Postgraduate degree funding

Bursaries & scholarships

Research scholarships

The major sources of merit-based awards are the two state-funded Research Councils.

The NRF (National Research Foundation) offers the following:

• Free-standing Bursaries: Local Honours
• Scarce Skills: Masters and Doctoral
• Free-Standing Prestigious Awards: Local Master's and Doctoral

For more information regarding the criteria and application requirements please check Section 1 of the booklet (see Download on the right) and also visit the National Research Foundation website.

• Form 10E NRF Honours Scholarships and Fellowships Programme 2012
  Applications close 18 May 2012


• Second Round NRF Masters Freestanding Scholarships (for South African Citizens only) 2012 Application Form 10G
  Applications have closed for 2012


• 2012 National Research Foundation (NRF) Postgraduate Conference Travel Grant Policy and Application form.


• The NRF Master's, Doctoral & Postdoctoral Renewal Call & Process


• NRF Grantholder claim form - PG001

The MRC (Medical Research Council) offers the following:

For more information regarding the requirements for the two scholarships, please visit the Medical Research Council's website.

Students who are eligible but fail to apply timeously for the appropriate Research Council bursary will not be considered for UCT bursary assistance.

Research Associateships

Research Associateships are intended to recognise the research conducted by excellent Masters & Doctoral students. For values and application procedure, please see Section 2 of the Booklet (Download at the top right).

University (UCT) Research Scholarships

UCT Research Scholarships are intended for students who are eligible for NRF (SET), NRF (SSH) and MRC bursaries but are unsuccessful with their applications.

Please refer to Booklet No.14 Financial Assistance, etc for full details.

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