October 2026 is a crowded month on the scholarship calendar. If you are a Pakistani student hoping to study in the UK or the US on a fully-funded award, four separate deadlines fall within the same four weeks. Missing even one by a day means waiting a full year for the next cycle, so it is worth having every date in one place.

Chevening Scholarship — closes 6 October 2026, 11:00 UTC

Chevening, the UK government's flagship scholarship programme, closes its 2027/2028 application cycle on 6 October 2026 at 11:00 UTC (which is 4:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time). Applications are submitted entirely online through the Chevening portal at asams.chevening.org, where every applicant needs a unique access code, a working email address, and a phone number to register.

Chevening funds a one-year taught master's degree at any UK university, covering tuition, a monthly living stipend, and airfare. Before applying, candidates should shortlist up to three eligible master's courses from the official Chevening-eligible list, since the online form asks for specific course choices as part of the application. Because the portal tends to slow down in the final 48 hours before a deadline, applicants who have not yet started should treat 6 October as the real cut-off, not the date to begin.

HEC Commonwealth Scholarship 2027/28 — closes 20 October 2026

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan is currently accepting applications for the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme 2027–28, covering both Master's and PhD study in the UK. According to HEC's official announcement, the deadline to submit through HEC is 20 October 2026 at 4:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time, which lines up with the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission's own cut-off of 20 October 2026 at 16:00 BST.

This cycle offers 26 nominations for Master's study and 30 for general PhD study. To be considered, Master's applicants need a first division in a 16-year Bachelor's degree, while PhD applicants need a first division in a 17- or 18-year Master's, MS, or MPhil degree — HEC's notice is explicit that no second or third division in the final degree will be accepted. Shortlisted candidates also have to clear HEC's own admission test (HAT), scored out of 100 with a minimum of 60 required, for categories I through IV. The HAT test for this cycle is scheduled for 25 October 2026, just five days after the application deadline, so candidates should start preparing now rather than after submitting their form. Selection is made strictly on HAT score, with final-degree percentage used only to break ties.

Unlike Chevening, this route does not go through the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission's website directly — applications must be routed through HEC as Pakistan's nominating agency, so make sure you are applying through HEC's own portal referenced in its official announcement, not directly to the UK commission.

Fulbright Scholar Program — closes 28 October 2026

For Pakistani academics and researchers rather than students, the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) is accepting applications for the 2027 Fulbright Scholar Program until 28 October 2026. This is different from the Fulbright Student Program (whose 2027 deadline of 1 April 2026 has already passed) — the Scholar Program is aimed at those who already hold a PhD or terminal degree, or who are recognised as distinguished leaders in their field.

The award funds up to ten months of lectureship, post-doctoral research, or a mix of both at a US institution, and covers airfare, a living stipend, health insurance, and a research allowance, with support extended to one accompanying dependent. USEFP's eligibility notes rule out anyone who finished their doctorate within the last two years, visited the US for research in the past five years, holds dual US/Pakistani citizenship, or has immediate family who are US citizens or green-card holders. Nearly every academic field is eligible except clinical medicine.

A date worth noting even if you are not applying for a scholarship: 15 October 2026

If your scholarship plans involve applying to Oxford or Cambridge as an undergraduate — including scholarships such as Reach Oxford, whose own funding deadline is in January — the UCAS application deadline for Oxford, Cambridge, and most medicine, dentistry, and veterinary courses for 2027 entry is 15 October 2026 at 18:00 UK time. This deadline is absolute: UCAS does not accept late submissions for these courses, so your personal statement, reference, and predicted grades all need to be finalised well before mid-October.

Putting the dates together

In order, the October 2026 deadlines are: Chevening on the 6th, the Oxbridge UCAS deadline on the 15th, HEC's Commonwealth Scholarship on the 20th (with the HAT test on the 25th), and the Fulbright Scholar Program on the 28th. If more than one of these applies to you, start with whichever closes soonest and work backwards — reference letters and transcripts take time to arrange, and most of these programmes will not accept incomplete submissions after the deadline passes.