Funding · Northern Ireland
Department of Health (NI) Nursing Bursary
Department of Health (NI) Nursing Bursary is administered by Department of Health (Northern Ireland). The figures below are the published 2024/25 rates. 1 element carries a published figure and one does not, so a full total cannot be computed from published figures. 4 of the nursing career paths on this site qualify.
What it is
Northern Ireland's Department of Health (DoH) fully funds nursing and midwifery degree places at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, covering adult, children's/young people's, mental health and learning disability nursing. DoH pays tuition fees in full and provides a non-means-tested bursary, paid monthly, to help with living costs. Students on DoH-funded nursing and midwifery places are not eligible for additional Student Finance NI support.
The elements below are separate awards under one scheme, and they are conditional in different ways. Some are flat payments made to everyone on an eligible course; some are assessed against household income; some reimburse costs you have already incurred and are worth nothing to you unless you incur them. Reading the scheme as a single headline figure is the mistake that leads people to budget for money they will never see.
A single total for this scheme cannot be computed from the published figures. One element — Tuition Fees — is described in the scheme rules without a rate attached, or the rate is set individually. This page publishes what is stated and leaves the rest blank rather than estimating it; the administering body will give you a figure for your own circumstances.
- Nation
- Northern Ireland
- Academic year
- 2024/25
- Administered by
- Department of Health (Northern Ireland)
- Routes funded
- Undergraduate degree
- Elements
- 2
What each element pays, and on what condition
The amount column is the figure the administering body publishes. Where it is blank, no rate is published — either the award is assessed individually or the guidance sets limits rather than a single sum.
| Element | Amount | Basis | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| DoH Bursary Some professions only | £5,165 | year | Non-means-tested bursary, paid monthly, for students who commenced a DoH-funded nursing or midwifery degree programme in the 2024-25 academic year. The rate is kept under review by the Department of Health. Applies to adult nurse , mental health nurse , children's nurse , learning disability nurse . |
| Tuition Fees Some professions only | Not published | Not stated | Tuition fees for DoH-funded nursing and midwifery places at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University are paid in full by the Department of Health. Applies to adult nurse , mental health nurse , children's nurse , learning disability nurse . |
Work out what you would get
This is arithmetic on the scheme’s own published figures, and nothing else. Elements published on the same basis — here, per award — are added together. Where the scheme publishes more than one rate for the same payment, only the highest is counted, because you can only receive one of them. Elements published on a different basis are listed separately below and not added, because adding a per-claim reimbursement to an annual grant would produce a number that means nothing.
A total appears only where every element in the group carries a published figure. If one does not, the components that exist are still shown and the total is left uncomputed. That is the honest position: an incomplete sum presented as a total is worse than no total at all, because you would budget against it.
Every eligible profession
- Tuition Fees — no figure published
No amount is published for any of these elements, so there is nothing to add up. The scheme is real and the entitlements are real — the rates are simply assessed individually rather than published as a table.
Applies identically to these 4 professions.
Who qualifies
The scheme funds the undergraduate degree route . If you are training by another route, this is not the scheme that applies to you — compare the routes for your profession before you apply.
- Adult Nurse — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Mental Health Nurse — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Children's Nurse — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
- Learning Disability Nurse — what the job is · undergraduate degree, pre-registration master’s and degree apprenticeship
What does not qualify
No exclusions are published against this scheme in the dataset. That does not mean there are none — check the scheme guidance before you apply.
Exclusions decide more applications than entitlements do. Read them before you commit to a course on the assumption that it is funded.
How it works with student loans
Students on DoH-funded nursing and midwifery places are not eligible for additional Student Finance NI tuition or maintenance support, since tuition is already paid in full by the Department of Health and living costs are supported by the bursary.
This is the part applicants most often get wrong, and getting it wrong is expensive: apply for the wrong student finance product and you can end up with less money, no entitlement to the scheme on this page, and a course already under way. Check which product your specific course is designated for with the university before you submit anything, because designation is set course by course rather than by the award name.
How this compares with the rest of the UK
The same course can be funded on four different bases depending on where you study. If you are choosing between universities in different nations, this is a bigger financial difference than tuition fee headlines suggest.
The other nations
- NHS Learning Support Fund — England · 2026/27
- Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB) — Scotland · 2025/26
- NHS Wales Bursary Scheme — Wales · 2025/26
Carry on from here
- All funding schemes — Every scheme across the four nations
- Compare training routes — What each route costs and what it pays
- Every approved course — Filter by nation to see which funding regime applies
- NHS pay bands — What you earn once you are registered
- Degree apprenticeships — The salaried alternative to student funding
- Sources and licensing — Where these figures came from
Where this page’s data comes from
Figures published by Department of Health (Northern Ireland) for 2024/25. Rules change every academic year — confirm with the scheme’s own guidance before you rely on any figure here.
- Northern Ireland Department of Health nursing and midwifery bursaryDepartment of Health (Northern Ireland), as described on Queen's University Belfast's fees and finance pages · No licence or copyright statement located on the cited page · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- NMC register data reports, pre-registration standards and registration codesNursing and Midwifery Council · NMC website terms and conditions (no open licence; clause 6.3 permits reproducing rules/standards/guidance only) · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- Royal College of Nursing membership and professional body informationRoyal College of Nursing · No open licence stated; RCN copyright · checked 3 September 2026
- NHS Health Careers role profiles, pay guide and course finderNHS England (Health Careers) · No open licence stated; NHS England (Health Careers) copyright, all rights reserved · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- Skills England apprenticeship standards (Registered Nurse Degree, Nursing Associate)Skills England (Department for Education); formerly Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHS Learning Support Fund guidanceDepartment of Health and Social Care (administered by NHS Business Services Authority) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.