Maastricht University 2025 Global Studies Scholarship for Undergraduate Students (Fully-Funded)

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About Maastricht University Global Studies Scholarship

The Global Studies bachelor-level study programme trains students to understand and develop solutions for complex global issues, crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries. The study programme is unique in the Netherlands for having six faculties, each with their disciplinary expertise, contribute equally to the educational content of the programme. 

The study programme offers students the opportunity to perform a field study in the global south, develop an intervention for a societal problem presented by a NGO, government, agency, firm or a school and write an interdisciplinary bachelor thesis.

The UM Global Studies Scholarship offers one full coverage scholarship (including a tuition fee waiver and monthly stipend) per academic year for a selected number of top-performing bachelor students from the Global South with personal development potential who have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme.

Target group: bachelor students with proven academic excellence and personal development potential, that have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme.

• School: Maastricht University

Benefits of Maastricht University Global Studies Scholarship

Amount of the UM Global Studies Scholarship programme 2025-2026

 

Living expenses	€ 15,925  per academic year	Paid to students by the UM International Services Desk
Health & liability insurance	At cost	Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk
Visa application costs	At cost	Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk
Tuition fees	At cost per  academic year*	Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk
Pre-Academic Training costs	At cost	Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk
International StudentAmbassador Programme (ISAP)	At cost for first block only	Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk

*This amount is subject to change for academic year 2026-2027

Maastricht University Global Studies Scholarship Requirements

All candidates must meet the following requirements:

• You hold the nationality of a country in the Global South, here defined as countries in Africa, Asia (including the Middle-East), Latin-America and the Caribbean based on the definition of the OECD in column 1; least developed, column 2;low income , column 3 lower middle-income or Venezuela  and meet the requirements for obtaining an entry visa and residence permit for the Netherlands. Please check this website before you apply to see in which country you have to collect your MVV visa for the Netherlands. If you already have a residence permit for another Schengen country , you can only apply if this residence permit is still valid until at least 2 September 2025. If your residence permit expires before 2 September 2025 you can only apply for the Scholarship from your home country via a MVV visa application. More information can be found on the webpages of the Visa Office.

• You do not have a dual nationality from a country in the Global North
• You have never participated in a degree-seeking higher education programme in the Netherlands. Students who have completed exchange programmes in the Netherlands are welcome to apply
• You are not older than 35 years of age on 1 September 2025
• You agree to become an active Global Studies and UM ambassador during and after your studies, by committing to share your experiences during at least one (information) session for students and/or other stakeholders
• You have applied for admission  to the Global Studies study programme at UM for the 2025-2026 academic year

Please note that a mandatory part of the Scholarship is a room that will be allocated to you. Accepting the Scholarship means, you accept the room. The accommodation provided to Scholarship students is not suitable for partners/spouses and/or children. Preferences with regard to the accommodation f.e. religious beliefs will be taken into account. Refusing the room means your Scholarship will be cancelled.  

The amount of € 15,925 for living expenses (€ 1,225 per month) covers the following expenses and can be broken down as follows (amounts are subject to change):

• Housing: € 600
• Groceries and personal hygiene: €160
• Telephone: € 60
• Travel: € 100
• Books and study materials: € 90
• Clothing, hobbies and going out: € 125
• Miscellaneous: € 90

Application Date and Process

Application procedure

Step 1: Register for the Global Studies programme at Maastricht University
For further details on how to register for a bachelor programme at UM, please see the website of Global Studies. Once you have submitted your application via Studielink, you will receive a student ID number for UM. You will need a student number in order to complete and submit the Scholarship Application Form.

• Please note: you first have to apply for the bachelor programme at UM to receive your student ID, as soon as you have your student ID you can apply for the scholarship. However, you must meet all admission requirements, except legal residence, of your master programme before the Scholarship deadline. Please be aware that the admission deadline may differ to the Scholarship deadline.
• Please note: if you have to pay a handling fee as part of the programme’s admissions procedure, the UM International Services Desk does not cover handling fees. You are responsible for paying any handling fee your programme may require by 1 February 2025. To check whether the programme requires the payment of a handling fee, please check here.

Step 2: Please fill in the application form, you need to log in with your UM account
You can find the application form here. Upload the following documents in .doc, .docx or PDF format, and submit your application. Please note that you will only be able to submit your application once, so please ensure that all of your documents and referee contact details are up-to-date. 

• Curriculum Vitae
  Your CV should be up-to-date; contain relevant information about your education and (job) experience; include proven previous extracurricular engagement with your previous (academic) organisation/high school and active citizenship in your community; and should not be longer than two A4 pages. If you have received any awards or prizes, please do not forget to mention these on your CV.
• Letter of motivation
  Please use the template for the motivation letter. This template will focus on your motivation for the scholarship.
• Proof of academic excellence
  Continuous good to excellent results during your prior (high school) education programmes, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript.
• Personal statement of financial needs
  Please explain why you would benefit from being awarded a scholarship and describe your personal circumstances such as financial difficulty, sole parent/caretaking responsibilities, medical condition, disability, refugee status, et cetera.
• A reference letter
  We have prepared scholarship reference letter guidelines; please print these out or forward them to your referee, as they will help your referee to write a good reference letter on your behalf. Please note that the referee must be a (former) professor, teacher, principal, college counsellor, lecturer, or employer, and not a family member. Recommendation letters should be dated and written no earlier than 1 February 2024. Letters that do not adhere to the guidelines are not taken into account, which means your application is incomplete. You need to upload the reference letter, this cannot be done by your referee. We trust you in this and we can check your reference
• The contact details of one referee
  Please note that we might check the authenticity of your referee by contacting your referee. Therefore, ensure that you take the following steps when choosing a referee and submitting their details:
  • Relationship to applicant; indicate your referee’s connection to you. Is this your (former) professor, teacher, principal, college counsellor, lecturer, or employer? Please remember that family members may not function as referees.
  • Work telephone number of your referee; be sure to include the applicable country calling code.
  • Work or institutional email address of your referee. Letters referencing only a personal email address will be rejected, unless a valid reason is provided.

Please note that you will only be able to submit your application once, so please ensure that all of your documents and referee contact details are up-to-date.

Step 1	Register for the bachelor programme via Studielink.nl
Step 2	Fill out the application form   You need to log in with your UM account

 

Selection procedure

• Step 1: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 February 2025.
   
• Step 2: The UM Scholarship Office forwards your application to the Global Studies admission office.
   
• Step 3: The Global Studies admission office - in cooperation with the respective programme coordinator(s) - ranks your application based on the UM scholarship selection criteria and proposes a top-5 to the Global Studies Scholarship selection committee in April 2025.
   
• Step 4: The Global Studies Scholarship selection committee (composed of the Global Studies academic programme coordinator, and representatives of the UM Scholarship Office) invites the top-5 applicants for an online interview, following which a decision is taken. In case you are not selected, you will be added to a reserve list in case the selected candidate(s) decline(s) the scholarship. 
   
• Step 5: The UM International Services Desk will inform all candidates of their application status in May 2025. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of June 2025 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by June 2025. Scholarship awardees will receive more information about the UM Pre-Academic Training programme and arrival in Maastricht upon receiving their award letters. The UM Pre-Academic Training is a two week mandatory component of the UM Global Studies Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training takes place in the first week of August 2025.
   
• Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.

Application Deadline

01 February, 2025

Scholarship Application Portal

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