Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships

The Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships are funded by the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission (CSC), dependent from the UK government's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

They are aimed at candidates from low and middle-income who would like to undertake part-time, distance learning study on eligible postgraduate programmes offered at Universities in the UK.

The application window for Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship 2025 is now open and will close on 20th May 2025.

Each scholarship will cover full tuition fees and will be tenable for up to five years of part-time study.


To apply for a Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship, candidates must: 

  • Be a citizen of or be granted refugee status from an eligible Commonwealth country, or be a British Protected Person.
  • Be permanently and continually resident in an eligible Commonwealth country.
  • Hold a first degree of at least upper second class (2:1) standard. A lower qualification and sufficient relevant experience may be considered in certain cases.
  • Be unable to afford to study the programme without this scholarship.

All candidates must also provide at least one reference.

Please note that while holding an offer to study a programme of your choice is not a condition to be awarded the scholarship, you will also need to secure an Unconditional Offer to study a programme before you can start studying. We advise you to start the university application process as soon as possible. 

Before applying, please be sure to read the Scholar eligibility and Eligible countries sections on the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission website. 


Confirmed eligible programmes are shown below. Additional programmes may be added to the list as and when we receive confirmation from the CSC.

Eligible programmesNumber of scholarships available

MSc in Clinical Management of Pain

MSc in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

MSc in Critical Care

MSc in Internal Medicine

MSc in Paediatric Emergency Medicine

5 across all programmes in this group

MSc in Data Science for Health & Social Care

MSc in Epidemiology

Master of Public Health

10 across all programmes in this group
MSc Digital Education5 for this programme

To become a scholar, you need to apply to both:

  • the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for your opportunity to be awarded a Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship
  • the University of Edinburgh to secure an offer to study an eligible programme of your choice

These application processes are separate, and they don’t need to happen in any particular order, but you must be successful in both application processes to become a scholar.

Please note that it is in your interest to secure an offer with the University of Edinburgh as soon as possible, as we will prioritise nominating scholarship candidates that hold unconditional offers. 

  • Applying for a programme at the University of Edinburgh - You can apply for programmes through our Degree Finder. The list of eligible programmes will be updated here once available.

You can secure an unconditional offer if:

  • You demonstrate you meet our entry requirements by supplying all supporting documentation. In most cases this will include English level competency documentation. Read more about this here   
  • Your application is competitive relative to the application pool.

IMPORTANT – Apply for your programme of interest as soon as possible with all the supporting documentation as it can take up to 28 working days for an application to be processed. You will not secure the necessary unconditional offer unless you provide all the necessary supporting documentation, such as that demonstrating English level competency. 

  • Applying for the Commonwealth Distance Learning Master’s Scholarships - You can apply for a scholarship at the CSC's website. Information on how to apply can be found here. The deadline for applying is 20th May 2025

Before applying, please be sure to read the Eligibility Information on the Commonwealth Scholarships webpage. You must include all supporting documentation when submitting your application.


This is a three-step process: 

  • Step one - When the CSC deadline has passed, (20th May) a list of all candidates who have met CSC criteria will be sent to the University of Edinburgh.
  • Step two - The University of Edinburgh will nominate candidates from this selection and return shortlists to the CSC.
  • Step three - The CSC selection committee will confirm the successful Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholars from the shortlists of nominated candidates and release the final results during July 2025.

The CSC will notify successful candidates at that point. Please note that unsuccessful candidates will not be notified either by the CSC or the University of Edinburgh. 


Hear from our Scholars

If you would like to find out more, you are invited to join our information session taking place on 23rd April at 12:00 noon (GMT +1): Register to attend

The event will cover the following areas: 

  • What it’s like to study online with the University of Edinburgh
  • The application process
  • Guidance and advice on how to do a good application
  • Q&A panel with admissions, academics and current and former scholars. 

The recording of the event will be posted here after the event date. 

Any enquires should be directed to our Student Enquiry Service


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