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Background.
I was a previously an Engineering PhD student at a decent US university. Since I am a US citizen, obtaining funding for an engineering PhD was relatively easy. I now seek to enter a PhD program in the UK, where I am not a citizen.

Question.

---Besides the Gates Scholarship, how does a non-UK citizen get funding for an Engineering PhD at competitive institutions like Oxford and Cambridge?
---Is it common for US citizens (who do not hold duel UK citizenship) to obtain funding for an Engineering PhD at these schools? Or, are the odds of obtaining funding so low that it is a foolish endeavor?
---What are some common methods for self-funding at these schools? Is a part-time engineering job feasible? What scholarships/fellowships are available for non-UK citizens?

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    It would appear that many PhD positions are funded through "studentships" (akin to RA positions int he US). The challenge is that you'd be responsible for the difference between the UK/EU student fees and the Overseas tuition fees. Those would have to be raised via external means (like the ones you've already mentioned).
    – aeismail
    May 23, 2015 at 22:27
  • You should consider applying to multiple UK universities regardless of funding, and then seeing what funding options are available. In engineering specifically, there are strong competitors to Oxbridge. According to the REF 14, UCL was first in CS, architecture / built environment, and Imperial in electronic and electrical engineering. QMUL and King's also have some good departments.
    – Steve Dodier-Lazaro
    May 23, 2015 at 23:49
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    It's very competitive, but look into Rhodes Scholarships for Oxford. Unrelatedly, don't restrict your search to Oxford & Cambridge - they are perhaps the best known UK universities outside the UK, but it is far from certain that they are the best (or the only good options) for you.
    – Flyto
    May 26, 2015 at 15:42

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I can only explain how funding happens at UCL since this is where I'm located. Oxford and Cambridge will have their own specific sources of funding. All UK universities have this in common, though: PhD positions in Engineering are primarily funded via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The EPSRC imposes very tight rules to ensure it spends its money only on locals:

  • you must be able to stay indefinitely in the UK
  • you must have continuously resided in the UK in the past 3 years
  • you must have done so for purposes other than full-time education (though I'm unsure if that rule is actively enforced)

In rare cases, universities are allowed to spend some of their EPSRC money on foreigners. The Doctoral Training Centers I know about in UCL have one or two scholarships available to all.

Now getting into the specifics of UCL where I study. There are other types of funding available:

  • UCL Graduate Resource Scheme: tuition fees + £15.5k for 3-4 years, but extremely competitive
  • Discretionary departmental funding: depends on department, also covers tuition + stipend for 3-4 years
  • Special scholarships: some scholarships are available on specific topics by scientific societies or for specific populations (e.g. women in computer science). You'll usually find a run-down of such opportunities on each department's application website as well as dedicated scholarship search sites.
  • Lecturer/Professor money: case-by-case, but at least covers a £15.5k stipend as this is the minimum required for surviving in London. The money can come from industrial partners, FP7 programmes, EPSRC projet grants... This is probably the most common source of funding for non-UK students.
  • Part-time research: that's not very common but totally possible, you can do your PhD part-time and have a job to support you. You'll still be expected to spend half of your time on your PhD so the job ought to be part-time too, and you should not attempt this under £16k a year post-tax (income tax and council tax). Being a TA does not pay well enough (£4-5k a year at most, if you teach a lot).

You should expect most sources of funding not to cover your tuition fees, which amount to roughly £4000 a year. In any case, in UK universities the application process is completely decoupled from the funding process, so you should apply and get accepted on academic merit before your proposed supervisor starts looking into funding, and the availability (or absence thereof) of funding does not affect the admission decision at all.

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