Postgraduate

Other funding

Student loans and other statutory support are NOT normally available to postgraduate students, other than those undertaking a PGCE teacher training course. Please see below other means of funding your studies, available to Masters and Research Degrees students.

Research Councils

A limited number of courses offer studentships through one of the six Research Councils. You will need to discuss a studentship with your department, as the Research Councils do not deal with prospective students. However, their websites offer some useful information about funding opportunities.

Trusts and charities

Trusts and charities can offer financial assistance to some students in both further and higher education and to both home and international students. Organisations will have specific criteria which must be met before an application can be made.

Assistance will rarely take the form of a full scholarship or award as most organisations will only be able to offer awards of a few hundred pounds due to the large number of applications received each year.

The Student Finance Centre has access to 'Funder Finder', a trusts and charities database. Please contact our Student Finance Centre if you would like to use this programme.

Social Work Postgraduate students

Students studying an MSc in Social Work are eligible for a bursary from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA). This bursary will include full payment of all tuition fees for all eligible students.

The bursary consists of a non-income assessed basic grant, including a contribution towards practice learning opportunity related expenses, of £3,362.50 in 2009/10.

There is also an income assessed maintenance grant of up to £2,608 and income assessed allowances to assist with certain living costs depending on the student's individual circumstances, as recipients of the bursary will not ordinarily be entitled to local authority funding.

For further information please visit NHS Business Services Authority.

PGCE (Teacher Training) students

Students studying the PGCe may be eligible for a training salary from the government, which will be administered through your department. You can also apply to Student Finance England for a tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and grants and a University of Portsmouth bursary. Further details about this funding are available at our Student Finance's Teacher Training webpages.

Sponsorship

A limited number of employers may consider sponsorship. This may be in the form of day release for part time study or by sponsoring the student to study an area of commercial interest to themselves.

Professional and Career Development Loans

Professional and Career Development Loans are bank loans that can be used to help pay for work related learning.  You can borrow between £300 and £10,000 to help support the cost of up to two years of learning (or three years if it includes one year's relevant unpaid practical work).  The Learning and Skills Council will pay the interest on the loan while you are learning and for one month afterwards.  The loan can be used to pay course fees or other costs such as travel and living expenses.  You can also use the loan to supplement other forms of support such as grants or bursaries.  Because the Professional and Career Development Loan is a commercial loan product, they should only be considered as an option once all other student funding options have been investigated. 

For further information on financial assistance to support your learning, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/adultlearning or contact Careers Advice on 0800 100 900.  The learning provider registration number for the University of Portsmouth is 8367.

Further information on completing the form is available on our Student Administration Division pages.

Further information

Visit www.PostgraduateStudentships.co.uk for more information about research and funding opportunities. This website is specifically designed for students interested in postgraduate study both at Masters and PhD level. Use the database to search for funding available from trusts, charities and other general funding organisations as well as studentships and scholarships offered by University departments.