The University of Cape Town is inviting South African citizens and permanent residents to apply for its Postgraduate Financial Aid Bursary for the 2027 academic year. The funding is available to eligible students who intend to study full-time towards an Honours, Master’s or Doctoral qualification at UCT and who meet the university’s academic and financial-need requirements.
At a glance
Sponsor/host: University of Cape Town
Opportunity type: Postgraduate financial aid bursary
Academic year funded: 2027
Study levels: Honours, Master’s and Doctoral
Study mode: Full-time
Who it’s for: South African citizens and permanent residents who have applied for admission to an eligible postgraduate programme at UCT
Minimum academic requirement: 70% average in the applicant’s previous qualification
Funding basis: Financial need only
Application status: Applications are open
Closing date: 10 November 2026
Application method: Postgraduate Online Funding Application through the UCT PeopleSoft Student Portal
Last verified: 3 August 2026
High-value notes (read this first)
- Merit-only bursary applications will not be accepted for 2027. Applicants must qualify for financial need-based funding.
- Applicants must first apply for admission to the relevant UCT postgraduate programme before applying for funding.
- The bursary is available only for full-time Honours, Master’s and Doctoral study.
- Applicants need a minimum average of 70% in their previous qualification.
- Applicants employed for more than 20 hours per week during the study year will not qualify.
- NRF funding and UCT postgraduate financial aid cannot be held at the same time.
- Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
- Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee funding.
About the sponsor
The University of Cape Town is a South African public university offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes across fields including Commerce, Engineering and the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law and Science.
UCT administers this bursary through its Postgraduate Funding Office. The programme provides financial assistance to eligible postgraduate students who demonstrate financial need and meet the university’s academic and programme requirements.
Official funding information and application instructions are available through UCT’s postgraduate funding pages and PeopleSoft Student Portal.
What it covers
UCT describes the 2027 award as a contribution towards the student’s study costs for the academic year.
The university does not guarantee a fixed bursary amount. Awards may range from smaller supplementary contributions to larger contributions towards approved study costs.
Applicants may fall into one of the following financial-assistance categories:
- Financial Aid: Gross annual family income below R350,000
- GAP tuition bursary: Gross annual family income between R350,001 and R600,000
- Not eligible for needs-based support: Applicants who fall outside the stated financial criteria will not be considered for a UCT award in 2027
Students who qualify for GAP support may receive a percentage contribution towards their approved tuition fees.
Funding duration
Eligible students may receive funding for:
- One year for an Honours degree
- Up to two years for a Master’s degree
- Up to three years for a Doctoral degree
Funding renewal is subject to the applicable award conditions and satisfactory academic progress.
Eligible continuing Master’s and Doctoral award holders may have their funding renewed without submitting a new application.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Be South African citizens or permanent residents
- Intend to register for full-time Honours, Master’s or Doctoral study at UCT in 2027
- Have submitted an application for admission to the relevant UCT programme
- Have achieved an average of at least 70% in the previous qualification
- Meet UCT’s financial-need criteria
- Provide all supporting documents required for the financial assessment
- Not be employed for more than 20 hours per week during the year of study
- Meet the academic and departmental requirements for the intended programme
In allocating funding, UCT states that priority will be given to qualifying Black South African citizens and permanent residents who demonstrate financial need.
For this purpose, UCT defines Black applicants as African, Coloured and Indian students.
Fields of study supported
The bursary is open to eligible postgraduate fields offered at UCT, subject to the programme exclusions and research-content requirements.
Applicants must be applying for an eligible full-time:
- Honours degree
- Master’s degree
- Doctoral degree
Programmes that are not funded
The following programmes or circumstances are excluded:
- Certain professional degrees
- Full coursework Master’s degrees, including MBA and MMed programmes
- Master’s or Doctoral programmes with a research component below 33.3%
- Fourth year of an undergraduate Bachelor’s degree
- PGCE programmes
- LLB programmes
- Postgraduate certificates
- Postgraduate diplomas
- A second qualification at the same academic level
Applicants should read the official UCT criteria before assuming that their qualification qualifies for funding.
Documents to prepare
Applicants must provide all supporting documents requested through the Postgraduate Online Funding Application so that UCT can assess their financial need.
The public criteria document does not provide one fixed document checklist. Applicants must therefore follow the instructions displayed in the PeopleSoft application.
Documents may differ according to the applicant’s family, employment and financial circumstances.
Applicants should also have their academic and admission information available when completing the application.
UCT states that applicants who submit incorrect financial-assessment documents will have only two days to replace them with the correct documents.
Closing date
10 November 2026.
Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
Applicants should submit early enough to resolve portal, admission or document-assessment problems before the deadline.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Applying based only on academic merit without meeting the financial-need requirements
- Applying for funding before submitting a UCT admission application
- Applying with an average below 70% in the previous qualification
- Applying for an excluded professional or coursework-only programme
- Applying for a Master’s or Doctoral programme with less than 33.3% research content
- Leaving sections of the financial assessment incomplete
- Uploading incorrect or missing financial documents
- Assuming previous NSFAS or UCT funding automatically carries over to a new postgraduate qualification
- Planning to hold NRF and UCT postgraduate funding simultaneously
- Submitting after 10 November 2026
How this opportunity was verified
This opportunity was verified using UCT’s official 2027 Honours, Master’s and Doctoral Award Criteria, the UCT postgraduate funding information and the university’s bursary noticeboard.
The official information confirms that applications are open, only financial need-based applications will be considered, the minimum previous-qualification average is 70%, applications must be submitted through PeopleSoft and the closing date is 10 November 2026.
How to apply
- Apply for admission to the relevant full-time Honours, Master’s or Doctoral programme at UCT.
- Wait until your UCT application details are available in the university system.
- Sign in to the UCT PeopleSoft Student Portal.
- Open the Postgraduate Online Funding Application.
- Complete the academic, personal and financial-assessment sections.
- Upload every supporting document requested by the system.
- Review the application carefully for missing or incorrect information.
- Submit before 10 November 2026.
- Keep proof that the application was successfully submitted.
- Monitor the portal and your email in case UCT requests corrected documents or further information.