The following links take you to the relevant section of this page
- Studying a course at a Scottish institution
- Studying a course at a UK institution outside Scotland
- Studying a course at an institution outside the UK
- Change of course after you have received a funded place
Studying a course at a Scottish institution
The demand for awards for postgraduate study far exceeds the level of resources the government is able to devote to it. Therefore they limit the number of awards available by giving institutions an allocation of funded places which they allocate amongst eligible courses. This means that there is competition between courses and the number of awards available and between students for support for those courses.
We ask Scottish colleges and universities to put in a bid for courses they want us to support. The Postgraduate Students' Allowances Selection Committee decides the allocation of awards to Scottish institutions in May of each year.
We give the college or university an allocation of funded places and they decide how many places they wish to allocate to any eligible course. If your course is on the list and you meet our eligibility conditions , you should contact your course leader to find out if they will nominate you for a funded place.
If they are willing to nominate you, you can apply on-line for your support, download the appropriate application form from our download forms section or you can get one from your institution or from us. If your course leader does not nominate you for funding, we cannot offer you support of any kind.
If you are a non-UK EU national living in Scotland for educational purposes only and are nominated for funding, we will only pay your tuition fees. You will not receive the Standard Maintenance grant or any supplementary grants.
As part of the Scottish allocation, we give 300 awards to the Law Society of Scotland for applicants who want to do the Diploma in Legal Practice course at Scottish Institutions. Your college or university must nominate you for one of the funded places and give you an application form to fill in.
Studying a course at a UK institution outside Scotland
We will support 120 students on courses outside Scotland each year. The allocation is strictly limited and there will be competition between students if the number of applications we receive is more than the number of available awards. If this happens, we will consider each application individually, taking account of the priority the Government places on the subject and the first degree the student already holds.
You must apply before 30 June 2008 if you want us to consider you for an award. You can apply on-line for your support, download the appropriate application form from our download forms section or you can get one from your institution or from us. You should check with us that your proposed course qualifies for support under the PSAS before you send us your application form. Do not delay applying for an award if you do not have a firm offer of a place on the course or for any other reason as you may miss the closing date for acceptance.
Support is not available to students who want to study for a postgraduate diploma in one of the following subjects at an institution outside Scotland .
- Journalism
- Librarianship
- Personal assistant
- Secretarial studies
Studying a course outside the UK
Awards under the PSAS are limited to courses within the UK, with these four exceptions.
- Bologna Centre - 1 funded place
- College of Europe, Bruges - 3 funded places
- École Jacques Lecoq - 1 funded place
- European University Institute, Florence - 6 funded places
Your institution must nominate you for one of the funded places. The closing date to apply for support is 30 June 2008 . You can apply on-line for your support, download the appropriate application form from our download forms section or you can get one from your institution or from us. Contact us on 0845 111 0244 for more information.
Change of course after you have received a funded place
If we offer you an award and you later want to change course, you will only be able to apply for another award if you did not take up your original place. That is, you did not start the course, we were able to recover the fees and maintenance we awarded you, and the institution was able to give the place to another student.