Fully Funded Scholarships Open Now for 2027 Intake — Apply Today

Every October, scholarship blogs publish long lists of scholarships that are supposedly “open now” — and every October, a large share of those lists are wrong. Some of the programmes on them closed weeks earlier. Some have not opened yet. Some no longer exist at all. If you are an international student from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria, Indonesia or anywhere else planning to start a degree in 2027, acting on a wrong list wastes the one resource you cannot recover: time in the short window when the best fully funded scholarships are actually accepting applications.

This guide does something stricter. Every programme below was checked on 21 October 2026, and every entry carries one of two honest labels: “Open now” — meaning the application system is genuinely accepting applications today for 2027 intake — or “Opens [date]” — meaning the call is not yet live but opens within the next few weeks on a verified or clearly-flagged expected date, so you should be preparing your documents now. Where a famous scholarship has just closed for the 2027 cycle, we say so plainly in a separate section, so you do not waste an evening preparing an application that cannot be submitted. Where a programme is a partial exception — most importantly France’s Eiffel Excellence Scholarship, which pays a generous monthly allowance but does not pay tuition fees — we flag that in the entry itself rather than burying it.

Read the at-a-glance table first, shortlist two or three programmes that match your degree level and field, then work through the mini-profile for each one. You can compare these awards with the full directory in our scholarship listings, browse institutions in the university directory, and track every date you care about using the planning resources in our study-abroad tools section.

At a Glance: Scholarships Open Now for 2027 Intake (Checked 21 October 2026)

A quick warning about the stipend column: a bigger monthly number does not automatically mean a better-funded life. HK$28,700 in Hong Kong, €1,400 across Western Europe and HUF 43,700 in Hungary buy very different standards of living, and some awards add free housing, insurance or travel money on top of the stipend while others do not. Our dedicated comparison, Fully Funded Scholarships with Monthly Stipend for International Students 2027, works through exactly that question programme by programme. And if your real constraint is a deadline rather than a stipend, see Last Chance: Fully Funded Scholarships Closing in December 2026 — several programmes in this article appear there too, because December is when their windows shut.

The Programmes: Mini-Profiles

1. Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) — Open now, closes 1 December 2026

The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, run by Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council (RGC), is one of the most generous doctoral fellowships in Asia. For the 2027/28 academic year the scheme will award 400 fellowships to new full-time PhD students at Hong Kong’s eight University Grants Committee-funded universities, regardless of country of origin, prior work experience or ethnic background. The fellowship pays an annual stipend of HK$344,400 — HK$28,700 per month — plus a conference and research-related travel allowance of HK$14,400 per year, for up to three years. Most host universities add tuition support and their own top-ups, but confirm the tuition arrangement with your chosen university, because the RGC award itself is the stipend and travel allowance.

Applications opened on 1 September 2026 and the initial application closes at 12:00 noon Hong Kong time on 1 December 2026. The process has two linked steps that students routinely misunderstand: you first submit the HKPFS initial application through the RGC system and receive a reference number, and you must then submit full PhD admission applications to your chosen universities by the same deadline, quoting that reference number. Missing either half voids the other. Selection panels — one for Sciences, Medicine, Engineering and Technology, and one for Humanities, Social Sciences and Business Studies — weigh academic excellence first, then research ability and potential, communication and interpersonal skills, and leadership qualities. In practice, contacting a prospective supervisor before you apply matters enormously: Hong Kong PhD admissions are supervisor-driven, and a professor who wants to take you on transforms your file. Start those emails this week, not in late November.

2. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters — Open now, deadlines from December 2026

Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters are prestigious, integrated master’s programmes delivered by international consortia of universities in at least three European countries. You study in at least two countries, graduate with either a joint degree or multiple degrees, and — if you win one of the full scholarships — receive a monthly allowance of €1,400 for up to 24 months, calculated by the European Commission as a contribution to travel, visa, installation and subsistence costs, with participation costs covered. The official Erasmus+ programme guide confirms the €1,400 monthly unit cost; you can read the funding rules on the Erasmus Mundus action page of the Erasmus+ Programme Guide.

There is no single Erasmus Mundus deadline, because each consortium runs its own call. Many 2027-intake calls opened on 1 October 2026. Two verified examples show the pattern: the EMMIR programme (European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations, coordinated by the University of Oldenburg) opened on 1 October 2026 and closes its scholarship round on 20 December 2026, while the PlantHealth programme (Plant Health in Sustainable Cropping Systems) opened its first call on 1 October 2026 and closes on 31 December 2026. Other consortia close in early-to-mid January 2027. The practical lesson is simple: find your specific programmes in the Erasmus Mundus catalogue now, write down each one’s own deadline, and never assume a date you read on a blog applies to your consortium. Our full guide to the scheme is at Erasmus Mundus. You may apply to several programmes, so treat this as a portfolio: three well-matched applications beat one rushed one.

3. Gates Cambridge Scholarship — Open now, closes 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027 by course

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship is a full-cost award for postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge, open to citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom. It covers the University Composition Fee, a maintenance allowance — £23,152 for 12 months at the 2026–27 rate — one economy airfare at the start and end of the course, and inbound visa costs including the Immigration Health Surcharge, with additional discretionary funding for things such as academic development and dependants. Around 70 scholarships are awarded each year, roughly two-thirds of them to PhD students.

For 2027 entry there are two rounds. The United States round (for US citizens resident in the USA) closed on 14 October 2026. The international round — which covers most readers of this article — closes on 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027 depending on your course’s funding deadline. There is no separate Gates application form: you apply through Cambridge’s Graduate Application Portal, complete the funding section, and write the Gates Cambridge statement addressing its four selection criteria — outstanding intellectual ability, reasons for choosing the course, a commitment to improving the lives of others, and leadership potential. Because the scholarship deadline is tied to your course, check your exact course deadline on the Cambridge course directory today; guessing the January date when your course is a December course is an unforced error that ends applications every year. Our programme profile is at Gates Cambridge.

4. Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) — Open now, closes 1 December 2026

SINGA is a bond-free PhD scholarship for international students in Singapore, run as a collaboration between A*STAR and Singapore’s autonomous universities including NUS, NTU, SUTD, SMU and SIT. It supports PhD and EngD research in biomedical sciences, computing and information sciences, engineering and technology, and physical sciences, taught and supervised in English in A*STAR research institutes and university laboratories. Support runs for up to four years and includes full tuition, a monthly stipend of S$2,700 rising to S$3,200 after you pass the qualifying examination, a one-time airfare grant of up to S$1,500 and a one-time settling-in allowance of S$1,000.

The deadline for the August 2027 intake is 1 December 2026 at 23:59 Singapore time. SINGA is unusual in what it does not require at the first stage: the application is built around your academic record, your research interests and two referee reports submitted directly by your referees through the online system. Because the stipend figures quoted for SINGA have changed between cycles in the past, treat the S$2,700/S$3,200 figures as the currently published rates for this intake and re-confirm them on the official A*STAR SINGA page when you submit — and note the older S$2,200/S$2,700 figures still circulating on some websites are superseded. If your field is laboratory science, computing or engineering and you want a doctorate in Asia without a post-study work bond, this is arguably the strongest open application you can make this month.

5. DAAD EPOS, Germany — Open now for many courses, course-specific deadlines

The DAAD’s Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) programme funds graduates from developing and newly industrialised countries — a list that includes Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia — to take English-taught master’s and, in some cases, doctoral degrees at German public universities. The official DAAD scholarship database lists monthly payments of €992 for master’s students and €1,300 for doctoral candidates, rising to €1,400 for doctoral candidates from February 2026, plus payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance and a travel allowance, with possible rent subsidy and family allowance in certain circumstances. You can verify the current rates in the official DAAD scholarship database entry for EPOS. Germany’s wider funding picture — including the €11,904-per-year blocked account that non-scholarship students must show — is covered in our DAAD Scholarship guide.

EPOS has no single deadline. Each listed course sets its own, and for the 2027 intake those dates are spread across the autumn and winter — some courses have already closed, many close between October 2026 and the early months of 2027. That spread is exactly why EPOS belongs on an “open now” list with a condition attached: it is open now for the courses whose deadlines have not yet passed, and the only authoritative check is the official EPOS course list for your specific programme. Eligibility is distinctive: you need a bachelor’s degree (usually four years), above-average results, and at least two years of relevant professional experience after your degree. Recent graduates without that experience should not force an EPOS application; look at Erasmus Mundus or the Swedish route instead.

6. France Excellence Eiffel — Open now, but read the tuition warning

The France Excellence Eiffel programme, run by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs through Campus France, exists to attract top international students to French master’s and doctoral programmes in seven fields: biology and health, ecological transition, mathematics and digital sciences, engineering sciences, history, French language and civilisation, law and political science, and economics and management. The 2027 call is open now: Campus France confirms on its official call page for the Eiffel 2027 campaign that the call runs until French institutions submit applications by 6 January 2027 (some Campus France pages print 7 or 8 January; the institutional submission deadline given in the call itself is 6 January, and your university’s internal deadline will be weeks earlier — in November or December 2026).

From January 2026 the allowance is €1,200 per month at master’s level and €2,100 per month at doctoral level, alongside international and domestic travel support, insurance and housing assistance. Now the warning, in plain terms: Eiffel does not pay tuition fees. It is included in this article because it is genuinely open, genuinely generous as a living-cost award, and — at French public universities, where regulated fees are comparatively low and scholarship holders may benefit from exemptions — it can form part of a fully funded package. But if a private institution’s fees remain payable, you must budget for them yourself. Two more rules shape your strategy: you cannot apply directly — a French institution must nominate you, so your real deadline is that institution’s internal one — and age limits apply (born after 31 March 1997 for master’s applicants in the 2027 call, and after 31 March 1991 for doctoral applicants, per the current call conditions). Contact your target institution’s international office this month.

7. Swedish Institute Scholarship for Global Professionals — Admission step open now

Sweden’s route is a two-step dance, and step one is open right now. To be in contention for the Swedish Institute (SI) Scholarship for Global Professionals — which covers full tuition, a living allowance of SEK 12,000 per month, and a travel grant — you must first apply for an SI-eligible master’s programme through Sweden’s central University Admissions system. The Swedish Institute’s official SI Scholarship for Global Professionals page gives the key dates: master’s applications run from 16 October 2026 to 15 January 2027, the list of eligible programmes and required scholarship documents is published on 13 November 2026, and the scholarship application portal itself is open from 8 to 24 February 2027, closing at 14:59 CET on the final day.

So the honest label is: Open now — the admission step that makes the scholarship possible; the scholarship portal opens 8 February 2027. Eligibility is restricted to citizens of the SI’s list of eligible countries — which includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan among its 34 countries for the current cycle — with demonstrated work experience and leadership experience, in the fields of governance, public health, entrepreneurship and innovation, and STEM. If you miss the January admission deadline, there is no February scholarship application, however strong your file. Treat 15 January 2027 as your real deadline and work backwards.

8. MEXT, Japan (University Recommendation) — Opening in the next weeks at many universities

Japan’s MEXT scholarship is fully funded in the classic sense: tuition and examination fees are paid by MEXT, return airfare is provided, and research students receive a monthly stipend of ¥143,000 during preparatory or non-regular study, ¥144,000 in a master’s course and ¥145,000 in a doctoral course, with a small regional supplement of ¥2,000 or ¥3,000 in designated areas. The better-known Embassy Recommendation route runs in spring and is not the route that is live now. The route opening in the coming weeks is University Recommendation: Japanese universities screen applicants themselves and nominate candidates to MEXT, and many universities run that screening between November 2026 and January 2027, with internal deadlines frequently falling in December.

Because each university sets its own dates and its own nomination quota, there is no honest single deadline to print here — anyone who gives you one for “MEXT University Recommendation” as a whole is guessing. What you can do now is concrete: shortlist universities with laboratories in your field, read each international office’s MEXT University Recommendation page, email a prospective supervisor with a focused research outline, and note the exact internal deadline for each university on your list. Our overview of the scheme is at MEXT Scholarship. Applicants generally need to be under 35 for research-student categories and in good health, and the supervisor relationship — as with Hong Kong — is often decided before the paperwork is.

9. Stipendium Hungaricum, Hungary — Opens November 2026 (expected, TBC)

Stipendium Hungaricum, the Hungarian government’s flagship scholarship managed by the Tempus Public Foundation, offers tuition-free study plus a monthly stipend, housing support (a free dormitory place or a contribution of HUF 40,000 per month) and medical insurance to students from partner countries, at bachelor’s, master’s, one-tier master’s and doctoral levels. At master’s level the stipend in the most recent published call was HUF 43,700 per month — honest context matters here: the programme itself describes the stipend and housing support as a contribution to living costs, not full coverage of them, and travel to Hungary is not covered. Doctoral stipends are substantially higher (HUF 140,000 per month in the first phase and HUF 180,000 in the second phase of the recent call).

As of 21 October 2026, the 2027/28 call has not yet been published. Based on the previous cycle — which opened in November 2025 and closed on 15 January 2026 — the new call is expected to open in November 2026 with a deadline in mid-January 2027. That is a pattern, not an official date: label it in your planner as “expected, to be confirmed”, prepare your documents in October, and check the official Stipendium Hungaricum site weekly from early November. You will also need nomination by your country’s sending partner, whose local deadline may be earlier than Hungary’s — another reason to prepare before the portal opens rather than after.

Just Closed — Do Not Waste Time on These for 2027

Three famous programmes are not open for 2027, whatever older articles claim. The Chevening Scholarship for 2027–28 closed on 6 October 2026. Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford closed its 2027 cohort application on 6 October 2026 at 1:00 pm Pacific Time — though if you did apply, remember your separate Stanford graduate programme application may still be due by its own deadline or 1 December 2026, whichever is earlier. The Commonwealth Master’s and PhD Scholarships closed their central CSC application on 20 October 2026. If you missed these, the productive move is not regret; it is redirecting the essays, references and transcripts you prepared into the genuinely open applications above, several of which close within the next six weeks. The Commonwealth family is not entirely shut, either — Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are expected to open in early November 2026 for a mid-December close, which we cover in the December deadlines article linked earlier.

Eligibility: Who Can Apply for These Open Scholarships?

Eligibility differs in detail, but the pattern across the programmes above is consistent enough to plan around. You will normally need: citizenship of an eligible country (all of these programmes are for international students; several — DAAD EPOS, SI, Stipendium Hungaricum — restrict the eligible-country list, so check yours first); a completed degree at the right level by the time study starts (a bachelor’s for master’s applications, a master’s for most doctoral ones, with final-year students usually able to apply with a provisional certificate); academic results in the upper part of your cohort; and English proficiency evidence matching your programme’s requirement — sometimes a test score, sometimes proof that your previous degree was taught in English, depending on the programme.

Programme-specific gates matter as much as the general ones. DAAD EPOS requires at least two years of post-degree professional experience and a development-related motivation. The Swedish Institute requires demonstrated work and leadership experience and citizenship of a listed country. Eiffel imposes age limits and requires institutional nomination rather than a direct application. HKPFS and SINGA are doctoral-only. Erasmus Mundus requires that you have not previously held an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarship. Gates Cambridge is open to any non-UK citizen applying for an eligible full-time postgraduate course, but part-time and certain professional courses are excluded — the course list, not the headline, decides. Read the eligibility page of your two or three shortlisted programmes line by line before you invest in essays; ten minutes there can save ten hours later. For a sense of where these universities sit globally while you shortlist, see our university rankings hub.

How to Apply: A Step-by-Step Plan for the Next Six Weeks

1. Shortlist ruthlessly (days 1–2). From the table above, pick a maximum of three programmes that match your level, field, citizenship and experience. Write each one’s real deadline — the course deadline, the internal university deadline, or the portal deadline, whichever applies — at the top of a fresh page.
2. Verify on the official site (day 2). Open each programme’s official page and confirm the deadline, stipend and document list there. If anything contradicts a blog — including this one — the official page wins.
3. Contact supervisors and institutions (days 2–7). For HKPFS, MEXT University Recommendation and Eiffel, your application depends on academics or institutions acting for you. Send concise, specific emails now: who you are, what you want to research or study, why that laboratory or programme, and what you are asking for.
4. Assemble the document core (week 1–2). Passport, transcripts, degree certificates (or provisional letters), CV, language evidence and referee details. Order certified copies and translations early; they are the most common cause of missed December deadlines.
5. Brief your referees (week 1). Give each referee the deadline, the submission route (several of these systems require referees to upload directly), and a one-page summary of your achievements and target programme. A referee who learns about a 1 December deadline on 29 November is a risk you created.
6. Draft the essays against the actual criteria (weeks 2–4). Gates Cambridge wants its four criteria answered explicitly. Erasmus Mundus consortia score motivation and fit with that specific joint programme. EPOS wants development impact. Write to the rubric in front of you, not to a generic template.
7. Submit early, then verify submission (final week). Portals slow down near deadlines and time zones bite — HKPFS closes at noon Hong Kong time, SINGA at 23:59 Singapore time. Submit at least 48 hours early, download the confirmation, and check that referee uploads actually arrived.
8. Run parallel applications. Nothing in the rules of the programmes above stops you applying to several at once (Erasmus Mundus explicitly expects multiple consortium applications). Parallel, well-matched applications are how strong candidates convert one good profile into one funded offer.

Documents You Will Need

Across these programmes, the recurring document set is: a valid passport; degree certificates and full transcripts, with certified English translations where the originals are in another language; a curriculum vitae in the format the programme specifies (SI and several European programmes insist on their own templates — a generic CV can be rejected unread); proof of English proficiency where required; a study or research proposal for doctoral applications; a motivation or personal statement tailored to each programme’s criteria; and two or three reference letters, usually submitted by referees directly into the portal. EPOS additionally requires employment certificates proving your two-plus years of experience. Eiffel files are assembled by the nominating institution, which will ask you for its own list. Keep one master folder with clean scans of everything, named clearly — when a December deadline compresses your timeline, the candidates who submit are the ones who were not hunting for a transcript at midnight.

Timeline: What Happens Between Now and Your 2027 Start

Common Mistakes That Kill “Open Now” Applications

Trusting a listicle’s date over the official page. Deadlines move, and aggregators copy each other’s errors. The December date that matters is the one on your programme’s official site this week. Confusing the scholarship deadline with your real deadline. For Eiffel it is the university’s internal deadline; for Sweden it is the January admission deadline; for Gates Cambridge it is your course’s funding deadline. In each case the headline date is the last step, not yours. Missing the second submission. HKPFS requires both the RGC initial application and full university applications; SI requires admission first, scholarship second; Knight-Hennessy applicants still owe Stanford a separate programme application. Ignoring time zones. A noon deadline in Hong Kong is early morning in West Africa and the previous evening in parts of the Americas. Convert every deadline into your local time the day you read it. Applying to closed programmes. Chevening, Knight-Hennessy and Commonwealth Master’s/PhD are closed for 2027 — effort spent there is effort stolen from SINGA and HKPFS, which are not. Treating “expected” dates as confirmed. Stipendium Hungaricum’s November opening is a well-grounded expectation, not a published call; prepare, but verify when the call appears.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which fully funded scholarships are genuinely open on 21 October 2026 for 2027 intake?

HKPFS (closes 1 December 2026), SINGA (closes 1 December 2026), Gates Cambridge’s international round (closes 8 December 2026 or 6 January 2027 by course), many Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters calls (opened 1 October 2026), DAAD EPOS courses whose individual deadlines have not passed, and the Eiffel call (institutional submissions by 6 January 2027, internal deadlines earlier). Sweden’s SI route is open at the admission step, and MEXT University Recommendation and Stipendium Hungaricum open in the coming weeks.

Is the Eiffel Scholarship fully funded?

Not on its own. Eiffel pays €1,200 per month at master’s level and €2,100 at doctoral level from January 2026, plus travel and insurance support, but it does not pay tuition fees. Combined with the low regulated fees — and possible fee exemptions — at French public universities it can form part of a fully funded package, but you must confirm your institution’s fees before relying on it.

Can I apply for several of these scholarships at the same time?

Yes, in most cases. Erasmus Mundus allows applications to multiple consortia, and there is no general rule stopping you applying to, for example, HKPFS and SINGA simultaneously if you meet both programmes’ criteria. What you cannot do is hold two incompatible awards for the same study period — if you receive multiple offers, you will choose one and decline the others promptly.

I missed Chevening’s 6 October 2026 deadline. What are my best alternatives?

For a master’s in Europe, Erasmus Mundus and the Swedish Institute route are the strongest still-open options, with DAAD EPOS if you have two years of work experience. For the UK specifically, Gates Cambridge’s international round is still open if a Cambridge course fits. Your Chevening essays and references can be adapted — not copied — for each of these.

Do I need IELTS or TOEFL for these programmes?

It depends on the programme and the university, not on the scholarship headline. Some accept proof that your previous degree was taught in English; others require a test score at a stated level. Check the admission requirements of the specific course you are applying to, and book a test early if you need one — test dates fill quickly in November and December.

When will Stipendium Hungaricum 2027/28 actually open?

The call had not been published as of 21 October 2026. The previous cycle opened in November 2025 and closed on 15 January 2026, so an opening in November 2026 and a mid-January 2027 deadline are expected based on the previous cycle (TBC). Prepare your documents now and confirm the dates on the official site when the call appears.

How much is the Erasmus Mundus monthly allowance, and what does it cover?

The scholarship is calculated at €1,400 per month for the duration of the programme (up to 24 months), as a contribution to travel, visa, installation and subsistence costs, with participation costs covered by the consortium. It is paid to full-time scholarship holders only for the period needed to complete the joint master.

Are any of these scholarships open to bachelor’s applicants?

Most programmes in this article are postgraduate. Stipendium Hungaricum is the main exception, with bachelor’s and one-tier master’s routes for citizens of partner countries when it opens. Undergraduate applicants should also watch for government scholarships in their own country’s spring cycles and university-level awards in our scholarship directory.

Sources & Verification

The status labels and dates in this article were checked on 21 October 2026 against the following official sources: Campus France, “Call for France Excellence Eiffel applications 2027” (call open, institutional submissions by 6 January 2027); the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme Guide, Erasmus Mundus action page (€1,400 monthly scholarship calculation and coverage rules); the DAAD scholarship database entry for Development-Related Postgraduate Courses (EPOS) (€992 / €1,300–€1,400 monthly payments, insurance and travel allowance); the Swedish Institute’s official Scholarship for Global Professionals page (admission round 16 October 2026–15 January 2027, scholarship portal 8–24 February 2027, eligible countries and fields); the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong’s HKPFS scheme information for 2027/28 (400 fellowships, HK$344,400 annual stipend, HK$14,400 travel allowance, 1 December 2026 deadline); the Gates Cambridge Trust’s published deadlines and funding for 2027 entry (maintenance £23,152 at the 2026–27 rate); A*STAR’s SINGA programme information (1 December 2026 deadline for the August 2027 intake, stipend S$2,700 rising to S$3,200); MEXT application guidelines as published by Japanese government and university sources (research-student stipends of ¥143,000–¥145,000); and the Tempus Public Foundation’s Stipendium Hungaricum call information for the most recent cycle (used only for the clearly-labelled expected dates). Where a figure could not be confirmed for the 2027 cycle, this article says so in the entry rather than presenting an older figure as current.

Disclaimer: Scholarship deadlines, amounts and eligibility rules change every cycle, and several programmes above set dates at course or institution level. Always confirm deadlines and amounts on the official website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot guarantee selection, admission or visa approval.