Funding for EU student to pursue PhD

Hi guys,

I am an Italian student, I'm going to get my MSc. Material Science due March 2013.
I wanted to pursue a PhD in biomaterials/bioengineering in UK, and I was looking at Imperial or Cambridge.. Do you have any ideas about funding for an EU student? Can professor pay you a stipend? Because otherwise it is quite impossibile for a EU student to do a PhD in the UK, without any form of funding!!

Thanks =)

Reply 1

*Corinna*

Original post by ouroboros88

How is there no form of funding?? You shouldn't be so dismissive if you haven't done your research properly :tongue:

I can't speak about Imperial because I never applied there but I can say for sure that Cambridge has funding for EU students. Most of the times EU students are eligible for the same scholarships as British citizens although in some cases they receive less money than British citizens e.g. Research Council funding or the CHESS scholarships at Cambridge only cover tuition fees for EU students whereas they are full scholarships for British Nationals. However, most departments remedy that by making sure they offer maintenance grants to EU students who won fees only awards. There are also college research studentships, faculty awards, the Gates scholarship that is open to EU students (this is actually open for citizens of every country of the world apart from the UK). There are options available, you just need to search, prepare a good application and be a bit lucky.

Reply 2

Klix88

Original post by ouroboros88

Because otherwise it is quite impossibile for a EU student to do a PhD in the UK, without any form of funding!!

Unless you're self-funding, this is true of every PhD student - not just EU students wishing to research in the UK. Nobody's picking on you.

UK-based students have access to a very limited number of funded PhDs and research funding opportunities, which are very competitive. I've now known three people who have been accepted for PhDs but have been unable to take this forward as their applications for funding have failed.

I suggest approaching Imperial and Cambridge direct, and asking what funding is available. They should be able to guide you through any opportunities internal to the university and then point you in the direction of wider funding possibilities.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

gutenberg

Check out this funding search engine from Cambridge:

http://webservices.admin.cam.ac.uk/camfunds/gfinder.jsp?status=new&reset=reset

You can set it for your country of residence, type of course, etc. and see what kind of funding you are eligible for and can apply for. It includes college scholarships IIRC. I imagine Imperial has something similar.

My experience as been similar to Corinna's. EU students are often only eligible for fees-only funding, or for half scholarships where their UK counterparts would get a full award (this not the case with my own country's research scholarships, grrr :mad:

), so you have to be patient and be prepared to 'piece together' an award, so to speak, possibly from several different sources. As you're in the sciences I imagine it might not be *quite* as difficult as an arts/humanities student, as PIs usually have their own funding. Perhaps contact the group leader(s) of the area you're interested in & ask how funding works?

Reply 4

Ayreon

I'm surprised to find out many of you are saying EU students don't have as many options as home students - I don't know whether this is university or field specific but when I was looking up funding opportunities to do a PhD as an EU student, I never noticed an EU quota. Perhaps I'm naive but I always thought home students and EU students are equal!

Reply 5

gutenberg

Original post by Ayreon

What do you mean by 'quota'? Universities don't have to take a certain number of EU students, and equally the number they can take is not capped in any way.

EU students & Home students are equal in terms of fee levels, so we all pay the same fees. But it has been my experience that scholarships for EU students are often limited, usually to half the value of that for a Home student; this is the same for the Research Councils I've encountered, who will only pay fees for an EU student who doesn't meet the residency criteria. Technically, these things are worked out not by nationality but by residency, which means you have to have been living in the UK for the past three years (I think) to qualify as a 'Home' student, which in practice means that a lot of EU students are out because they did their undergrad degrees elsewhere, but it would be the same for a UK student who did their degree in the Netherlands, for example, as far as I understand it?

To give you my own story, when I was applying for funding for my PhD I ended up winning two scholarships which, if I had been a Home student, would have seen me fully funded twice over: one was a Research Council award (and thus fees only), and one was an award from Cambridge which for Home students is set at the same rates as a Research Council award, but for us non-Home students it was set at half the maintenance rate of a Research Council award (or fees, if you hadn't been successful with the Research Councils). Which meant that I needed a further two scholarships to actually complete my PhD funding, whereas if my UK colleagues had got either of the first two awards that I got, they would have been fully sorted. It may well be subject-specific (I'm in the humanities), especially as like I said in my earlier post with science, some groups will have their own money that they can use for studentships and so on. But yes, it has been my experience that it is harder for EU students, especially when applying to bodies like the Research Councils.

Reply 6

*Corinna*

Original post by Ayreon

In number there is no difference between EU and UK scholarships as in 95% of the cases UK and EU students are eligible for the same scholarships. But a big number of those scholarships only covers tuition fees for EU students whereas they cover maintenance as well for UK ones. I am not complaining or anything, frankly I am quite grateful that these options are available for me. I know my country has next to no scholarships for foreigners so obviously the situation here is much better. I am just saying that this is the case, so many EU students have to look for alternative funding as well. That said, some countries offer funding to their students to go study abroad so in that sense many EU students are at an advantageous position as they can also apply for funding at their home countries whereas UK students cannot unfortunately seek funding from any other source.