Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships

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.

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.