Fully Funded Scholarships in Switzerland for International Students 2026: Swiss Government Excellence Guide

The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are the closest thing Switzerland offers to a flagship fully funded scholarship for international students — and they are also one of the most frequently misunderstood scholarships in the world. Every year, thousands of applicants search for them expecting a general scholarship for a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Switzerland. That is not what this programme is. Officially, the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are mainly intended for talented early-career researchers from abroad who have already completed a master’s degree, and who want to carry out research, a research fellowship or a PhD in Switzerland with the backing of a Swiss academic supervisor. A second, much smaller route — the art scholarships — supports a first master’s degree in an artistic field, but only for applicants from a limited number of countries.

Understanding that distinction is not a disappointment; it is the beginning of a successful application. For the right candidate — a strong master’s graduate with a clear research idea and a Swiss professor willing to host the work — this scholarship is genuinely generous and genuinely prestigious. It pays CHF 2,450 per month towards basic living costs, covers compulsory health insurance premiums for holders from outside the EU/EFTA, provides a one-time CHF 600 grant towards a rental deposit, a Half-Fare Travelcard for public transport, and a return flight allowance for non-EU/EFTA holders. It places you inside one of the strongest research ecosystems in the world, at a cantonal university, a university of applied sciences, ETH Zurich, EPFL, or one of the ETH Domain research institutes. And it is explicitly designed to build research cooperation between Switzerland and your home country — a purpose the selection commission assesses directly.

This guide is a complete, honest walkthrough of the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships for the 2026 and 2027–2028 cycles: what “fully funded” does and does not mean here, who is eligible country by country and degree by degree, how the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS) selects candidates, how to find and secure a supervisor, how the GO ESKAS online application works, which documents you need, how the country-specific deadlines operate, and the mistakes that end otherwise strong applications. Every amount and rule below is drawn from the official pages of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SBFI), the Swiss federal body that runs the programme. Where the official position is that a detail depends on your country, this guide says so and tells you exactly where to check it. For the wider Swiss funding landscape — including ETH and EPFL master’s funding for applicants who do not yet hold a master’s — read our general guide to scholarships in Switzerland for international students alongside this one.

Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships at a Glance

A note on the phrase “fully funded”: this guide uses it the way applicants use it — to find the scheme — but describes the funding the way the SBFI describes it. The stipend plus insurance, travelcard, deposit grant and flight allowance cover the core living costs of a single researcher living carefully in Switzerland. They do not cover tuition or semester fees, research travel, or a family. Call it comprehensive living-cost funding with specific exclusions, budget for the exclusions, and you will never be caught out.

The Two Scholarship Types Explained

Research scholarships are the main route. The SBFI states that they are available to postgraduate researchers in any discipline who wish to pursue research at any Swiss cantonal university, university of applied sciences, either of Switzerland’s two federal institutes of technology — ETH Zurich or EPFL — or at one of the four research institutes within the ETH Domain: PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute), WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research), Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology). In practice, research scholarship holders use the funding for a research fellowship period in a Swiss group, for a full PhD at a Swiss institution, or for an early-career research stay defined in the country-specific call. The non-negotiable prerequisite is that the application must be backed by an academic supervisor in Switzerland who is willing to direct and guide the proposed research.

Art scholarships serve a different purpose. They are intended for art students who wish to obtain their first master’s degree in Switzerland, at a Swiss conservatory or university of the arts. Two limits define them: they are for an initial master’s only — not a second master’s — and they are available to applicants from only a limited number of countries. If your country is not on the art scholarship list for the cycle, this route is closed to you regardless of talent, and you should not build a plan around it. The official country lists published by the SBFI state, for each country, which scholarship types are offered and by what deadline, and that list is the only reliable way to check your position.

One further change deserves attention because older guides still describe the old structure. In earlier cycles, summaries of this programme often highlighted a separate, higher-paid postdoctoral scholarship at CHF 3,500 per month alongside a CHF 1,920 rate for other holders. The official pages for the current cycle present a single rate — CHF 2,450 per month for research fellowships, PhD scholarships and art scholarships — and describe the programme as mainly for early-career researchers who have completed a master’s, with a maximum age of 35 for research scholarships. Do not plan around stipend figures or separate postdoctoral rates quoted on third-party websites; the SBFI at-a-glance page for your cycle is the authority, and this guide follows it.

Eligibility in Full

Eligibility has four layers: nationality, academic stage, age and supervision for researchers, and the detailed conditions in your country’s call. On nationality, the programme is broad — open to applicants from 183 countries for 2027–2028 — but breadth does not mean uniformity. For each country, the SBFI publishes which scholarship types are available and the deadline that applies. Applicants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia, who form a large share of StudyGraduate’s readers, should open their country’s listing first, before reading anything else, because it determines whether the research route, the art route, or both are open to them in this cycle.

On academic stage, research scholarship applicants must already hold a master’s degree or equivalent, completed by the date specified in the current call — the SBFI country and application documents state the exact completion cut-off for the cycle, including any earlier date that applies to specific host institutions. If you are still completing your master’s, check whether the call accepts candidates whose degree will be finished by that cut-off, and be ready to prove it. On age, the official overview gives a maximum age of 35 for research scholarships. On supervision, your application must be backed by a professor at an eligible Swiss institution who agrees to direct your research; the supervisor’s support is part of the formal application, not an optional extra.

Art scholarship applicants must hold the bachelor’s-level qualification required for admission to a first master’s in their artistic field, must be applying to a Swiss conservatory or art university, and must come from a country on the limited art list. Across both routes, applicants must be ready to reside in Switzerland for the scholarship period — the SBFI requires holders to live in the city or canton of their host institution — and to comply with FCS instructions, Swiss law for foreign nationals, and the host institution’s regulations. Previous holders of the same FCS scholarship type, and applicants whose real intention is a taught bachelor’s or general master’s degree rather than the research or artistic purpose of the scheme, are not the candidates this programme funds. You can place this scheme among global options using our scholarships directory and check host institutions in our universities directory.

Benefits, and the Costs You Must Still Budget For

The core benefit is the monthly payment of CHF 2,450 for research fellowships, PhD scholarships and art scholarships, as set out in the SBFI scholarships-at-a-glance overview, intended to cover the basic living expenses of one person. The SBFI underlines two points about this money: it is not a salary, and no additional funding is provided for fieldwork or participation in conferences. Treat it as a carefully calculated living allowance. In lower-cost university towns, CHF 2,450 per month can cover a modest room, food, local transport at half fare, and daily expenses with disciplined budgeting. In Zurich or Geneva, the same amount requires genuinely frugal choices, particularly on housing. Shared accommodation is the norm for scholarship holders, and finding it early is a financial decision, not just a lifestyle one.

The additional benefits are specific and valuable. For scholarship holders from non-EU/EFTA countries, the FCS covers the premiums for compulsory Swiss health insurance — a significant saving, because health insurance is mandatory and privately purchased in Switzerland. Holders from EU/EFTA countries must cover their own insurance costs. Every holder receives a one-time grant of CHF 600 towards a rental deposit, and a Half-Fare Travelcard, which halves most Swiss rail and public transport fares and makes intercity research travel and daily life markedly cheaper. Holders from non-EU/EFTA countries also receive a return flight allowance, set by country of origin, which may be used up to two months after the scholarship expires and exclusively for returning to the country of origin. The coordinating body also organises excursions and activities for federal scholarship holders, a small benefit with real value for building a Swiss network.

Two obligations in the official guidance surprise many applicants. First, residence: you must live in Switzerland, in the city or canton of your host institution, for the scholarship period — this is a residential research award, not remote funding. Second, transparency about other money: if you receive any other financial support, from another scholarship or from teaching or research assistant work, the FCS must be notified, and some universities, including ETH Zurich, EPFL and the University of Zurich, require additional funding from the academic supervisor for their doctoral researchers, which interacts with the scholarship under the official rules. Raise these points with your supervisor and host institution early, in writing, so your funding package is compliant from day one.

Host Institutions and Fields of Study

Research scholarships can be held across the full Swiss public higher education landscape. The SBFI lists the cantonal universities — Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Zurich, and the Università della Svizzera italiana — together with ETH Zurich, EPFL, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, the universities of applied sciences, the ETH Domain research institutes, and other recognised institutions including universities of teacher education. Art scholarships can be held at Swiss conservatories and art universities, including the Zurich University of the Arts and the conservatories and art schools listed by the SBFI. This breadth means your field is rarely the obstacle: any discipline can be proposed for a research scholarship, from particle physics at CERN-linked groups to public health, economics, linguistics, law, environmental science, engineering, mathematics, and the humanities.

The real selection question is fit with a living research programme. Swiss professors host Excellence scholars inside active projects with defined methods, data and collaborators. A proposal that could be carried out anywhere, addressed to a professor whose recent publications it never mentions, signals that homework has not been done. A proposal that extends the host group’s current work in a direction the group has publicly identified as important — and that brings a method, dataset, language or home-country connection the group does not already have — is the profile that earns a supervisor’s backing. Interdisciplinary projects follow the same rule: name one host, one supervisor, and one institutional home, and show how the second discipline connects.

Fieldwork rules differ by scholarship type and should shape your project design. PhD scholarship holders may request to undertake field research for up to six months, without additional funding and at their own cost. During research fellowships, by contrast, field research outside Switzerland is not permitted. If your project depends on extended data collection in your home country, discuss this honestly with your prospective supervisor before applying, and design the Swiss-based and field-based phases to match the scholarship type you are actually applying for.

How to Apply: Step by Step Through GO ESKAS

Step 1: Confirm your country, scholarship type and deadline. Open the SBFI country information for your country of origin and note three things: whether research scholarships are offered to your country, whether art scholarships are offered, and the exact application deadline. Everything else in your plan hangs off those three facts.

Step 2: Secure a Swiss academic supervisor (research route). Identify professors whose research matches your project, study their recent publications, and approach them months before the deadline with a concise, specific proposal: who you are, what you want to investigate, why their group, what you bring, and the scholarship you are applying for, with your CV attached. A supervisor’s agreement to back the application, and to provide the support letter and short CV required in the dossier, is a formal prerequisite. Silence is not consent — keep approaching suitable supervisors, politely and professionally, until you have a clear yes or a clear no.

Step 3: Develop the research proposal or artistic portfolio. For researchers, the proposal is the heart of the file: a defined question, its scholarly context, your method, a realistic work plan for the scholarship period, and the cooperation it can build between Switzerland and your country. Follow the format and page limits in the current official application documents exactly. For art applicants, assemble the portfolio and artistic documentation to the specification of the current call and your chosen conservatory or art university.

Step 4: Register on GO ESKAS and build the application online. For the 2027–2028 year, applications opened on 20 August 2026 through the official Grants Online portal, GO ESKAS. The SBFI’s instruction is unambiguous: register, sign in, and prepare and submit your application in the portal — do not send your application by email or in paper form. Swiss diplomatic representations are part of the wider process as described in the official guidance for your country, so read both the portal instructions and your country information together.

Step 5: Submit before your country’s deadline and keep proof. Deadlines are country-specific and binding. Submit days early — portals slow down, files fail to upload, and time zones differ — and save the submission confirmation. The FCS then assesses applications, and announces its decisions by the end of May at the latest for the following academic year.

Step 6: Prepare residence, insurance and arrival in parallel. If you are awarded the scholarship, you will need your residence arrangements in the canton of your host institution, health insurance in line with your holder status, and funds for the costs the scholarship does not cover, including semester fees and the part of your housing deposit above CHF 600. Start housing enquiries as soon as your award is confirmed; Swiss university-town housing markets reward the early.

Required Documents

The exact dossier is defined in the current official application documents for your scholarship type and country, downloadable from the SBFI pages — always work from that set, not from a checklist copied from an older cycle. In structure, a research application centres on: the completed online application in GO ESKAS; a full academic curriculum vitae; a motivation letter; a research proposal prepared to the official format and length; the Swiss academic supervisor’s letter of support together with the supervisor’s short CV; references from referees as specified in the application set; copies of your degree certificates and academic transcripts, with certified translations where the documents are not in a language accepted for the application; a copy of your passport; and the medical certificate and any further forms included in the current application package. Art applicants provide the artistic equivalent: an artistic CV and motivation letter, the required portfolio in the specified format, references, degree documentation, passport copy, and proof of application or admission contact with the Swiss conservatory or art university as specified.

Document quality is a selection factor in itself, because the FCS assesses the candidate’s profile from this file. Transcripts must be complete and legible. The proposal must be your own work, properly referenced. The supervisor’s support must be explicit, not implied. If a document cannot be obtained in time — a final degree certificate for a degree completed close to the cut-off, for example — follow the procedure described in the official documents for that situation rather than omitting the item silently, and explain substitutions exactly where the application asks for them.

Deadlines and Timeline

The timeline explains the most common planning failure: starting in August. By the time the portal opens, competitive applicants have a supervisor, a drafted proposal and a complete document set. If you are reading this guide after your country’s deadline has passed for the current cycle, the productive response is not to hunt for a late route — there is none — but to use the months ahead to build the supervisor relationship and proposal that the next cycle will reward. Our planning tools and application guides can help you structure that preparation year.

Selection Criteria and How to Improve Your Chances

The FCS assesses scholarship applications according to three official criteria: the candidate’s profile, the quality of the research project or artistic work, and the synergies and potential for future research cooperation. Strong applications score on all three at once. Your profile is evidenced by your academic record, the standing of your previous work, your references, and the coherence of your path so far: a master’s graduate whose thesis, employment or publications point naturally towards the proposed project reads as a lower-risk, higher-return investment than an equally qualified applicant whose proposal arrives from nowhere.

Project quality is judged as research design, not as enthusiasm. Define a question that can actually be answered within the scholarship period with the methods and facilities your host offers. Show that you know the current literature, including your supervisor’s contribution to it. Include a staged work plan with outputs — a dataset, a paper draft, a prototype, an exhibition or performance for art applicants — and be explicit about what depends on whom. Vague projects with grand aims and no sequence are the easiest files for a commission to set aside.

The cooperation criterion is where many international applicants undersell themselves. Switzerland funds these scholarships to build durable links, so explain the future concretely: the institution in your country you are connected to, the joint work the project makes possible, the students or colleagues who will benefit, and how you will maintain the collaboration after you return. An applicant from Dhaka, Delhi, Kathmandu, Lagos or Jakarta who can name a real home institution, a real shared problem and a realistic joint output is answering the exact question the commission is asking. If your long-term base will be elsewhere, say where, and make the cooperation logic work for that setting instead.

Practically, three actions raise your chances more than any others. First, invest in the supervisor relationship: a support letter from a professor who genuinely knows your proposal — because they helped shape it — carries weight that a courtesy letter never will. Second, submit a complete, exactly formatted dossier, early. Third, be financially literate about the award: a candidate who already understands the semester fees, the one-person limit and the residence obligation looks ready to succeed, and readiness is what a selection commission is buying. You can compare how your target hosts perform internationally in our rankings section and plan the wider move through our study abroad resources.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The first and most frequent mistake is applying for the wrong thing: treating the Excellence Scholarships as a bachelor’s or taught-master’s scholarship. Research scholarships require a completed master’s degree and a backing Swiss supervisor, and the art route is limited by country and to a first artistic master’s. Files that ignore this are not borderline — they are ineligible. The second mistake is quoting outdated money. Blog posts still circulate the former CHF 1,920 monthly rate and a separate CHF 3,500 postdoctoral rate, and some claim the federal scholarship pays tuition. The current official position is CHF 2,450 per month for research fellowships, PhD and art scholarships, with tuition and semester fees expressly not covered. Plan from the SBFI pages, not from search-result summaries.

The third mistake is leaving the supervisor to the end. Professors receive many requests, reply slowly, and cannot support a proposal they first see in deadline week; an application without genuine backing fails the scheme’s central prerequisite. The fourth is submitting by the wrong route or to the wrong deadline: applications are online via GO ESKAS only — not by email or post — and the deadline is the one published for your country, not a neighbour’s and not last year’s. The fifth is budgeting as if the stipend covered a family, conferences, fieldwork or fees; the SBFI states that it covers one person’s basic living costs, with no family allowances, no conference or fieldwork funding, and fees payable by the holder. The sixth is planning fieldwork during a research fellowship, which the rules do not permit, or assuming a spouse’s residence permit will follow automatically under the current restrictive policy. Every one of these errors is visible in the official guidance in advance — which means every one of them is avoidable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship really fully funded?
It comprehensively funds one researcher’s living costs: CHF 2,450 per month, health insurance premiums for non-EU/EFTA holders, a CHF 600 rental deposit grant, a Half-Fare Travelcard and a return flight allowance for non-EU/EFTA holders. It does not cover tuition or semester fees, conferences, fieldwork or family costs. Budget for those exclusions and the funding is genuinely workable.

How much is the stipend for 2026 and 2027–2028?
CHF 2,450 per month for research fellowships, PhD scholarships and art scholarships, according to the official SBFI overview. Older figures such as CHF 1,920 per month that appear on third-party websites are superseded. The SBFI also states that the payment is a living-cost contribution, not a salary.

Who can apply for the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships?
Mainly talented early-career researchers from the 183 countries in the programme who have already completed a master’s degree, are within the maximum age of 35 for research scholarships, and have a Swiss academic supervisor backing the application. Art scholarships are open to first-master’s art students from a limited list of countries only. Check your country’s listing for the types and deadline that apply to you.

Can I apply without a supervisor in Switzerland?
No, not for a research scholarship. The SBFI makes a backing academic supervisor a prerequisite: the supervisor must be willing to direct and guide your research, and their support forms part of the application. Securing that supervisor is the first task of any serious application.

How do I apply, and what is GO ESKAS?
GO ESKAS is the official Grants Online portal for these scholarships. Applications for 2027–2028 opened on 20 August 2026, and the SBFI instructs applicants to register, prepare and submit entirely online. Do not send your application by email or in paper form.

When is the deadline and when are results announced?
Deadlines are set by country of origin and published in the SBFI country lists, so your deadline is the one listed for your nationality. The FCS announces its award decisions by the end of May at the latest, for the academic year that follows.

Does the scholarship pay tuition or semester fees?
No. The SBFI states that the Federal Excellence Scholarship does not cover tuition or semester fees, which are approximately CHF 600 to CHF 2,000 per semester in some cases, and that in some cases PhD fees are not waived. Holders must pay these fees themselves.

Can I bring my spouse or children on this scholarship?
The scholarship amount covers the living expenses of one person only and no family allowances are provided. Whether accompanying persons receive residence permits is decided by federal and cantonal migration authorities, and the SBFI notes that a restrictive policy is currently in place. Neither the FCS nor host institutions provide support for this, so seek official migration information before making family plans.

Sources and Verification

This guide was prepared entirely from official Swiss federal sources checked at the time of writing: the SBFI’s Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships pages for 2027–2028, including the statement that the scholarships are mainly for early-career researchers with a completed master’s degree, openness to 183 countries, the maximum age of 35 and the CHF 2,450 monthly funding shown for research scholarships (sbfi.admin.ch); the SBFI “Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships at a Glance” overview, which confirms the CHF 2,450 monthly amount for research fellowships, PhD and art scholarships, the health insurance, CHF 600 rental deposit, Half-Fare Travelcard and return flight benefits, the exclusion of tuition and semester fees estimated at approximately CHF 600–2,000 per semester, the fieldwork and conference exclusions, the family and residence obligations, and the GO ESKAS application steps; and the SBFI selection and awards information, including the three assessment criteria — candidate profile, quality of the research project or artistic work, and synergies and potential for future research cooperation — and the announcement of decisions by the end of May at the latest. Country-specific scholarship types and deadlines are published in the SBFI country lists and must be checked for your own nationality, as this guide directs.

Disclaimer: Scholarship amounts, eligible countries, deadlines and immigration rules are set per cycle and per country and can change. Always confirm every detail on the official SBFI website and in your country’s official call before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, university or government body, and cannot promise scholarship selection, admission, or visa or residence permit approval. For master’s-level funding at ETH Zurich and EPFL if you do not yet hold a master’s degree, see our companion overview of scholarships in Switzerland for international students.