Top 25 Fully Funded Scholarships in Netherlands 2027

The Netherlands is one of the most attractive study destinations in Europe: hundreds of English-taught programmes, post-study work rights through the orientation year, and universities that appear in every major global ranking. It is also a country where the phrase “fully funded” needs to be read very carefully. Unlike Germany, where public tuition is close to zero, a non-EU student in the Netherlands can face institutional tuition fees of roughly €10,000 to €20,000 or more per year for a master’s degree, plus living costs that the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) benchmarks at over €1,100 per month. A scholarship that sounds generous can still leave a large gap.

That is why this guide is written differently from most listicles. Every one of the 25 routes below is a real, currently existing programme or funding route, checked against official university, government or programme sources in October 2026. Every entry is honestly labelled: Fully funded means tuition plus a living allowance that realistically covers your main costs; Tuition + stipend means full tuition plus a contribution you may need to top up; Tuition waiver only and Partial grant mean exactly that — useful money, but not a full ride. We also include two warnings that most lists hide: the NL Scholarship is a one-off €5,000 grant and is not fully funded, and the Orange Knowledge Programme has ended. If a list elsewhere tells you the Netherlands offers 25 identical full rides at bachelor’s and master’s level, it is not telling you the truth.

The honest headline is this: at master’s level there are a small number of genuine full rides — Erasmus Mundus, the Maastricht NL–High Potential Scholarship, the Eric Bleumink Fund at Groningen, and a handful of university excellence awards — plus one very large route that students consistently overlook: the salaried Dutch PhD position, where you are an employee, not a fee-paying student. Everything else on this list is a building block. Stacked together — a tuition waiver plus a grant plus permitted part-time work — building blocks can still get many students to a fully funded outcome in practice. Browse the wider scholarship directory on StudyGraduate alongside this guide, and compare Dutch universities in our university directory before you shortlist programmes.

Netherlands Scholarships 2027 at a Glance

Read the labels, not just the ranking. Entries 1–6 are the realistic “study without paying your own way” routes for most readers. Entries 7–23 are excellent awards that usually need combining with savings, family support, a second grant or permitted work. Entries 24–25 are included so you are not misled by outdated lists elsewhere on the internet.

The 25 Netherlands Scholarship Routes in Detail

1. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters — the clearest full ride

Coverage: Fully funded. The scholarship covers participation costs (in practice, your tuition is taken care of through the consortium) plus a monthly allowance of €1,400 for up to 24 months — a maximum of €33,600 in allowance alone — intended to cover travel, visa, installation and living costs. Eligibility: A bachelor’s degree (or final-year status) in a relevant field; open to all nationalities; you apply to a specific joint programme, not to the EU centrally, and you may apply to up to three programmes. Several consortia include Dutch partners — universities in Groningen, Twente, Rotterdam (ISS) and elsewhere appear across the catalogue — which is how an Erasmus Mundus award becomes a Netherlands scholarship. Deadline: Most consortia open between October and January for the following academic year; each programme sets its own date. See the official Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters page and our dedicated guide to the Erasmus Mundus scholarship. For the wider European picture, see our round-up of the top 30 fully funded scholarships in Europe for international students 2027.

2. Salaried PhD positions — the biggest fully funded route of all

Coverage: Fully funded through employment. In the Netherlands most PhD candidates are university employees on a four-year contract. Under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU), the dedicated PhD salary scale P ran, on the scale in force from 1 July 2026 published by Dutch universities, from €3,204 gross per month at grade P0 rising to €4,051 at P3, plus 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus. You pay no tuition for the doctorate itself. Eligibility: A relevant master’s degree and a strong fit with the advertised project; vacancies are listed year-round on AcademicTransfer, the official Dutch academic jobs portal. Deadline: Rolling — each vacancy has its own closing date, often only a few weeks after posting. Check current scales on a university page such as Leiden University’s salary scales page and browse live vacancies on AcademicTransfer. This is the single most realistic “fully funded in the Netherlands” outcome for a strong master’s graduate, and it is competitive on research fit, not on a generic scholarship essay.

3. Maastricht University NL–High Potential Scholarship

Coverage: Fully funded. Maastricht offers a limited number of full scholarships each year (around 21–24 in recent cycles) worth approximately €34,000, combining the High Potential Scholarship funded by the UM Scholarship Fund with the national NL Scholarship. The published package includes living expenses of €15,925 for a 13-month (one-year master’s) award or €30,625 for a 25-month award — €1,225 per month — plus health and liability insurance (around €700), visa application costs, tuition fees at cost, and pre-academic training. Airfare is not included. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA nationality, no EU dual nationality, admission to a participating full-time master’s, age 35 or younger on 1 September of the start year, and an excellent academic record (a GPA around 7.5/10 or higher in recent cycles). A allocated room is a mandatory part of the award. Deadline: Early December in recent cycles (8 December for the 2026 intake); confirm the 2027-cycle date on Maastricht’s official scholarship page, as amounts are marked subject to change for 2027–28.

4. TU Delft Justus & Louise van Effen Excellence Scholarships

Coverage: Tuition + stipend. This two-year award covers full tuition fees plus a contribution to living expenses. TU Delft’s fund describes the total at approximately €60,000 for non-EU students (approximately €28,000 for EU students), with a minimum of 16 scholarships a year — two per faculty. Because the living element is a contribution, budget for a possible top-up. Eligibility: Excellent international applicants admitted (or conditionally admitted) to a regular two-year TU Delft MSc; the university indicates results around the top 10% of your previous degree; programmes that are international joint programmes are excluded, and you cannot hold another scholarship alongside it. Second-year funding depends on progress (at least 48 of 60 credits in recent conditions). Deadline: 1 December (23:59 CET) for the following September intake, with decisions by the end of March. Full conditions are on the official TU Delft van Effen page.

5. University of Groningen Eric Bleumink Fund

Coverage: Fully funded. The fellowship covers tuition, international travel, subsistence (living costs), books and health insurance for a one- or two-year master’s at Groningen. Eligibility: Candidates from the developing countries on Groningen’s published list — which includes Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia, among many others — with excellent grades and recommendation letters, English proficiency, good health for insurance purposes, and no other means of financing the degree. Deadline: There is no separate scholarship application and no scholarship form. The Admission Office and faculty boards nominate candidates who already hold provisional or unconditional admission; complete your master’s application by 1 December so that admission is in place before February. Your only lever is an early, excellent admission application.

6. Wageningen University Africa Scholarship Programme

Coverage: Fully funded for its target group. Wageningen’s Africa Scholarship Programme has, in published calls, covered travel, living costs, tuition and insurance for a master’s at Wageningen University & Research, the world’s leading agriculture and food university. Eligibility: Citizens of African countries with a strong bachelor’s record applying to an eligible MSc; the programme is invitation- and nomination-based in some cycles, so follow the published call procedure exactly. Deadline: Set per call, usually in the first part of the year; the number of awards is small, so treat this as a high-value, low-volume opportunity and verify the current call on Wageningen’s official site before applying.

7. Utrecht Excellence Scholarship

Coverage: Tuition or Tuition + stipend — and Utrecht is commendably honest that the grant “is not automatically a full scholarship.” It can be awarded as tuition fees only, or tuition fees plus €11,000 in living expenses, for the duration of a one- or two-year programme (renewal depends on progress), with roughly 20–25 awards a year. Eligibility: Top 10% of your graduating class, non-EU/EEA passport and not eligible for Dutch study finance, secondary and bachelor’s education completed outside the Netherlands, and an application to an eligible international master’s starting 1 September. Deadline: 1 February. Note that programme participation changes between cycles — check that your chosen master’s still lists the scholarship before you rely on it.

8. University of Amsterdam Amsterdam Merit Scholarship

Coverage: Partial grant. Amsterdam’s faculty-based merit awards have in recent cycles ranged roughly from €6,000 to €21,000 depending on the faculty and programme — meaningful money against Amsterdam tuition, but rarely the whole cost of a year in one of Europe’s most expensive student cities. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA applicants with an excellent record admitted to an eligible UvA master’s; each faculty sets its own criteria and some programmes nominate automatically. Deadline: Faculty deadlines cluster in January and February. Read your specific faculty page, not a general summary, before planning.

9. Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS)

Coverage: Tuition grant. LExS awards come in tiers — in recent cycles €10,000, €15,000, or the full tuition fee — for master’s students at Leiden, the Netherlands’ oldest university. It does not add a living stipend, so a full-tuition LExS still leaves living costs of roughly €1,100+ per month to fund. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA students with excellent results admitted to an eligible Leiden master’s (some faculties and programmes are excluded). Deadline: 1 February for September starts and 1 October for February starts in recent cycles.

10. VU Fellowship Programme, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Coverage: Tuition waiver only. The VU Fellowship covers the tuition fee for an English-taught master’s at VU Amsterdam; living costs are on you, though VU students can also be considered for the separate NL Scholarship at the same institution. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA applicants holding an offer for an eligible master’s with a strong academic record (a GPA threshold around 80% or equivalent has applied). Deadline: Early February in recent cycles, with the fellowship application made through VU’s own portal after applying for the programme.

11. Radboud Scholarship Programme, Nijmegen

Coverage: Partial, but structurally powerful. The Radboud Scholarship reduces a selected non-EU master’s student’s tuition from the institutional rate to the much lower statutory rate, and in recent cycles has also covered residence-permit and insurance costs. The cash value can exceed €10,000 a year even though it is labelled partial. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA passport holders with excellent grades admitted to an English-taught Radboud master’s; a small number of awards (around a dozen) are made across faculties. Deadline: 31 January in recent cycles.

12. University of Twente Scholarship (UTS)

Coverage: Partial grant of €3,000 to €22,000 for one year, for master’s students at Twente in Enschede. At the top of the range, combined with other support, it can approach full funding; at the bottom it is a contribution. Some UTS holders in two-year programmes have been able to compete for a second-year Kipaji or professor’s award — never guaranteed. Eligibility: Non-EU/EEA students with provisional admission to an eligible Twente MSc and results in roughly the top 5–10% of their cohort. Deadline: Two rounds in recent cycles, closing 1 February and 1 May.

13. TU/e Amandus H. Lundqvist Scholarship Programme, Eindhoven

Coverage: Tuition + small stipend. Eindhoven University of Technology’s Lundqvist programme has combined a tuition-fee waiver with a living-cost contribution for excellent master’s students in the Brainport technology region. Amounts and the exact package are set per call — verify on TU/e’s official scholarship page. Eligibility: Non-EU applicants with an outstanding bachelor’s record admitted to an eligible TU/e master’s. Deadline: 1 February in recent cycles, applied for as part of the admission process.

14. Erasmus University Rotterdam — faculty and trust-fund scholarships

Coverage: Partial grants. Rotterdam offers a patchwork: faculty excellence waivers, the Erasmus Trustfonds Scholarship, and school-specific awards (for example at Rotterdam School of Management and Erasmus School of Law), typically structured as tuition reductions or fixed grants rather than full packages. Eligibility: Varies by faculty; generally non-EU students with excellent results holding an offer. Deadline: Varies — some close as early as February, others later in spring. The ISS institute in The Hague (entry 20) is part of Erasmus University but runs its own fellowships.

15. Tilburg University scholarships

Coverage: Tuition waiver / partial. Tilburg’s schools (economics and management, law, social sciences, humanities, theology) offer a limited number of tuition waivers and partial grants for non-EU master’s students, sometimes paired with the NL Scholarship at the same university. Eligibility: Excellent non-EU applicants admitted to a participating master’s; several awards are automatic-consideration once you apply for admission by the school deadline. Deadline: Varies by school, commonly in spring — check your school’s page.

16. EIT Digital and EIT InnoEnergy Master Schools

Coverage: Tuition + allowance for selected students. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s master schools run two-year programmes across partner universities — Dutch partners have included TU Delft, TU/e, Utrecht and Twente-linked programmes — and top admitted students can receive tuition support plus a monthly allowance; the exact package is set per school and intake. Eligibility: A relevant bachelor’s and a strong application to the specific EIT programme; you study in two countries, which suits students who value mobility and entrepreneurship. Deadline: Several application periods between late autumn and spring.

17. IHE Delft Institute for Water Education scholarships

Coverage: Varies — some fellowships fully funded. IHE Delft, the world’s largest water-education institute, runs MSc and short courses in Delft for water professionals, largely from developing countries. Funding comes through Dutch government programmes, donors and partner schemes, and some calls cover the full cost of participation, travel and living. Eligibility: Water-sector professionals and graduates, usually with relevant work experience for professional programmes. Deadline: Per programme call on IHE Delft’s official site.

18. ITC Faculty Scholarships, University of Twente

Coverage: Partial grants. The ITC Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation in Enschede offers scholarship support for its MSc programmes to applicants from developing countries, typically as partial tuition coverage, sometimes combined with external fellowships. Eligibility: Mid-career professionals and graduates in geo-information, earth observation and related fields. Deadline: Per intake; ITC also administers places under external schemes, so read its funding page carefully.

19. MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP)

Coverage: Fully funded for short courses. Managed under Dutch international-cooperation programming for professionals from Middle East and North Africa countries, MSP-funded short courses at Dutch institutions have covered course costs, travel and subsistence. It is not a degree scholarship — it funds short professional training. Eligibility: Professionals from the programme’s listed MENA countries, employed in relevant sectors, applying through the published embassy/Nuffic route. Deadline: Per call; country lists and themes change, so verify the current round before preparing documents.

20. ISS — International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague

Coverage: Partial to full, varies. ISS (part of Erasmus University Rotterdam) runs a development-studies MA and PhD programme with a portfolio of institute, donor and partner fellowships; some cohorts include fully funded places under specific donor schemes, while standard ISS scholarships are partial. Eligibility: Development professionals and graduates, typically with work experience for the MA. Deadline: Per call — ISS publishes its scholarship deadlines with each admissions round.

21. KIT Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam

Coverage: Varies. KIT’s master’s programmes in public and global health draw students — often health professionals from low- and middle-income countries — funded through donor fellowships and employer sponsorship; some fellowship calls cover full participation and living costs. Eligibility: Health professionals meeting the specific master’s requirements. Deadline: Per programme and fellowship call on KIT’s official site.

22. Universities of applied sciences — HAN, Saxion and peers

Coverage: Partial grants. Applied-sciences institutions such as HAN and Saxion combine the NL Scholarship with their own international awards; structures at some institutions have totalled roughly €5,000 to €12,500 across a programme’s early years. Tuition at a university of applied sciences is generally lower than at a research university, so a partial award stretches further. Eligibility: Non-EU bachelor’s and master’s applicants meeting each institution’s criteria. Deadline: Varies by institution — check each UAS scholarship page directly.

23. Global donor fellowships tenable in the Netherlands

Coverage: Fully funded for selected fellows. Schemes such as the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship and Rotary fellowships fund master’s study at partner institutions worldwide, which in some cycles include Dutch universities and institutes (IHE Delft and ISS have historically been among participating institutions for such schemes). Eligibility: Strictly scheme-specific — nationality, sector experience and an admission offer at a participating programme. Deadline: Per scheme window, usually once a year. Always confirm your Dutch programme is on the scheme’s current participating list.

24. NL Scholarship — useful, popular, and NOT fully funded

Coverage: Partial grant: €5,000, paid once, in your first year only. The official Study in NL page states plainly that it is not a full-tuition scholarship. Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science together with participating institutions, it is the most widely available Dutch award — and the most widely misdescribed. Eligibility: Non-EEA nationality, applying for a full-time bachelor’s or master’s at a participating institution, no prior Dutch degree. Deadline: 1 February or 1 May depending on the institution. Treat it as a welcome discount inside a wider funding plan. Full official details: Study in NL — NL Scholarship.

25. Orange Knowledge Programme — ENDED (a warning, not an opportunity)

Coverage: None — the programme has closed. The Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP), which funded short courses and master’s study for professionals from partner countries, ended, and outdated blog posts still present it as open. Do not build a 2027 plan around OKP, and be suspicious of any agent charging fees to “apply” for it. Where successor or embassy-level schemes exist, they are published through official Dutch government and Nuffic channels — start from Study in NL and your Dutch embassy, never from a paid intermediary.

Who Is Eligible for Fully Funded Scholarships in the Netherlands?

Across the genuine full rides, the same profile keeps winning. You are a non-EU/EEA national (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Nigeria and Indonesia are all squarely in scope for the awards above). You hold — or are finishing — a bachelor’s degree with results in roughly the top 10% of your cohort for the excellence awards, or a strong master’s plus a precise research fit for PhD vacancies. You can prove English proficiency at the level your programme demands (commonly IELTS 6.5–7.0 or the TOEFL equivalent, programme by programme). You have never completed a degree in the Netherlands before — a condition on several national schemes. And you can meet the IND’s visa and residence-permit requirements, including showing the required means where a scholarship letter does not already cover them. Age limits are rare except where stated (Maastricht’s is 35). For nomination-only awards such as the Eric Bleumink Fund, add one more condition: financial need — the fund exists for students without other means to finance the degree.

How to Apply: Step by Step

1. Shortlist programmes first, scholarships second. Almost every Dutch award is attached to a specific university and programme. Choose two or three master’s programmes you would happily attend, using our university rankings and programme pages, then map each one to its funding routes in the table above.
2. Apply for admission early — October or November, not January. Dutch admission runs through Studielink plus the university’s own portal. Scholarship deadlines (1 December and 1 February dominate) fall months before general admission deadlines, and nomination-based funds require an offer in hand.
3. Submit the scholarship application or tick the consideration box. Some awards (Maastricht, Leiden, Twente) have a separate form or motivation letter; others (Groningen’s Bleumink Fund, several Tilburg awards) consider you automatically from your admission file — which makes that file, especially grades and reference letters, your scholarship application.
4. For PhD routes, apply like a job applicant. Monitor AcademicTransfer weekly, tailor your CV and cover letter to each project’s stated methods and literature, and contact your referees before you apply, not after.
5. Prepare certified documents in parallel (see the documents section) so a conditional offer can be firmed up quickly.
6. Track every deadline in one place. Use a deadline tracker — StudyGraduate’s study-abroad tools include planning aids — and set alerts two weeks before each closing date, because Dutch portals close at 23:59 CET sharp.
7. After an offer, follow the university’s visa instructions exactly. Dutch universities apply for your MVV entry visa and residence permit on your behalf once you have paid any required amounts and uploaded financial proof; scholarship letters are usually uploaded as that proof.

Required Documents

• Passport valid for the application period and beyond.
• Bachelor’s (and master’s, for PhD) diplomas and full transcripts; certified English translations where originals are not in English, Dutch, German or French (varies by university).
• English test score (IELTS/TOEFL or accepted alternative) unless you qualify for an exemption.
• CV in Europass or academic format, normally two pages.
• Motivation letter tailored to the programme and, where required, a separate scholarship motivation (Maastricht asks for one; excellence awards weigh it heavily).
• One or two academic reference letters — for TU Delft’s van Effen award these are part of the scholarship file itself.
• For Bleumink-type need-based funds: any financial documentation the university requests.
• For PhD vacancies: a research-fit cover letter, publication list if any, and sometimes a short proposal.

Deadlines and Timeline for 2027 Entry

Where a 2027-cycle date has not yet been published by a university, this table uses the most recent cycle’s date and says so. Always confirm the live date on the official programme page before relying on it.

How to Improve Your Chances

Win on grades first. Every full ride above is excellence-gated; a first-class record with a clear upward or consistently high profile beats a clever essay on a mediocre transcript. Apply absurdly early. For nomination funds, the admission file is the competition — an October application reviewed calmly beats a deadline-day upload. Write the motivation letter the Dutch way: concrete, modest in tone, specific about the programme’s actual courses and research groups, and clear about what you will do with the degree. Grandiose claims and generic “passion for excellence” language underperform. Choose referees who know your work and brief them with your CV and programme description. Run parallel routes: the same student can realistically apply to an Erasmus Mundus consortium, two Dutch excellence awards and — if research-minded — several PhD vacancies in one season. Finally, budget honestly: use the IND study norm (over €1,100 per month in 2026 figures; confirm the 2027 norm) as your living-cost floor and check whether your target award actually meets it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Believing the NL Scholarship is a full ride. It is €5,000, once. Plans built on it collapse at the visa financial-proof stage.
• Applying for ended programmes. The Orange Knowledge Programme is closed; any “OKP 2027 application” sold to you is a scam risk.
• Missing the December cluster. The best Dutch money closes on 1 December / early December — before many students have even chosen a programme.
• Waiting for a scholarship form that does not exist. Bleumink and similar funds nominate from admission files; there is nothing separate to submit.
• Ignoring housing. A funded offer in Amsterdam, Utrecht or Delft is only usable if you secure a room; start through the university’s housing channels the day you accept.
• Submitting a generic motivation letter that could be sent to any university in any country. Committees notice.
• Forgetting that partial awards cannot be stacked blindly: some awards (van Effen, for example) prohibit holding another scholarship — read the conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there really 25 fully funded scholarships in the Netherlands?

No — not 25 identical full rides, and any list claiming that is misleading you. There are a handful of genuine fully funded master’s awards (Erasmus Mundus, Maastricht NL–High Potential, Groningen’s Eric Bleumink Fund), a large fully funded doctoral route (salaried PhD positions), and many strong partial awards. This guide lists 25 real routes and labels each one’s true coverage type so you can build an honest plan.

Is the NL Scholarship fully funded?

No. It is a one-off grant of €5,000 for your first year, and the official Study in NL page states explicitly that it is not a full-tuition scholarship. It is valuable as part of a funding stack, never as the whole plan.

Can I study a bachelor’s degree fully funded in the Netherlands?

Genuine full rides at bachelor’s level are extremely rare for non-EU students. Your realistic tools are the NL Scholarship (€5,000, first year), university-of-applied-sciences awards, and low-tuition programme choices. Most students in this guide’s audience should target a funded master’s after a strong bachelor’s at home.

How much do I need to live on as a student in the Netherlands?

Plan around the IND study norm — over €1,100 per month in recent figures, excluding tuition — and more in Amsterdam. Confirm the current norm on the IND website; scholarship stipends in this guide (for example Maastricht’s €1,225 per month) are benchmarked against it.

Do Dutch PhD students really get a salary?

Yes. Most PhD candidates are employees on four-year contracts under the CAO NU agreement, on salary scale P — €3,204 to €4,051 gross per month on the scale published from 1 July 2026 — plus holiday allowance, a year-end bonus and pension. Vacancies are advertised on AcademicTransfer year-round.

Can I work part-time on a scholarship?

Non-EU students with a study residence permit may work up to 16 hours per week during term, or full-time in June, July and August, with an employer who holds a work permit (TWV) for you; self-employment has different rules. Some scholarships also restrict paid work or require progress — check your award conditions and the official IND rules.

What happened to the Orange Knowledge Programme and Holland Scholarship?

The Holland Scholarship was renamed the NL Scholarship. The Orange Knowledge Programme has ended. If a website or agent presents either the old Holland name as a separate full scholarship or OKP as open for 2027, the information is outdated.

When should I start preparing for 2027 entry?

Now. The decisive deadlines fall on 1 December 2026 and 1 February 2027, and admission must precede scholarship consideration. Aim to have programmes chosen by October and admission applications submitted in October–November.

Sources & Verification

The facts in this article were checked in October 2026 against official sources, including: Erasmus+ — Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (European Commission); TU Delft — Justus & Louise van Effen Excellence Scholarships; Study in NL (Nuffic) — NL Scholarship; Maastricht University’s NL–High Potential Scholarship pages; University of Groningen’s Eric Bleumink Fund pages; Utrecht University’s Excellence Scholarship pages; and Leiden University — CAO NU salary scales (scale P). Amounts marked “recent cycles” or “subject to change” must be re-confirmed on the official page for the 2027 cycle.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, amounts and deadlines change every cycle. Always confirm deadlines and amounts on the official website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency or a university — we cannot promise selection, admission or visa approval, and no legitimate scholarship requires you to pay an agent to apply.