United Arab Emirates University Scholarships 2026

Updated 13 November 2026: This guide was rewritten and checked against the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) official website. UAEU does not advertise its undergraduate scholarships as fully funded. The undergraduate awards are tuition-fee discounts of 50% to 100%. They do not cover living costs, housing, travel, or other personal expenses. Graduate awards are different, and they are described separately below. There is no single UAEU scholarship deadline for 2026: deadlines depend on the admission cycle and programme, so check the official admission deadlines page for the cycle you want before you apply.

The United Arab Emirates University is the first national university in the United Arab Emirates. It is a public research university based in Al Ain, and it offers undergraduate and graduate programmes through nine colleges, including the Colleges of Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Information Technology, Law, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, and Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. For international students, the appeal is clear: a recognised public university in the UAE, English-taught programmes in many fields, and a scholarship system that rewards strong school results and strong university grades. The important point to understand at the start is that the undergraduate system is a tuition discount system. A 100% discount is a very good outcome, but it is not the same as a fully funded scholarship that also pays for a place to live and a monthly allowance.

At a glance

Undergraduate scholarships: what UAEU actually offers

UAEU publishes a set of undergraduate scholarships on its official admissions pages. Most of them are tied to a student’s academic record, either at school or at the university. The value is expressed as a percentage of tuition fees, and most awards are reviewed each semester against the student’s grade point average (GPA). That means a scholarship is not only something you win once; in most cases you also have to keep it.

The highest undergraduate award is the Honours Scholarship. It covers 100% of tuition fees. To qualify for it, a new international student must hold the highest secondary certificate and have a final result of 97% or above. For students in their second year or above, the requirement is a cumulative GPA (CGPA) of 3.8 out of 4.0, completed on a full-time basis. A second award, the UAEU Scholarship, covers 100% of tuition fees for new students with a secondary-certificate score of 96% or above. For students beyond the first year, it requires a CGPA of 3.6 out of 4.0, completed on a full-time basis. A third award, the Merit Scholarship, covers 50% of tuition fees. For first-year students it is listed for a final secondary-certificate score of 90% to 96.99%. For students in the second year or above, it requires a CGPA of 3.0 out of 4.0, completed on a full-time basis.

Other undergraduate categories are aimed at particular groups. The Elite Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship, is offered to high-achieving international students studying in the Faculty of Law. The University Sports Scholarship is a 50% tuition waiver for athletes who obtain good results in university, national or international championships. The University Scholarship, also a 50% tuition waiver, is offered to students enrolled in majors at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, as well as to students enrolled in majors that are offered on a temporary basis by the university. The University of Excellence Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship, is offered to outstanding students who are top performers. The UAEU also lists a Fatma Almahery Scholarship, a partial tuition waiver for male students enrolled in the College of Information Technology. There is also a scholarship for students who are children of expatriate university employees and study at UAEU on a full-time basis.

Two practical points follow from this structure. First, the admissions test scores and grades matter in a precise way: the difference between 96.99% and 97%, for example, is the difference between the Merit Scholarship and the Honours Scholarship for a new student. Second, no undergraduate award in this list pays a living allowance. If you are budgeting, you should plan for housing, food, transport, books, health costs and travel separately, even if you receive a 100% tuition discount.

Graduate scholarships, fellowships and assistantships

For graduate students, UAEU’s College of Graduate Studies lists three main types of support: the PhD Scholarship, Graduate Fellowships, and Graduate Assistantships. The PhD Scholarship is the most comprehensive of the three. It is open to all nationalities, and the university describes it as the most prestigious graduate scholarship. Applicants must be accepted for full-time study and must maintain high grades in their graduate programme. On the university’s scholarship page, the listed value of the PhD Scholarship includes a full tuition waiver, a monthly stipend, health insurance and a tuition fee adjustment. PhD Scholarship recipients pay no tuition fees under this award.

Graduate Fellowships help with the cost of study for full-time students who are willing to do research, provided the student maintains a high academic record at UAEU. The listed benefits include a full tuition waiver, a monthly stipend, health insurance and a tuition fee adjustment. Graduate Assistantships are different again. They are paid work positions, as a faculty assistant, a research assistant or a teaching assistant, and students employed full time at UAEU are covered in full for the cost of study. The university’s information for assistantships refers to a 10-hours-per-week paid minimum and other academic criteria. The key point for a prospective master’s or PhD student is that graduate funding at UAEU is tied to full-time study and sustained academic performance, and the exact conditions are set out on the College of Graduate Studies scholarships page.

Who is eligible

Eligibility depends on the award, so read the official scholarship page for the award you want. The broad pattern is clear. For undergraduate awards, you need a secondary-school certificate and a final result in the range given above, or a CGPA in the range given above if you are already a UAEU student. For the named Law award, the degree also matters. For sports awards, the sport result matters. For graduate awards, the decisive factors are admission to a full-time graduate programme and academic performance in it. In every case a real offer of admission is the starting point. A scholarship application is not a substitute for an admissions application, and a scholarship does not by itself guarantee admission to a programme.

International students should also be ready for the standard admission checks. UAEU admission for international students is handled through the university’s admission pages, with separate deadlines for fall and spring admission, and with English-language and document requirements that vary by programme. If your programme asks for an English test, arrange it early, because a test score that arrives late can delay an offer, and an offer is the basis for a scholarship assessment.

How to apply

• Choose a programme first. Check the colleges and programmes on the UAEU website, and confirm that you meet the admission requirements for that programme, including any subject or language requirement.
• Apply for admission. Submit your application through the official UAEU online application, with the documents the programme asks for, such as transcripts, certificates, a passport copy and, for graduate study, the additional documents the College of Graduate Studies lists.
• Check the scholarship rules for your award. On the official undergraduate scholarships page, match your school result or CGPA to the award, and note whether the award is automatic or requires a separate application or nomination.
• Keep the award. Most undergraduate awards are renewed only if the required CGPA is maintained on a full-time basis, so plan your study load and your grades from the first semester.
• For graduate funding, apply through the College of Graduate Studies. The PhD Scholarship, Graduate Fellowships and Graduate Assistantships have their own routes and requirements; they are not the same process as an undergraduate tuition discount.
• Watch the official admission deadlines page. UAEU publishes admission dates by cycle and by applicant type. Do not use a deadline given in a third-party listing as your only source.

Deadlines for 2026

There is no single UAEU scholarship deadline that covers every programme and every student. Undergraduate admission and graduate admission run in cycles, and the date depends on whether you are applying for fall or spring entry, whether you are a UAE national or an international student, and whether your programme has its own cut-off. The university states, in its admission guidance, that international applications are considered on a rolling basis and that the international office can confirm the applicable deadline. For that reason this guide does not publish a made-up deadline. The correct check is the official page for the programme and the cycle you want, and an application should be treated as late once that cycle has passed.

Costs the scholarships do not cover

Undergraduate scholarships are tuition-fee discounts, so the amount you do not pay is your tuition fee. Everything else is your responsibility unless a different award says otherwise. That includes accommodation, meals, travel to and from the UAE, health costs beyond what is required or provided, books and personal costs. For graduate students, the picture is better for the PhD Scholarship and for the fellowship and assistantship routes, because the university lists a stipend and health insurance among the benefits. Even then, you should confirm in writing what the stipend covers, how it is paid, and whether it continues if you change to part-time study. A careful applicant treats the official scholarship page as the authority and the offer letter as the contract; nothing in a third-party summary overrides it.

Frequently asked questions

Is the UAEU scholarship fully funded? No, not for undergraduates. Undergraduate scholarships are tuition discounts of 50% to 100%. They do not cover living costs, housing, or travel. Graduate awards are broader: the PhD Scholarship, for example, lists a full tuition waiver, a monthly stipend and health insurance, so it is much closer to a fully funded award, but the terms must be confirmed from the offer.

What grades do I need? For a new undergraduate student, 97% or above for the Honours Scholarship, 96% or above for the UAEU Scholarship, and 90% to 96.99% for the Merit Scholarship. For a continuing student, the thresholds are a CGPA of 3.8, 3.6, and 3.0 out of 4.0 respectively.

Can international students apply? Yes. Several undergraduate awards are explicitly open to international students, and the PhD Scholarship is open to all nationalities.

Do I need a separate scholarship application? It depends on the award. Some undergraduate awards are assessed from the admission record. Graduate funding, fellowships and assistantships have their own routes through the College of Graduate Studies. Check the official page for the award you want.

Where is the official information? On the UAEU website, at www.uaeu.ac.ae, under admission and graduate studies. The two official pages used for this guide are the Undergraduate Scholarships page and the College of Graduate Studies scholarships page. Any deadline, amount or rule in a third-party listing that does not appear on the UAEU site should be checked with UAEU before you rely on it.

When you compare UAEU with other universities in the Gulf, remember that a percentage discount is only as valuable as the tuition fee it is applied to. Compare the fee that remains after the discount, the cost of living in Al Ain, and the conditions for keeping the award, not only the percentage in the headline.

Official sources: UAEU Undergraduate Scholarships | UAEU Scholarships, Fellowships, and Graduate Assistantships (College of Graduate Studies) | United Arab Emirates University