Nanyang President's Graduate Scholarship 2027 — Fully Funded PhD in Singapore
Fully funded PhD scholarship in Singapore for International students 2026
NTU Singapore has opened its President's Graduate Scholarship for the 2027-28 academic year to all nationalities, with applications running from 1 November to 31 December 2026.
Eligibility
- All nationalities eligible; no bond attached
- Honours (Highest Distinction) or equivalent at bachelor's level
- Final-year students may apply with an official on-track letter from their university
- Full-time PhD at NTU; nomination by the school, not a separate scholarship form
- International holders perform Graduate Assistantship teaching or lab duties
- English test scores where the school requires them
The Nanyang President's Graduate Scholarship is NTU's most competitive doctoral award, and its 2027-28 round is open now: applications run from 1 November to 31 December 2026, and all nationalities are eligible. It funds a full-time PhD across the university's research schools, carries no bond, and pays an international student S$4,300 a month on top of tuition. For a graduate who wants a funded doctorate in Asia without a service obligation afterwards, it is difficult to beat on terms.
What it covers
The monthly stipend for international students is S$4,300, revised from January 2026; Singapore citizens receive S$5,300 and permanent residents S$4,800. The award also covers annual tuition fees, gives priority for campus accommodation, and adds an overseas conference allowance of up to S$5,000 per financial year, an annual book allowance of S$500, a one-time IT allowance of S$1,500 and a one-time thesis allowance of S$600.
The scholarship is tenable for one year in the first instance and renewable subject to progress, for a maximum of four years, as determined by the school and by research funding availability. International holders must also perform teaching or laboratory supervision duties under NTU's Graduate Assistantship Programme, which is a real time commitment and should be planned for, not discovered in year two. There is no bond attached.
Eligibility
All nationalities may apply. The academic bar is an Honours (Highest Distinction) or equivalent at bachelor's level, and final-year students may apply if their university provides official documentation confirming they are on track for that classification. In practice this means a first-class equivalent: for many systems a GPA around the top decile, a UK first, or a four-year bachelor with a strong research thesis.
The award is by nomination only. You do not apply for the scholarship separately; you apply to an NTU graduate programme within the window, indicate your interest, and the university nominates shortlisted candidates, who are then interviewed. That structure matters: your application is read by a school admissions committee first, and the scholarship committee sees only nominees.
Ask yourself: does my transcript clearly cross the Highest Distinction threshold in my own system, and can I show the equivalence in one line? Do I have a research proposal specific enough for one school, rather than a general statement about my field? Have I identified two or three potential supervisors who are actively publishing and taking students? Can my referees speak to research, not just to coursework? If your answers are thin, the application will be read as coursework-strong and research-weak, which is the standard rejection profile for this award.
Deadline
The main application period closes on 31 December 2026. Applicants to the National Institute of Education follow a slightly earlier window, 2 November to 30 December 2026. Shortlisted candidates are invited to interview, and outcomes are sent by email together with the admission offer. Because the scholarship is nomination-based, an admission offer without a nomination is not a scholarship.
How to apply
Submit through the NTU graduate programmes application exercise for your chosen school during the window, and upload identification documents, education qualifications in the original language plus an official English translation, a research proposal, two referee reports, a resume, any research publications, and test scores such as IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT or GATE where the school requires them. Nomination for the scholarship is handled by the university after the school has reviewed the file.
Documents to have ready
Passport bio page; bachelor's and master's certificates with transcripts in original language and English translation; a research proposal of the length your school specifies; two referee reports submitted directly by the referees; a CV that lists publications and conference papers; and English test scores if your degree was not taught in English. If you are still studying, request the on-track letter from your registrar early, because it is the document applicants most often cannot obtain in December.
Tips to win
Write the proposal for one supervisor, not for the university. NTU schools admit by research group, and a proposal that names a group's recent result and proposes the next experiment reads very differently from a survey of the field. Email that supervisor before you apply, briefly, with your CV and one paragraph on the gap you want to work on.
Publish, or at least present. The nomination stage is where publications separate candidates with identical grades, and a conference paper or a preprint with your name on it does more work than another line on your CV about laboratory skills.
Plan the assistantship into your week. Graduate Assistantship duties are a condition for international holders, and students who treat the first year as pure research tend to fall behind on both fronts. Ask current students in the group how many hours a week it actually takes.
Common mistakes
The most expensive mistake is treating this as a scholarship application rather than an admission application: there is no separate scholarship form, so a weak school application cannot be rescued later. A second is applying without contacting a supervisor, which leaves the school with no reason to nominate you. A third is submitting a proposal copied from your master's thesis without adapting it to the group's current work. Finally, do not assume a test score is optional; some schools require GRE or IELTS even where the scholarship page lists them as applicable only where relevant.
https://www.ntu.edu.sg/admissions/graduate/financialmatters/scholarships/npgs
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=48
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=16
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=15
If you are not sure whether your documents will clear the eligibility bar, send your transcripts and CV to an OEAC advisor and we will tell you honestly where you stand before you spend money on translations or test fees.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA.
Last updated: 10 November 2026
Always confirm the deadline and eligibility on the official page before you apply. Scholarship dates change between rounds, and this listing is a summary — the provider's own page is the authoritative source. OEAC Network lists scholarships for free and is not an agent for any university or funding body.
