Hello.
Could anybody advise on the following? If a University advertises PhD scholarships that are funded by the University itself, do you think the scholarships are more likely to go to students already at that University? Is there a chance that they 'have' to advertise them and that the posts are likely to already be filled? Please could you say if you have any experience of this, either as a student already at a University or as a student where you managed to get a funded place at another University?
Thank you in advance.

Managed to get uni funded place without being in that uni but had connections with research teams. From what I know if you are the right person for the place then they will definitely choose you, this is the same in industry and normal jobs-people from inside as well as outside apply for posts and its the match between the job specification and the person that will count.
NEVER, guess these things and regret of not applying.

I got a Departmental Studentship at 'another' Uni (i.e. not where I did my Masters), so it does happen. It's hard to generalise I suppose, but I certainly wouldn't assume students already at a Uni will automatically be first choice. (Not sure why Uni-funded scholarships would be any different from externally funded scholarships, by the way - surely the Uni chooses the successful applicants in just the same way?)

Oh, and I didn't have any 'connections' at that Uni by the way - I was a complete outsider.