University of East Anglia offers foreign students scholarship of over £33,000 to come and study

BRITAIN'S University of East Anglia (UEA) has announced scholarships worth £33,150 and offered to provide transportation expenses of up to £4,000 per year to Nigerians seeking to do masters programmes there as part of a plan to keep student numbers high.

Historically, Nigerians have always been one of the largest groups of students in Britain's universities according to figures compiled by the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency. Nigeria is the third non-European Union country with the most students in the UK, just behind China and India.

However, under controversial plans to limit the number of migrants entering the country, the UK government has placed a blanket-ban on the families of all foreign students entering the country. Nigerian students are expected to be among the most severely affected by the new law which states that only those doing postgraduate research or government-sponsored scholarship students will be exempted from the development.

This new government policy has led to a dramatic drop in foreign student numbers, leading  several universities to face serious funding problems. To combat this drop, the University of East Anglia in Norwich, has made this generous offer to Nigerian and other foreign students willing to do their masters programmes.

According to the university's website, the funding opportunity is the David Sainsbury Scholarships in Global Plant Health, which is fully funded for students planning to travel to the UK for study. Applications are for candidates wishing to undertake an MSc in Plant Health at the University of East Anglia in the 2024/25 academic year.

Among other benefits catered for in the scholarship are tuition fees, living stipends and transportation allowance. Also, the scholarship offers funding to the tune of £33,150 and transportation costs of £4,000 but interested candidates must first apply and be accepted before being considered for the scholarships, the university website said.

A university spokesman said: “Provided you meet the eligibility criteria, you will automatically be considered for the scholarship, on a competitive basis and no separate application is required. You will be evaluated for the scholarship based on the same criteria used to evaluate your application to enrol on the course.

“The criteria are academic achievement and academic awards together with knowledge/experience/potential of molecular biology, genetics, molecular interactions, data science such as bioinformatics and statistics, laboratory skills, and independent study. All self-funded Nigerian students applying to a Master’s course at UEA starting in September 2024 will automatically be awarded the UEA Nigeria Award scholarship.

“The scholarship is worth £4,000 if you meet UEA entry requirements and £5,000 if your final undergraduate grade is a CGPA 4.1 and above. Amounts will be deducted from your tuition fees, in line with terms and conditions.”

Applications for the scholarship are currently open and expected to close on May 31, 2024. UEA was founded in 1963 and is located in Norwich, a historic city in the east of England and the biggest city in Norfolk.