Utrecht Excellence Scholarships for International Master's Students

Utrecht University offers the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship (UES) to a select group of international students from outside the European Economic Area. The award supports a Master's degree in a limited set of fields at the university. It can cover tuition fees alone, or tuition fees plus the income requirement tied to a study residence permit.

Utrecht University, Netherlands

The scholarship applies to eligible international Master's programmes at the university. Not every programme takes part. To confirm whether yours does, go to www.uu.nl/masters > master's programme > Tuition fees and financial support and check whether the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship is listed as a scholarship option.

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Non-EEA international students. The EEA covers the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The Utrecht Excellence scholarship may be given as tuition fees only, or as tuition fees plus the income required for a study residence permit as set by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. It is granted for one year.

The award runs for the nominal length of the programme and can be renewed for the second year of two-year Master's programmes.

To be eligible for an Utrecht Excellence Scholarship, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must belong to the top 10% of your graduating class.
• You must not hold an EU/EEA passport and must not be eligible for support under the Dutch study grant and loan system.
• You must have completed your secondary school and/or bachelor's degree outside the Netherlands.
• You must have applied for an eligible international master's programme with a start date of 1 September 2025.

Due to significant budget cuts, the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship (UES) will no longer be offered for programmes starting in the 2026–2027 academic year.

After you submit an application (or applications) for a UES eligible Master's programme before the set deadline, non-EU/EEA students can submit one Utrecht Excellence Scholarship application from 1 November 2024. The UES application(s) will appear in your OSIRIS Online Application account dashboard.

Prospective students who want to be considered for the scholarship must apply before 1 February 2025, 23:59 CET, after which the application portal closes.

Visit the official website (link below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.