OfS Scholarships for MSc Data Science

The OfS scholarship will support 11 home students starting in September 2023, with a bursary of £10,000 each for those converting from a non-computing/maths background via our summer "boot camp" to study the conversion MSc in Data Science.

These scholarships are funded by the Office for Students and are intended to increase the proportions of traditionally under-represented groups in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We are also delighted to announce that the Carbon Trade Exchange (CTX) and Kingston University are also each offering a scholarship of £10,000 to a student studying a conversion MSc in Data Science, to support the government in their response to the shortage of data science and AI specialists in the UK.

There are a total of 13 scholarships available. For eligibility criteria, application process and deadlines, please see below.

Please note: Those who receive a scholarship will also still be eligible to apply for a postgraduate loan. For more information, read the postgraduate loan information on the government's website.

View the MSc Data Science Conversion course page
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Eligibility criteria

To be eligible you must be a home fee payer and must be eligible for the UK Postgraduate Masters Loan.

You also need to be a member of at least one of the under-represented groups mentioned below:

  • Female students
  • Black students
  • Students registered disabled
  • Students from a low socioeconomic background, for example quintiles 1 and 2 of the Index of Multiple Disadvantage [1]
  • Care experienced students [2]
  • Estranged students [3]
  • Gypsy, Roma, Traveller students
  • Refugees
  • Children from military families, veterans and partners of military personnel

[1] Index of Multiple Disadvantage is used as a measure of disadvantage. The 20% of areas with the most disadvantage are designated as "Quintile 1" (Q1), the least 20% are "Quintile 5" (Q5), and so on. For more information of the measure of Index of Multiple Disadvantage, see the English indices of deprivation tool.

[2] A 'Care Experience Student' is a student who has been, or is currently, in care, or from a looked-after background, at any stage in their life, no matter how short, including adopted children who were previously looked-after. This care may have been provided in a one of many different settings such as in residential care, foster care, kinship care, or through being looked-after at home with a supervision requirement.

[3] The UK Office for Students defines 'estranged students' as students between the age of 18 to 24 who are not communicating with either of their parents. Consequently these students lack the support of a wider family. They may be estranged before entering higher education but can also be at risk of estrangement or becoming estranged during their studies.

To be eligible for scholarship funding students must meet the nationality or residency status criteria to qualify for the postgraduate masters' loan.

The OfS Scholarship is available for full-time and part-time study starting in September 2023 on Data Science MSc.

We also strongly encourage students from non-STEM backgrounds to apply. We will offer a bespoke delivery of support including a ‘boot camp' for those changing subject disciplines: introducing students to baseline programming, statistics, and data modelling before they start the course in September.

How to apply

Applications for the Scholarship can be made via the OfS MSc Data Science Scholarship application form, accessed by clicking the blue apply link below.

Please note you can only apply for the Scholarship once you have made your application to the MSc Data Science course. If you have not done so already, please also apply for the MSc Data Science course.

Apply for the Scholarship

When to apply

Applications close at 9am on Monday 31 July.

The Scholarship Panel will convene soon after the scholarship application deadline, to consider eligible scholarship applications.

If you are successful in your OfS scholarship application, you will receive a formal offer of a scholarship on or soon after the panel meets.

Further information

Alternative scholarships are available for UK students and international students.

Other financial support is also available for postgraduate students.

Please note that Kingston University reserves the right to withdraw or amend a scholarship without prior notification. Scholarships are offered subject to funding and availability.

If you have any questions about the application and selection procedure, please contact us at j.denholm-price@kingston.ac.uk