.

Does Chevening fund medicine?

Chevening funds eligible one-year UK master’s programmes rather than undergraduate medical degrees. Applicants must independently confirm that their chosen programme meets Chevening’s course eligibility requirements.

Can I get a scholarship for an MPH in the UK?

Yes. Several universities offer scholarships or bursaries connected with Master of Public Health and related programmes. Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, Imperial scholarships, LSHTM funding and other university-specific awards are examples.

Are UK public-health scholarships fully funded?

Some are, while others are partial. Applicants should examine whether an award covers tuition, living expenses, travel, visa costs and other expenses before considering it fully funded.

Do I need admission before applying for a scholarship?

It depends on the scholarship. Some require an offer before funding consideration, while others automatically consider applicants who submit a qualifying university application by the funding deadline. Oxford’s Clarendon Scholarship, for example, automatically considers eligible applicants who apply for graduate study by the relevant deadline.

Final Thoughts

Finding UK scholarships for medicine and public health requires more than searching for a single fully funded award. International students should compare government scholarships, university funding, public-health-specific awards and country-specific programmes.

For public-health applicants, the Commonwealth Scholarship programme, LSHTM, Imperial College London and UCL provide particularly relevant routes. GREAT Scholarships can also provide significant tuition assistance for eligible nationalities, while Oxford Clarendon and Cambridge Trust funding can offer broader postgraduate support.

Students should also remember that 2026 scholarship deadlines vary widely, and several awards for September/October 2026 entry have already closed. Rather than relying on old scholarship lists, prospective applicants should monitor official university and scholarship pages for the next available cycle.

The most practical strategy is to identify suitable courses first, calculate the total cost of attendance, shortlist scholarships that match your nationality and academic level, and prepare application materials well before the relevant deadlines.

For official information, start with:

GOV.UK – Postgraduate Scholarships for International Students

Chevening Scholarships

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

Study UK – GREAT Scholarships

LSHTM Funding and Scholarships

Imperial College London Scholarships

UCL Scholarships and Funding

University of Oxford – Clarendon Scholarships

Cambridge Trust Scholarships