[Last updated: 10th May 2020]

UK

Commonwealth – Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships are for candidates from low and middle income Commonwealth countries, for full-time Master’s study at a UK university. More info also available on the DARA website.

Chevening – Scholarships for international students to study in the UK.

British Council – For Indian Women only, funding to pursue a master’s programme in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in the United Kingdom. Deadline: Jan 31, 2019.

Cambridge – A one year Master of Advanced Study in Astrophysics, with funding available from Trinity College. There is also a one year research only M.Phil in Astronomy.

Gates – [New!] The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is open to anyone not a citizen of the UK.

Clarendon – [New!] Fully-funded scholarships covering course fees, as well as a grant for living expenses, at Oxford University.

Cardiff – Located in Wales, scholarships worth a minimum of £3,000 to UK and EU students are offered.

Europe

Stefan Banach Scholarship – [New to 2020!] Available to those from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Balkan countries (see website for exact list) to study in Poland. For English-taught astronomy Masters in Poland, try Jagiellonian University, University of Warsaw, University of Zielona Góra, University of Wroclaw, Pedagogical University of Krakow.

Ignacy Łukasiewicz Scholarship – [New to 2020!] Available to those from developing countries (see website for exact list) to study in Poland. For astronomy Masters in Poland (see above).

MAUCA – [New to 2020!] Master in Astrophysics Université Côte d’Azur, France.

Space Master – The AstroMundus equivalent of a joint European Master in Space Science and Technology.

Leiden – Located in the Netherlands, this Observatory has the reputation of being one of the best institutes in Europe for studying Astrophysics. Scholarships are available for up to €11,000 a year. For those interested in Astronomy and Instrumentation, there is also the Walraven Scholarship.

UvA – Also in the Netherlands, and also with some scholarships available.

Copenhagen – At the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark you can find the Master of Science Programme in Physics, with specialisation in Astrophysics. They have scholarships available for outstanding non-EU/EEA MSc students (i.e. GPA above 80% of their Bachelors).

GRAPPA – Also at the University of Amsterdam, if you are a fan of AstroParticles and Cosmology then GRavitation AstroParticle Physics Amsterdam is for you. Scholarships are available for €25,000 a year.

Helsinki – 2-year Master’s Pro­gramme in Particle Phys­ics and As­tro­phys­ical Sci­ences. They have scholarships which includes tuition fees and a grant of €10,000.

MasterCosmosBCN – A Masters in High Energy Physics, Astrophysics & Cosmology. Located in Barcelona, Spain. Few scholarships available.

Bonn-Cologne – Located in Germany, this programme offers a scholarship of €700 a month as well as funding for summer schools. There’s also a one-week Admissions Academy which is funded (including help with travel costs) where you get to visit the universities and meet the staff and fellow students. Great if you’re not 100% sure that you want to go in Astrophysics as there are other Physics courses available as well.

FAU – The Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. Read about scholarships here and here.

KU Leuven – Up to €10,000 scholarships are available at this University in Belgium.

Geneva – On offer are a great range of Physics courses with specialisation available in Astrophysics, as well as the opportunity to work with CERN, ESA or NASA. The Excellence Master Fellowships offer between 10,000 to 15,000 CHF a year (around €10,000 – €15,100).

EPFL – Also in Switzerland, Astrophysics courses are available in Lausanne. The university offers fellowships as well as scholarships. The first year is very skills-based and focused on practical work.

ETH Zürich – A Masters in Physics is offered, which includes many courses in Astrophysics. Scholarships are available to national and international students.

ICTP + Trieste – This is a two-year joint Masters in Physics (with courses in Astrophysics and Cosmology) between The International Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics and the University of Trieste, Italy. The scholarships available are aimed towards students from developing countries who already have an MSc (or an exceptional BSc).

Chalmers – Two-year Masters in Physics (with some Astrophysics options) in Sweden. Tuition is free for EU/EEA students, with many scholarships for international students.

ISU – Master of Space Studies Program, located in Strasbourg, France.

SEEDS – This is a one year Master programme for people that already have a Master in a related Science. The focus is Space Exploration and Development Systems. Based in Torino (Italy) but also with connections in Toulouse (France) and Leicester (UK).

SPaCE – A 2 year international programme focusing on theoretical, applied, numerical, instrumental and observational Astrophysics at the Aix-Marseille University in France. [Fellowships currently not available.]

Utrecht – Unfortunately Utrecht University no longer offer their Masters in Astrophysics, but they offer Theoretical Physics with an opportunity to take courses from the Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics on cosmology. Scholarships can be found here (for non-EU/EEA passport holders).

If Germany is somewhere you would like to study, DAAD offer scholarships for international students interested in studying a Masters. This opens up doors to Heidelberg or Munich for example.

Rest of the World

ANU – The Australian National University has brand spanking new programme located in Canberra. There are scholarships of $10,000 (AUD) a year available (approx. €7075).

Australia Awards Scholarships – [New!] For people from developing countries to undertake full time study at participating Australian universities.

PSI – Perimeter Schools International is a 10 month Masters course in Ontario, Canada. It focuses mostly on Theoretical Physics some of which are astronomy related i.e. Relativity, Cosmology, Gravity, String Theory… Scholarships are worth $30,000 (CAD) = €21,856.

INAOE – 2-year funded CONACyT scholarships to study in Puebla, Mexico. You can find information about their postgraduate courses here.

Chile – The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile offers a Masters programme with a variety of scholarships available.

Weizmann – The Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science, located in Rehovot, Israel, offers Masters programmes in Physics with specialisation in Astrophysics. Fellowships are worth NIS 5,000 in the first year and NIS 5,750 in the second (€1130 and €1300 a month, respectively).

Technion – Similarly, the Physics department at the Technion Institute of Technology in Israel offers specialisation in Astrophysics. Fellowships are available from the Lady Davis Trust worth $750 (€660) a month, as well as a return flight.

NASSP – If you fancy studying in South Africa then this programme is for you. The National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme, hosted by the University of Cape Town, offers grants of R95,000 a year.

NWU – Another Masters programme in South Africa at the Centre for Space Research, Northwest University, offering R70,000 a year.

Tokyo – This Masters programme in Japan has lots of different scholarships available to apply for, all around 144,000 yen a month (about €1060), however the university requires the GRE Physics exam.

Hong Kong – The University of Hong Kong offers many paid MPhil projects in astronomy and astrophysics with a stipend of HK$16,660 per month (about €1800).

Great Wall Programme – [New!] One year of funding for students from developing countries. To find out which universities offer astronomy-related courses, search for ‘astro’ and list ‘Master’ under the degree field here.

I haven’t included the USA as they often combine Masters and PhDs together. But for example you can take a look at the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program at Stanford University.

Distance Learning

LJMU – Although not funded (I’m biased because I’m currently a PhD student here), they offer a great distance learning MSc in Astrophysics.

This is by no means the full list of opportunities available, if you know of any other programmes please let me know. There are also many Universities which offer free tuition if you are an EU citizen (e.g. Aarhus, Munich; places in Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, …)

On the other hand you may be able to get funding from elsewhere, perhaps an organisation like the Royal Astronomical Society or a trust such as the Leverhulme Trust. This would mean that you could study a Masters in Astronomy at Universities such as Groningen, Queen Mary, Glasgow, Jodrell Bank etc.

For Africans studying in Africa, you can apply for funding towards postgraduate studies and conferences from the National Space Research and Development Agency.