Global Scholarships

University of Galway is committed to attracting high-calibre students from around the world. To this end, we offer a range of merit-based scholarships to students from a number of outside of the EU countries, in line with our strategic international priorities. For international students commencing study at University of Galway there are a number of different scholarships on offer. 

Hear from our Global Scholarship Recipients

Each year, multiple Global Excellence and Merit Scholarships are offered across our colleges, designed to recognise and support the most talented and ambitious students

Explore Open Scholarship Opportunities for the 2025/2026 Academic Year below:

College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies

  • Undergraduate Awards
    • €2,000 Merit Award for all first-year students.
    • €10,000 Excellence Award for one exceptional student.

  • Postgraduate Taught Awards
    • €2,000 Merit Awards for 35 postgraduate students.
    • €10,000 Excellence Awards for three postgraduate students.
  • Region-Based (USA) - IDEA Scholarship
    • 15% off tuition for three students across all undergraduate programmes.

  • Region-Based (China) - Claddagh Scholarship
    • €2,000 for two students from China across all Programmes. 

Eligibility criteria:

Undergraduate Merit Scholarships: All eligible students will be automatically considered for all relevant scholarships; students will be notified soon after they have received an offer (conditional or firm).

Undergraduate Excellence Scholarships: Students must have accepted their offer by Sunday, 30 March 2025 to be considered. Successful candidates will be notified by Wednesday, 30 April 2025.

Postgraduate Taught Merit Scholarships: Students must have applied and received an offer for their programme (firm or conditional) by Sunday, 30 March 2025. Successful candidates will be notified by Wednesday, 30 April 2025. No separate application is required. Students must not be in receipt of any other scholarships.

Postgraduate Taught Excellence Scholarships: 

  • Students must:
    • have achieved a minimum 2.1 or equivalent
    • demonstrate a strong understanding of the programme in your personal statement - provide strong evidence of why you have chosen this course, and how it will impact your future plans.
    • must not be in receipt of funding or other scholarships
    • have applied and received an offer for programme (firm or conditional) by Sunday, 30 March 2025. Successful candidates will be notified by Wednesday, 30 April 2025. No separate application is required.

IDEA Scholarship: Applicants must be referred by the IDEA (Philadelphia) and this must be referenced on the application form. All eligible students will be automatically considered; students will be notified soon after they have received an offer. Students must not be in receipt of funding or other scholarships.

Claddagh Scholarship: Students will be notified at the end of the scholarship application process.

College of Business, Public Policy and Law (including Shannon College of Hotel Management)

  • Region-Based (USA) - IDEA Scholarship
    • 15% off tuition for three students across all undergraduate programmes

  • Region-Based (China) - Claddagh Scholarship
College of Business, Public Policy and Law:

Learn more about eligibility

A full list of terms and conditions can be found here

IDEA Scholarship: Applicants must be referred by the IDEA (Philadelphia) and this must be referenced on the application form. All eligible students will be automatically considered; students will be notified soon after they have received an offer. Students must not be in receipt of funding or other scholarships.

Shannon College of Hotel Management:

Learn more about eligibility

College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

  • Undergraduate Merit Scholarships (€3,000)
    • €3,000 for six first-year Medicine students

  • Postgraduate Merit Scholarships (€3,000)
    • Available for 20 students across various healthcare and medical programmes

  • Region-Based (USA) - IDEA Scholarship
    • 15% off tuition for four students in the School of Nursing & Midwifery and School of Health Sciences

Eligibility criteria:

Undergraduate Merit Scholarships: Eligible students will be invited to apply after they accept their offers.

Postgraduate Taught Merit Scholarships: Eligible students will be invited to apply after they accept their offers. Programmes included in the scholarship offering include:

  • MSc in Applied Multilingualism (Full-time)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Health Promotion
  • MSc Podiatric Medicine (Pre-Registration)
  • MSc Childhood Speech, Language & Communication Needs
  • Master of Arts (Health Promotion)
  • MSc Advanced Healthcare Practice and Research (Full-Time)
  • Applied Clinical Data Analytics
  • Master of Health Sciences (Clinical Education)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences (Clinical Education)
  • Clinical Primary Care Module (Diabetes)
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Cardiac Rehabilitation
  • Master of Science (Diabetes)
  • Master of Health Sciences (Diabetes)
  • Healthcare Simulation and Patient Safety
  • PG DIP SC. Healthcare Simulation and Patient Safety
  • Master of Science (Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine)
  • Masters in Preventive Cardiology
  • Masters in Science (Multidisciplinary Radiology)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Science (Multidisciplinary Radiology)
  • Master of Science (Obesity)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing (Education)
  • Master in Evidence Based Future Healthcare (Full-time/Part-time)

IDEA Scholarship: Applicants must be referred by the IDEA (Philadelphia) and this must be referenced on the application form. Eligible students will be invited to apply after they receive their offers. Students must not be in receipt of funding or other scholarships.

College of Science and Engineering

  • Undergraduate Merit Awards (€2,000 - €5,000)
    • €5,000 for four students in the School of Biological & Chemical Sciences (offered for four years)
    • €2,000 for five students in the schools of Computer Science, and Mathematical & Statistical Sciences (offered for four years)
    • €2,000 for all first-year students in the School of Natural Sciences (offered for four years)

  • Undergraduate Excellence Awards (€10,000 - €20,000)
    • €10,000 for students in Biological & Chemical Sciences, Engineering, and Natural Sciences (offered for four years)
    • €20,000 (spread over four years) for two students in Mathematical & Statistical Sciences and Computer Science

  • Postgraduate Merit & Excellence Awards
    • €2,000 Merit Awards for all accepted students (School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, School of Computer Science, School of Engineering, School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences, School of Natural Sciences)
    • €10,000 for four students in the School of Biological & Chemical Sciences
    • €10,000 for 12 students in the School of Computer Science
    • €10,000 for one student in the School of Engineering
    • €10,000 for one student in the School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences
    • €10,000 available for all First-Class Holders (or equivalent) in the School of Natural Sciences

  • Region-Based (USA) - IDEA Scholarship
    • 15% off tuition fees for three students across all undergraduate programmes

Eligibility criteria:

Undergraduate Merit & Excellence Scholarships: Information can be found here.

Postgraduate Taught Scholarships: Information can be found here.

IDEA Scholarship: All eligible students will be automatically considered; students will be notified soon after they have received an offer.

Hardiman Scholarships 

For the most up-to-date information click here.

China Scholarship Council

University of Galway - China Scholarship Council Joint Scholarship for PhD Study 2025-2026

Value 
Up to 15 PhD tuition-fee waivers from University of Galway with no subject restrictions.

CSC will cover the living costs and flight tickets. 

Level of study 
This funding is available to students undertaking full-time Ph.D. study. 

Nationality restrictions 
This funding is available to students with a Chinese passport. 

Academic requirements 
Candidates must meet the academic requirements for admission to the doctoral programme in University of Galway. 

Opening date
Applications are now open. 

Application Process

1. The scholarship applicant needs to find a supervisor who, following a discussion, is willing to supervise the student on condition that he/she is awarded a CSC scholarship. Applicant searches for a potential project supervisor via FindaSupervisor online, or other mechanism.

2. The applicant and supervisor work on a project plan. CSC Application Form

3. The supervisor applies to the College on behalf of the student by e-mailing the Research Plan Template prior to March 7th 2025, with subject title ‘CSC Scholarship application’, to  

College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies : aaron.potito@universityofgalway.ie

College of Business, Public Policy and Law: cbppl@universityofgalway.ie

College Science and Engineering: costello@universityofgalway.ie

College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences: cmnhs@universityofgalway.ie


4. University of Galway CSC scholarship committee evaluates the candidates and ranks them in priority order. The successful candidate will receive a conditional offer from the College by March 14th 2025.

5. The supervisor provides the selected applicant with the supervisor's 1-page CV

6. The applicant translates the Research Plan into Chinese.

7. All documents are to be signed by the supervisor and returned to the applicant for submission to CSC.

8. The applicant makes an application through the CSC portal: http://apply.csc.edu.cn/, selecting University of Galway from the list of Institutions. CSC Scheme opens for applications from 10 March 2025 and closes for applications on 31 March 2025.

9. CSC announces the final successful candidate list in May 2025

10. Successful candidate applies for admission to PhD programme at the University of Galway.

11. Supervisor completes QA203 to request a fee waiver for successful candidate.

12. Student commences PhD studies at University of Galway in September.

Government of Ireland Education Scholarships

For information on the Government of Ireland – International Education Scholarships 2025 click here.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) will notify successful recipients by early June 2025.

Eligible Programmes:

College of Business, Public Policy, & Law

  • Global Environmental Economics (MSc, full-time)
  • Management and Sustainability (MSc)
  • Health Economics (MSc)
  • Criminology, Criminal Justice and Human Rights (LLM)
  • International Criminal Law (LLM)
  • International Human Rights (LLM)
  • International Migration and Refugee Law and Policy (LLM)
  • LLM (Gender and Human Rights: Law and Policy)
  • LLM (Transitional Justice, Human Rights and Conflict)
  • Business & Hospitality (MSc)
  • Global Hospitality Management & Intercultural Communication (MSc)
  • Hospitality Performance, Revenue & Asset Management (MSc)
  • Peace Operations, Humanitarian Law and Conflict (LLM)

College of Arts, Social Sciences, & Celtic Studies

  • Coastal & Marine Environments: Physical Processes, Policy & Practice (MSc) (full-time)
  • Planning and Development (MA)
  • Public Policy (MA)
  • Journalism (MA)
  • Global Media and Communication (MA)
  • Environment, Society, and Development (MA)
  • International Development Practice (MA)
  • Social Work (MA)
  • Gender, Globalisation and Rights (MA)
  • Adolescent Health (MSc)
  • Public Advocacy and Activism (MA)
  • Health Psychology (MSc)

College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

  • Applied Clinical Data Analytics (MSc)
  • Clinical Research (MSc)
  • Cellular Manufacturing (MSc)
  • Regenerative Medicine (MSc)
  • Preventive Cardiology (MSc)
  • Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (MSc)
  • Exercise Physiology & Application in Therapy (MSc)
  • Exercise Physiology & Rehabilitation (MSc)
  • Diabetes (MSc)

The Government of Ireland scholarship programme typically opens towards the end of November. However, the eligible programme list is subject to change each year.

For more information on the GOI-IES scholarship at University of Galway, send an email to globalpartnerships@universityofgalway.ie 

Other External Funding Sources for International Students

Irish Fulbright Commission

Claddagh Scholarship Program (CSP) 2024/2025

Fund for Education Abroad Scholarships

The George J. Mitchell Scholarships

The Wellcome Trust

Irish Research Council

The Health Research Board

Open Society Foundations

Irish Aid Fellowship Training Programme

This is one of the instruments used by Irish Aid to support capacity development in Ireland's programme countries in Africa and Asia.  The FTP involves the award of fellowships to suitably qualified candidates from the target countries to undertake studies usually at postgraduate level in fields such as development studies, rural development, health care and education and other disciplines which are likely to support and enhance the capacity of recipients to contribute to the development effort in their own countries. Irish Aid’s partner countries are Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Lesotho, Palestine, Timor Leste and Vietnam and Malawi.

For further information on applications and approved courses please contact office icosirl.ie

China Scholarship Council (CSC)

The General Sir John Monash Awards(Australia)

Research Careers Ireland

Education in Ireland is an Irish government agency responsible for promoting Irish education overseas. The Education in Ireland website lists various funding opportunities for international students studying in Ireland.

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