“The University of Manchester welcomes this important scheme to attract and retain leading talent to the UK and AI sector,” said Professor Duncan Ivison after Manchester and Newcastle were named among nine universities to host fully funded Spärck AI master’s scholarships. The first cohort is set to begin in October 2026, with the plan first announced on 9 June 2025 and updated by officials on 12 November 2025.

The scholarships, named for British computer scientist Karen Spärck Jones, will cover both tuition and living costs for at least 100 master’s students and come with industry placements and mentoring. Partners include the UK’s AI Security Institute alongside companies such as Darktrace, Faculty and Quantexa, offering a direct line into high‑skill tech roles.

Applications open in spring 2026, with teaching due to start that October. Government paperwork confirms £17.6 million has been allocated to the Spärck AI programme, following a correction posted today, ensuring the scheme has the resource to recruit widely and avoid narrowing opportunity to a small pool.

Alongside the scholarships, ministers have trailed new Turing Pioneer Fellowships for established professionals, with applications opening in mid‑July 2025 and fellows in post by autumn 2026, backed by £25.2 million. Separately, the Alan Turing Institute ran an Open Source AI Fellowship call from 14 July to 18 August 2025 for 12‑month secondments starting January 2026, adding another route for experienced talent.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the goal is “fully funded tuition and unparalleled access to industry” so graduates step straight into well‑paid, skilled jobs-part of the government’s Plan for Change and forthcoming Digital and Tech Sector Plan under its Industrial Strategy.

For the North, the headline is simple: two of the nine anchor universities are here. Manchester and Newcastle are both members of the N8 Research Partnership, which campaigns for investment and collaboration across Northern England-exactly the kind of pipeline this scheme claims to back.

Placements at the UK’s AI Security Institute arrive after the body was renamed earlier this year, shifting emphasis toward national security. Critics warned that topics like bias could slip down the list, while the department says the refocus tackles the most serious risks and has since convened international partners to work on AI behaviour and control.

This sits alongside the Prime Minister’s national skills drive unveiled at London Tech Week on 8–9 June 2025, promising classroom‑to‑career routes and training for millions of workers. The scholarships and fellowships plug into that wider effort, with government arguing the package will support growth in every region.

Northern employers-from health tech in Greater Manchester to manufacturing in the North East-regularly flag shortages in applied AI, data engineering and MLOps. A steady flow of funded master’s places, tied to real placements, will help if the opportunities land in Northern labs and firms as often as they do in the South.

Prospective applicants can watch for course‑level guidance from Manchester and Newcastle over winter ahead of the spring 2026 window. We’ll be tracking how many scholarships and fellowships are awarded here, where students are placed, and-crucially-how many stay in the North after graduation.