Top 10 Fully Funded Scholarships in Hungary 2026/2027

Hungary is one of Europe’s best-value study destinations, and its government scholarship is one of the continent’s largest: the Stipendium Hungaricum programme brings thousands of students from more than 80 partner countries to around 30 Hungarian universities each year, tuition-free, with a stipend, housing support and medical insurance. But an honest guide has to start with the warning that Hungary’s own programme documents state plainly: at bachelor’s and master’s level, the Stipendium Hungaricum stipend and housing contribution are a contribution to your living costs, not a full coverage of them. Tuition — the biggest cost — is fully waived, and in lower-cost university cities such as Debrecen, Szeged and Pécs the package stretches much further than in Budapest. Still, you should plan some funds of your own, and this article will show you exactly where the gaps are.

Beyond the flagship programme, Hungary hosts a family of smaller, genuinely fully funded routes that most applicants never hear about: a diaspora scholarship, a scholarship for Christian young people from crisis regions, an FAO partnership for agriculture master’s degrees, Erasmus Mundus joint masters with Hungarian partners paying €1,400 a month, and mobility schemes that can fund semesters in Hungary in full. This ranked list covers all ten, with the verified forint amounts where the official calls publish them.

Start with the full picture in our scholarships directory and our dedicated guide to fully funded scholarships in Hungary: the Stipendium Hungaricum guide, compare universities in the universities directory, and see how Hungary stacks up in the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship 2027 deep-dive.

Fully Funded Scholarships in Hungary at a Glance

*SCYP doctoral places are restricted — in the 2026/2027 call they were open to applicants who completed (or were completing) a master’s within SCYP in Hungary. Read entry 4 carefully.

The Top 10 Fully Funded Scholarships in Hungary, Ranked

1. Stipendium Hungaricum — Bachelor’s, Master’s, One-Tier and Non-Degree

Coverage: Verified against the official 2026/27 call: tuition-free education; a monthly stipend of HUF 43,700 for non-degree, bachelor’s, master’s and one-tier master’s students, paid 12 months a year; a free dormitory place (subject to capacity) or an accommodation contribution of HUF 40,000 per month; and medical insurance under Hungarian law plus supplementary insurance up to HUF 65,000 per year. Travel to Hungary is not covered. Eligibility: Citizens of partner countries with a bilateral agreement, nominated by their national Sending Partner; you may choose up to two study programmes in order of preference, and the programmes open to you depend on your country. Bachelor’s and master’s holders must take the free Hungarian-as-a-foreign-language course for two semesters — failing to attend and pass can cost you the stipend — and must average at least 18 credits over the last two active semesters to keep scholarship status. Deadline: The 2026/27 round closed on 15 January 2026 at 2 p.m. Central European Time. The official site is stipendiumhungaricum.hu, managed by Tempus Public Foundation. For Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Nigerian and Indonesian readers this is the main Hungarian route by a very wide margin — start here.

2. Stipendium Hungaricum — Doctoral

Coverage: The same tuition waiver, housing and insurance architecture, but a doctoral stipend that is in a different league: HUF 140,000 per month during the first four semesters (the training and research phase) and HUF 180,000 per month during the second four semesters (the research and dissertation phase), in the official call figures — plus a one-off HUF 400,000 grant noted in programme summaries for doctoral completion. At doctoral level, unlike bachelor’s and master’s level, the package approaches a genuine full living budget outside central Budapest. Eligibility: A master’s degree, a research plan, and in practice a prospective supervisor at a Hungarian doctoral school; doctoral applicants apply under a separate call for applications from the bachelor’s/master’s call. Deadline: The doctoral call follows the same mid-January pattern — the 2026/27 deadline was 15 January 2026; confirm the doctoral call’s exact date on the official apply portal, because the two calls are separate documents.

3. Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship

Coverage: Established by the Hungarian Government for members of the Hungarian diaspora living outside Europe who want to study at a Hungarian higher education institution: tuition-free education with monthly stipend, accommodation support, medical insurance and travel support as set out in the current call for applications — quote the amounts from the call itself, as diaspora provisions are published separately from Stipendium Hungaricum. Eligibility: Applicants living in a Hungarian diaspora community outside Europe, with Hungarian identity and community ties documented as the call requires (including a diaspora organisation or church recommendation in recent calls), across bachelor’s, master’s, one-tier master’s, doctoral and non-degree programmes at participating institutions such as Eötvös Loránd University. Deadline: For 2026/2027 the deadline was 2 February 2026 at 14:00 CET, via apply.diasporascholarship.hu — Eötvös Loránd University’s Diaspora Scholarship page walks through the pre-application steps. If you have Hungarian roots in the Americas, Australia or elsewhere outside Europe, this programme — not Stipendium Hungaricum — is your designed route.

4. Scholarship Programme for Christian Young People (SCYP)

Coverage: Run by the Hungary Helps Agency, SCYP is in cash terms more generous than Stipendium Hungaricum at undergraduate level: tuition-free education; a monthly stipend of HUF 166,600 for bachelor’s, master’s and one-tier master’s students (doctoral: HUF 140,000 in the first phase and 180,000 in the second); a free dormitory place or HUF 40,000 per month towards accommodation; a travel allowance of HUF 200,000 per academic year; and medical insurance. Eligibility: For the 2026/2027 academic year the programme was announced for citizens of Lebanon, Ghana, Nicaragua, Niger, Chad, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Armenia and Nigeria, who are members of a Christian community and can provide a letter of recommendation from the competent ecclesiastical authority listed in the call. Doctoral applications in that call were restricted to those who had completed, or were finishing, a master’s within SCYP in Hungary. Deadline: Set in the annual call on hungaryhelps.gov.hu; applications are free, via apply.scyp.hu. Nigeria and Pakistan — two of StudyGraduate’s core audiences — are on the eligible list, which makes SCYP one of the most under-applied full rides in this entire guide.

5. FAO–Hungarian Government Scholarship Programme

Coverage: A fully funded master’s package financed by the Hungarian Government under its agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: full application and tuition fees, basic books and notes, dormitory accommodation, a monthly subsistence allowance and health insurance. The scholarship supports the student only — accompanying family members are not funded. Eligibility: Citizens and residents of the eligible developing and middle-income countries listed in the annual call (a list that includes Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Pakistan’s neighbours and many others — check the current list, as it is country-specific), holding a relevant bachelor’s degree with excellent grades, strong English, and preferably under 30. Deadline: The 2026/2027 window ran from 21 January to 28 February 2026, with applications submitted by email in a two-phase process (FAO pre-screening, then university selection). The 2026/2027 programmes were MSc degrees in Agricultural Biotechnology and Animal Nutrition and Feed Safety Engineering at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Plant Protection at the University of Debrecen — narrow, but fully funded and taught in English.

6. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters with Hungarian Partners

Coverage: The European Union’s flagship: an Erasmus Mundus scholarship covers all participation costs (tuition is effectively waived for scholarship holders) and pays a monthly allowance of €1,400 for the duration of the programme, up to 24 months, with insurance included — in Budapest or Debrecen, €1,400 a month is a genuinely comfortable student budget, far above the Stipendium Hungaricum cash stipend. Eligibility: A bachelor’s degree (or final-year status graduating before enrolment) in a field relevant to the specific joint master; Hungarian universities participate as consortium partners in a changing set of programmes each cycle (Eötvös Loránd University, for example, hosts the TEMA+ European Territories Erasmus Mundus master), and you apply to the consortium, not to Hungary. You will study in at least two countries — Hungary can be one of your mobility periods rather than the whole degree. Deadline: Consortium windows typically run October to January for the following September. Apply through the official Erasmus Mundus Catalogue on the European Commission’s pages and the consortium’s own site — start from our approved seed guide to the Erasmus Mundus scholarship programme overview on StudyGraduate.

7. Stipendium Hungaricum — Students at Risk Subprogramme

Coverage: The official subprogramme page confirms that scholarship holders starting in 2026/27 receive the standard Stipendium Hungaricum provisions: tuition-free education, the monthly stipend (HUF 43,700 at bachelor’s/master’s level; HUF 140,000/180,000 at doctoral level), an accommodation contribution of HUF 40,000 or a free dormitory place, and medical insurance. Eligibility: Ukrainian citizens who wish to start academic studies in Hungary, under a dedicated call for those fleeing the war in Ukraine; applicants may choose up to two study programmes at participating institutions, in any field except the Professional Pilot BSc and the aviation programmes named in the call. Deadline: Set in the subprogramme’s own call for applications on stipendiumhungaricum.hu. This entry is deliberately narrow — it exists so that eligible Ukrainian readers find their correct route instead of competing in the wrong pool.

8. Bilateral State Scholarships

Coverage: Separately from Stipendium Hungaricum, Hungary offers state scholarships under bilateral educational-cooperation agreements, administered by Tempus Public Foundation, covering semester and partial studies, full-degree study in some categories, summer courses and research stays. The provisions — which elements of tuition, stipend, accommodation and travel are included — are defined per study type in the current call, so we do not quote one figure for a programme that has several. Eligibility: Citizens of countries holding a valid bilateral agreement with Hungary for the relevant category, nominated or endorsed through the channel the call specifies. Deadline: Annual Tempus calls; check the “Bilateral State Scholarships” section of the Tempus and Study in Hungary sites. For students whose country has no Stipendium Hungaricum quota in their field, this older, quieter system is sometimes the open door.

9. International Visegrad Fund Scholarships

Coverage: The International Visegrad Fund supports master’s and post-master’s study and research at institutions in Visegrad countries, including Hungary, with a per-semester scholarship for the scholar (and a contribution to the host institution) at the rates published in the Fund’s current call — confirm the amount on visegradfund.org, as the Fund revises its rates. Eligibility: Primarily citizens of Visegrad, Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership countries studying outside their own country; Hungary is an eligible destination, and Budapest institutions host Visegrad scholars every year. Deadline: The Fund’s published annual deadlines. This is a regional scheme, not a global one — if your passport is from an eligible country and your target is a Hungarian master’s or research stay, it can fund a semester or a degree period that other schemes will not.

10. CEEPUS Scholarships in Hungary

Coverage: The Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies (CEEPUS) funds exchange semesters and short research stays across Central and South-Eastern Europe. In Hungary, CEEPUS scholars receive a scholarship at the Hungarian host-country rates published by the national CEEPUS office, with dormitory arrangements through the host university — for the period of the mobility, the package is designed to cover your living costs, which is why it earns the final place on this list. Eligibility: Students enrolled at a university in a CEEPUS member country, applying through a CEEPUS network or as a freemover. Deadline: Network and freemover calls run each academic year. Be clear-eyed about the category: CEEPUS funds a semester or a stay in Hungary, not a full Hungarian degree — pair it with entry 1 or 2 if a full degree is your goal.

Who Is Eligible for Fully Funded Scholarships in Hungary?

For the flagship programme the gates are structural. Country: Stipendium Hungaricum is not open to the whole world — your country must be a Sending Partner with a bilateral quota, and the fields and levels open to you are set in that quota; a programme visible in the application system may still be closed to your nationality. Nomination: your Sending Partner (usually a ministry or national scholarship body) must nominate you; a perfect application without nomination goes nowhere. Age and prior study: recent calls excluded applicants born after a cut-off date in the year of application for most programmes (effectively 18+ at entry), and require the prior qualification for each level — school-leaving certificate, bachelor’s or master’s degree with transcripts. Language: most programmes are taught in English and set their own English requirements; Hungarian-taught study requires Hungarian, with a funded preparatory year available in defined cases. Exclusions: Hungarian citizens (including dual citizens in most cases), current residents under certain statuses, and previous Stipendium Hungaricum holders face restrictions spelled out in the call. The specialist schemes layer their own gates on top: diaspora identity for entry 3, church recommendation and listed citizenship for entry 4, listed developing-country citizenship and an agriculture background for entry 5. Plan your city as well as your scheme — compare Budapest against Debrecen, Szeged, Pécs and Miskolc on our study abroad directory, because the same HUF 43,700 buys a very different life in each.

How to Apply: Step by Step

1. Check your country’s quota first. On stipendiumhungaricum.hu, find your Sending Partner and the study levels and fields open to your country this cycle — before choosing programmes.
2. Choose up to two programmes in order of preference at participating universities, checking each programme’s own entry requirements (some, such as medicine and other one-tier programmes, have entrance examinations).
3. Register on the official application system (apply.stipendiumhungaricum.hu for the flagship; apply.diasporascholarship.hu or apply.scyp.hu for those schemes) and complete every field. Applications are free — anyone charging you a fee to “submit” a Stipendium Hungaricum application is not the programme.
4. Upload documents exactly as specified (see below), including the motivation letter the call describes and, for doctoral study, a research plan and supervisor statement where required.
5. Submit by the deadline — 2 p.m. CET is a real cut-off — and then engage with your Sending Partner’s nomination stage, which runs after submission.
6. Pass the university entrance stage: nominated applicants face university entrance examinations or interviews, typically in spring.
7. Accept formally, then handle visa and travel. Remember that Stipendium Hungaricum does not pay your airfare (SCYP, unusually, includes a travel allowance) — budget the flight yourself.
8. On arrival, protect the scholarship: enrol on time, attend the Hungarian language course if you are a bachelor’s or master’s holder, and keep your semester credit average above the 18-credit rule.

Required Documents

• Online application form completed in the official system, with your two programme choices in order.
• Motivation letter in the format the current call specifies.
• Proof of language proficiency for the language of your chosen programmes (test certificate or the evidence the programme accepts).
• School-leaving certificate or degree diploma and full transcripts, with certified translations where the originals are not in English or Hungarian.
• Copy of your passport identity page, valid for the required period.
• Medical certificate in the form the call prescribes.
• For doctoral applicants: a research plan, two recommendations and a supervisor’s statement of acceptance where the doctoral school requires it.
• Scheme-specific documents: Sending Partner nomination (flagship), diaspora recommendation (Diaspora), ecclesiastical letter (SCYP), or the FAO application form and documents sent by email (FAO–Hungarian programme).

Deadlines and Timeline

Keep every scheme’s dates in one planner using our tools directory, and set alerts for the autumn call openings — the Hungarian cycle rewards people who start in October, not January.

How to Improve Your Chances

Win the nomination, not just the application. Your Sending Partner’s criteria may weight fields of national priority, regions or first-generation status — find out what your national body actually rewards and address it in your motivation letter. Choose programmes realistically: medicine, psychology and computer science at famous Budapest institutions are the most oversubscribed choices in the system; excellent universities in Debrecen, Szeged and Pécs offer the same scholarship with, in many fields, a fraction of the competition — and your stipend buys more there. Write a motivation letter with a Hungary-specific reason (a named department, laboratory, research group or Hungarian industry link), not a generic Europe essay with the country name swapped in. Prepare for the entrance examination as a real exam — universities publish their topics and formats, and nominated candidates fail this stage every year by treating it as a formality. For doctoral study, secure the supervisor first: a doctoral school that already knows your research plan is the single strongest predictor of success. And stack the smaller schemes where you qualify — a Nigerian Christian applicant can legitimately consider both Stipendium Hungaricum and SCYP; a Bangladeshi agriculture graduate can add FAO. Different funders, different pools, same autumn of work.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Budgeting as if HUF 43,700 plus HUF 40,000 covers Budapest. The call itself calls these amounts contributions. Plan a top-up, choose a cheaper city, or target the doctoral stipend or Erasmus Mundus if you need full cash coverage.
• Applying for programmes your country cannot actually choose. The system may display programmes outside your Sending Partner’s quota.
• Missing the 2 p.m. CET cut-off by treating the deadline as midnight in your own time zone.
• Skipping the Hungarian language course after arrival — attendance and the exam are tied to your stipend at bachelor’s and master’s level.
• Letting your credit average slip below the scholarship’s minimum rule (an average under 18 credits across the last two active semesters can end scholarship status).
• Paying an agent for a “guaranteed” Stipendium Hungaricum place. The application is free, nomination is governmental, and no agent can sell you either.
• Forgetting the flight. The flagship scholarship does not include travel costs — arrive having budgeted for the ticket, visa costs and your first month before the stipend cycle settles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Stipendium Hungaricum really fully funded?

Tuition is fully waived, and you receive a monthly stipend (HUF 43,700 at bachelor’s/master’s level), a dormitory place or HUF 40,000 housing contribution, and medical insurance. But Tempus itself describes the stipend and housing money as contributions to living costs: in Budapest most students need additional funds of their own, while in Debrecen, Szeged or Pécs the gap is much smaller. At doctoral level (HUF 140,000–180,000) the package is far closer to full coverage. Apply with open eyes and a city-aware budget.

When does the 2027/2028 Stipendium Hungaricum call open?

It had not been published when this article was checked on 21 October 2026. The pattern is a call in autumn with a mid-January deadline — the 2026/27 round closed on 15 January 2026 at 2 p.m. CET. Check stipendiumhungaricum.hu from October onward and do not rely on any site that prints a 2027 deadline as confirmed before Tempus does.

Can I apply if my country is not a Stipendium Hungaricum partner?

Not for the flagship programme — eligibility runs through partner-country Sending Partners. Look instead at the other routes in this list that fit you: Erasmus Mundus (open to most nationalities), Bilateral State Scholarships if your country has an agreement, or the FAO programme if your country is on its list and your field is agriculture.

Do I need IELTS for Hungary?

Each study programme sets its own language requirements. Many English-taught programmes ask for an English certificate such as IELTS or TOEFL at a stated level, while others assess language at the entrance examination. There is no single Hungary-wide score — check the programme page in the application system and meet that requirement exactly.

Can I bring my family on Stipendium Hungaricum?

The scholarship funds one person: the provisions, dormitory place and insurance are for the scholarship holder only, and family members receive no stipend, visa support or benefits from the programme. The FAO scholarship states the same rule explicitly. Students who bring dependants must fund them entirely independently and arrange their residence status separately.

What is the difference between Stipendium Hungaricum and SCYP?

Stipendium Hungaricum is Hungary’s general government scholarship, run by Tempus through national Sending Partners, paying HUF 43,700 a month at bachelor’s/master’s level. SCYP, run by the Hungary Helps Agency, is restricted to Christian applicants from a short list of countries, requires a church recommendation, and pays HUF 166,600 a month at the same levels plus a travel allowance — substantially more generous, for a much smaller eligible pool.

Can I work part-time as a scholarship holder in Hungary?

Student residence permits in Hungary allow limited employment under the rules in force, but your first obligations are academic: the credit minimum and, for bachelor’s and master’s holders, the Hungarian language course. Treat any lawful part-time income as a top-up, never as the basis of your budget, and confirm the current work rules on official Hungarian immigration pages before relying on them.

Does the scholarship guarantee a Hungarian visa or residence permit?

No. The award supports your application, but the decision belongs to the Hungarian consulate and immigration authority. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot guarantee scholarship selection, university admission or a visa outcome.

Sources & Verification

Checked in October 2026 against: the official Stipendium Hungaricum site (stipendiumhungaricum.hu), including the Students at Risk subprogramme page confirming 2026/27 provisions (HUF 43,700; HUF 140,000/180,000 doctoral; HUF 40,000 accommodation contribution) and published 2026/27 call coverage (supplementary insurance up to HUF 65,000/year, the 15 January 2026 deadline, the two-programme rule, the Hungarian-language-course and 18-credit conditions); Eötvös Loránd University’s Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship pages (2026/2027 deadline of 2 February 2026 and programme scope); the Hungary Helps Agency’s SCYP pages and the 2026/2027 SCYP call (eligible countries, HUF 166,600 monthly stipend, HUF 200,000 annual travel allowance, ecclesiastical recommendation and doctoral restrictions); FAO–Hungarian Government Scholarship Programme 2026–2027 course and application descriptions (programmes, coverage, eligible countries and the 21 January–28 February 2026 window); and Erasmus Mundus programme pages published by consortium universities and the European Commission framework (participation costs plus €1,400 per month for up to 24 months). Amounts for the Bilateral State, Visegrad and CEEPUS schemes are deliberately not quoted as single figures in this article, because those programmes publish category-specific rates in their own calls.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, amounts and deadlines change every cycle. Always confirm the current figures, eligibility rules and closing dates on the official scholarship or university website before you apply. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency — we never charge for scholarship applications and cannot guarantee selection, admission or a visa.