Postgraduate Financial Aid Bursary (South African Citizens & Permanent Residents)
Honours, Master's & Doctoral
Applications for 2027 are now OPEN
UCT offers a range of postgraduate funding awards to South African citizens and permanent residents through the Postgraduate Online Funding Application.
Awards range in value from smaller supplementary amounts to larger amounts as contributions towards the cost of study for the 2027 academic year.
Before you apply
- First-year applicants: You must submit your 2027 UCT admissions application before you can apply for postgraduate funding.
- Applications are submitted via the PG Online Funding Application in the PeopleSoft Student Portal during the year preceding your intended year of study.
- Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
Application deadline for the 2027 Online Funding Application: 10 November 2026
Selection criteria
Please note: Funding is no longer awarded solely on academic merit. Selection is based on a combination of holistic criteria.
Please refer to the full funding guidelines for detailed eligibility requirements and selection information.
Other funding opportunities - Funding noticeboard
Applicants are strongly encouraged to also apply for government funding through: National Research Foundation (NRF),Medical Research Council (MRC)
Please note that the NRF application deadline for Master's and Doctoral funding is significantly earlier than the UCT Postgraduate Financial Aid Bursary deadline.
Renewal students
Students whose awards are eligible for renewal do not need to submit a new application.
This applies to students progressing from:
1st to 2nd year of a Master's degree
1st to 2nd year of a Doctoral degree
2nd to 3rd year of a Doctoral degree
Awards will be renewed subject to satisfactory academic progress.