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.

Applications for the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship 2026 are now open and will close on the 31st March 2026.

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.
  • Have provided all supporting documentation in the required format.

All candidates must also provide at least one reference.

Please note: while already holding an offer for an eligible programme is not a condition to be awarded the scholarship, you will require to secure an unconditional offer for an eligible programme before your studies can commence. 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. 


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 interests 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.  

  • Ordinarily there is a fee deposit for our MSc in Clinical Management of Pain and MSc Internal Medicine to secure an unconditional offer however, this is waived pending a successful scholarship outcome. Where a scholarship application is unsuccessful, offer holders are then required to pay the relevant fee deposit in order to secure their place on programme. 

You will 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:


This is a three-step process: 

  • Step one - When the CSC deadline has passed, (31st of March) 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 2026.

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. 


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