UM Global Studies Scholarship 2026

The UM Global Studies Scholarship 2026 at Maastricht University offers full funding for top-performing bachelor’s students from OECD Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries. The Global Studies programme trains students to understand and solve complex global issues across disciplines. The scholarship includes full tuition coverage, a monthly stipend, health insurance, visa support, and pre-academic training.

Summary

1. Application Deadline: February 1, 2026
2. Value: Fully Funded (tuition fee waiver + €15,925 living stipend + insurance + visa costs + housing)
3. Study Level: Bachelor’s
4. Sponsor: Maastricht University
5. Eligible Country: OECD ODA-eligible countries

Eligibility Criteria for UM Global Studies Scholarship 2026

All candidates must meet the following requirements:

1. You hold the nationality of a country that is eligible to receive Official Development Assistance from the OECD, and you meet the requirements for obtaining an entry visa and residence permit for the Netherlands.
2. Please check this website before you apply to see in which country you have to collect your MVV visa for the Netherlands.
3. If you already have a residence permit for another Schengen country, you can only apply if this residence permit is still valid until at least 2 September 2026. If your residence permit expires before 2 September 2026, you can only apply for the Scholarship from your home country via an MVV visa application. More information can be found on the webpages of the Visa Office.
4. You do not have a dual nationality from any country in the European Economic Area or any other country not included in the list.
5. You have applied for admission to the Global Studies bachelor's programme at the UM for the 2026-2027 academic year
6. You meet the specific admission requirements of the UM bachelor programme to which you have applied.
7. You do not have a diploma from a higher education institution; you are not eligible for a scholarship if you have completed a degree programme equivalent to a bachelor degree.
8. You are not older than 35 years of age on 1 September 2026
9. You agree to become an active Global Studies and UM ambassador during and after your studies, by committing to share your experiences during at least one (information) session for students and/or other stakeholders
10. You can only submit an application once; please make sure all documents meet the requirements before you start your application. We cannot add or replace documents after you submit the application

Benefits of UM Global Studies Scholarship 2026

1. Full tuition fee waiver
2. €15,925 annual living expenses (€1,225/month)
3. Health and liability insurance
4. Visa application costs
5. Pre-academic training and ISAP participation
6. Accommodation provided by the university

How to Apply

Step 1: Apply for the Global Studies programme at Maastricht University

For further details on how to apply for this bachelor's programme at UM, please see the website of Global Studies. Once you have submitted your application via Studielink, you will receive a student ID number for UM. You will need a student number in order to complete and submit the Scholarship Application Form (see Step 2 below).

1. Please note: you first have to apply for the bachelor programme at UM to receive your student ID; as soon as you have your student ID you can apply for the scholarship. However, you must meet all admission requirements, except legal residence, of your bachelor programme before the Scholarship deadline. Please be aware that the admission deadline may differ to the Scholarship deadline.
2. Please note: if your study programme requires the payment of a handling fee as part of your programme's admissions procedure, the UM International Services Desk does not cover handling fees. You are responsible for paying any handling fee your programme may require by 1 February 2026. To check whether the programme requires the payment of a handling fee, please check here.

Step 2: Please fill in the application form; you need to log in with your UM account

You can find the application form here. Upload the following documents in .doc, .docx or PDF format, and submit your application. Please note that you will only be able to submit your application once, so please ensure that all of your documents and referee contact details are up-to-date.

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. Your CV should be up-to-date; contain relevant information about your education and (job) experience; include proven previous extracurricular engagement with your previous (academic) organisation/high school and active citizenship in your community; and should not be longer than two A4 pages. If you have received any awards or prizes, please do not forget to mention these on your CV.
3. Letter of motivation
4. Please use the template for the motivation letter. This template will focus on your motivation for the scholarship.
5. Proof of academic excellence
6. Continuous good to excellent results during your prior (high school) education programmes, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript. Your university transcript has to show at least 75% of the maximum grade; for example a 3 out of 4 that would be equivalent to a 7.5 out of 10 at Maastricht University.
7. Personal statement of financial needs
8. Please explain why you would benefit from being awarded a scholarship and describe your personal circumstances such as financial difficulty, sole parent/caretaking responsibilities, medical condition, disability, refugee status, et cetera.
9. A reference letter
10. We have prepared scholarship reference letter guidelines; please print these out or forward them to your referee, as they will help your referee to write a good reference letter on your behalf. Please note that the referee must be a (former) professor, teacher, principal, college counsellor, lecturer, or employer, and not a family member. Recommendation letters should be dated and written no earlier than 1 February 2025. Letters that do not agree with the guidelines are not taken into account, which means your application is incomplete. You need to upload the reference letter, this cannot be done by your referee. We trust you in this and we can check your reference
11. The contact details of one referee
12. Please note that we might check the authenticity of your referee by contacting your referee. Therefore, ensure that you take the following steps when choosing a referee and submitting their details:
13. Relationship to applicant: indicate your referee’s connection to you. Is this your (former) professor, teacher, principal, college counsellor, lecturer, or employer? Please remember that family members may not function as referees.
14. Work telephone number of your referee; be sure to include the applicable country calling code.
15. Work or institutional email address of your referee. Letters referencing only a personal email address will be rejected, unless a valid reason is provided.

Please note that you will only be able to submit your application once, so please ensure that all of your documents and referee contact details are up-to-date.

Selection procedure

1. Step 1: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 February 2026.
2. Step 2: The UM Scholarship Office forwards your application to the Global Studies admission office.
3. Step 3: The Global Studies admission office - in cooperation with the respective program coordinator(s)—ranks your application based on the UM scholarship selection criteria and proposes a top-5 to the Global Studies Scholarship selection committee in March 2026.
4. Step 4: The Global Studies Scholarship selection committee (composed of the Global Studies academic program coordinator and representatives of the UM Scholarship Office) invites the top-5 applicants for an online interview, following which a decision is taken. In case you are not selected, you will be added to a reserve list in case the selected candidate(s) decline(s) the scholarship.
5. Step 5: The UM International Services Desk will inform all candidates of their application status in April 2026. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of June 2026 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by June 2026. Scholarship awardees will receive more information about the UM Pre-Academic Training programme and arrival in Maastricht upon receiving their award letters. The UM Pre-Academic Training is a two week mandatory component of the UM Global Studies Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training takes place in the first week of August 2026.
6. Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.

For more information, visit Maastricht University scholarship webpage.

Application Deadline

February 1, 2026

Application Link(s)

• Apply for UM Global Studies Scholarship 2026