ARC-GSSP Postgraduate Scholarships for African Students 2026/2027

The ARC-GSSP scholarship programme funds African postgraduate students to study on the continent rather than abroad. Host institutions are in South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana, and the subject focus sits in mathematics, engineering, and environment and climate.

Who can apply

The programme is open to applicants from all African countries. No academic level is fixed beyond postgraduate study, and the disciplines are tied to the programme's purpose: building the technical capacity for climate risk work on the continent. Applicants whose background is in actuarial science, hydrology, agricultural modelling or data science fit this brief better than the field names alone suggest.

What the scholarship covers

The award provides full tuition coverage for up to two years of postgraduate study, together with a living stipend, travel support and other eligible expenses, subject to the programme's terms. The funded period runs to twenty-four months.

The host countries are the part worth weighing. Studying within Africa removes the visa route that sinks most applications to European and North American programmes, cuts travel cost and time, and keeps a graduate inside the professional networks where the work will actually be done. For a candidate who has been rejected on visa grounds before, this structure is a materially different proposition.

Deadline

Applications opened in September and the deadline is 07 October 2026 at 23h59 GMT. The window is about a month wide, so the file needs to be ready rather than started once the call opens.

Before you apply

Name the climate or risk problem you want to work on and connect it to the host country you are applying to. A programme built around continental capacity is selecting for people who will stay in the field afterwards, so the strongest applications make the link between the degree and the work that follows it explicit.