StudyDesk Scholarships
About the scholarship
The Vice-Chancellor’s International Excellence Scholarship — known before 2023 as the University of Waikato International Excellence Scholarship — was established in 2015 to promote educational opportunities and support talented international applicants enrolling as new students at the University of Waikato in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand.
Unlike many scholarships with a single annual deadline, this one is reviewed monthly on a rolling basis. The university explicitly notes the published trimester dates are consideration dates rather than hard closing dates — but you must still have your application in by the date tied to your trimester’s offer of place, and applying early improves your chances.
What the funding covers
- Up to NZD 15,000 as a tuition-fee credit for undergraduate study.
- Up to NZD 10,000 as a tuition-fee credit for postgraduate (taught) study.
- The credit applies to your first year of full-time study; it is paid in NZD against tuition fees — not a cash stipend, and it does not cover living costs, travel or accommodation.
- Recipients may be called upon to serve as global ambassadors for the University of Waikato.
Eligibility
Per the university’s published regulations, applicants must meet all of the following:
- New international student applying to enrol full-time in an undergraduate or postgraduate (taught) programme at the University of Waikato.
- Hold a conditional or unconditional offer of place from the university.
- Have a minimum GPA equivalency of B+ in the qualification used to gain entrance.
- Not be eligible for one of the country/region-specific Vice-Chancellor’s International Excellence Scholarships (if your region has its own version, apply to that one).
You are ineligible if you: are currently enrolled at the university or its college; have already paid fees or applied for a visa; are coming via a sponsoring body, a Guaranteed Credit Arrangement, or a study-abroad/exchange agreement; or intend to enrol in a limited-places programme (e.g. Master of Nursing Practice, Master of Pharmacy Practice) or a postgraduate teaching programme (e.g. Master of Teaching and Learning). Online-only students are not eligible — study must be face-to-face.
Documents you will need
- Academic transcripts and qualification certificates (for the B+ equivalency assessment).
- Your offer of place from the University of Waikato.
- Proof of English proficiency (as required for admission).
- Passport/ID.
- The university’s scholarship regulations — read them in full before applying.
How to apply
- Apply to enrol at the University of Waikato first — you cannot access the scholarship application until you have an account. (This is not a commitment to study; it can be withdrawn.)
- Log in to MyWaikato and open the ‘Scholarships’ tab to find the Vice-Chancellor’s International Excellence Scholarship.
- Complete and submit the scholarship application with your documents.
- Meet the consideration date for your trimester’s offer of place: 30 November 2026 (A Trimester 2027) → 31 May 2027 (B) → 31 August 2027 (C) → 31 October 2027 (H/X).
- Await the monthly review — decisions are made on a rolling basis.
Frequently asked questions
No. It is a tuition-fee credit only — up to NZD 15,000 for undergraduates or NZD 10,000 for postgraduates, applied in the first year. Living costs, travel and accommodation are not covered.
There is no single hard deadline; applications are reviewed monthly. But you must apply by the consideration date for your trimester’s offer of place — 30 November 2026 for Trimester A 2027, 31 May 2027 for B, 31 August 2027 for C, and 31 October 2027 for H/X.
Yes — you must hold a conditional or unconditional offer of place from the University of Waikato, and you must apply to enrol before you can even access the scholarship application.
A minimum GPA equivalency of B+ in the qualification used for admission.
No — the scholarship is for students enrolling for the first time. Currently enrolled students are explicitly ineligible.
No. The scholarship requires face-to-face study in New Zealand.
Yes — all areas of study: Arts, Business & Management, Computer Science, Mathematics, Education, Health, Engineering, Law, Māori & Indigenous Studies, Science and Social Sciences.
Independent trackers put international tuition at roughly NZD 30,000–40,000 per year — the credit offsets a meaningful share of year one. Confirm current fees on the university’s pages.
Verified 19 Oct 2026 on the University of Waikato’s official scholarship page (waikato.ac.nz): rolling monthly review, the four trimester consideration dates (30 Nov 2026 for A Trimester 2027 offers; 31 May / 31 Aug / 31 Oct 2027 for B/C/H-X), the up-to-NZD-15,000 value, the enrol-before-applying rule and the MyWaikato application route. The NZD 15,000-undergraduate / NZD 10,000-postgraduate split, the B+ GPA equivalency, the offer-of-place requirement, the face-to-face requirement and the full exclusion list are from the university’s published 2026 scholarship regulations (the current published regulations document) — flagged as such. Aggregator claims of a fixed single deadline are not from the university and are not repeated.
