• You are of Dutch nationality or have been registered in the Netherlands for at least five years.
• Along with your application, you can submit a list of grades with an average grade of 8.0 or more.
• You're going abroad for education for a period of at least one year that will result in a master’s degree or similar degree, or for follow-up research of at least three months.
• You are highly motivated.
• You are an "excellent talent".
   

The full conditions -in Dutch- can be found on the fund's website      

The duration of the scholarship depends on the application.

The amount depends on the quality and quantity of the applications.

You can directly apply to het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds  for the scholarship.

Before 2 April in the year prior to the academic year you want to start.

• You are of Dutch nationality or you receive Dutch student finance.
• You are a master's or bachelor's student in your last year, or have recently graduated, or you are a researcher at a university.
• You are no older than 35 years of age at the start of the scholarship.
• You are not doing an internship.
• You do not have an Erasmus+ scholarship.

Non-Dutch students cannot get cultural treaty scholarships for their country of origin.  

The complete conditions can be found at Nuffic.  

Depends on the programme and the country.

You can register directly at Nuffic.  

Differs per country.

Specific information for each country can be found at WilWeg  , the Dutch website for studying abroad.

Universities in the United States, Canada and some other countries use the TOEFL test to determine how well a person has mastered English. You can take this (online) test at various locations in the Netherlands.

View locations, dates and practice tests

Universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand use the scores from the IELTS to determine whether you speak English well enough to be admitted. You can take the paper test at test locations of the British Council in Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam. You can take the online test at Amsterdam, Barendrecht, Den Bosch and Zwolle.

More information about the IELTS test

This test is for students who want to be admitted to an MBA programme (postgraduate education in management) or to other graduate programmes in the United States in the area of business administration or management.

Your admission does not just depend on your GMAT results. Other aspects play a role during the admissions procedure. You take the GMAT at a test centre. There are test centres in many locations in the Netherlands among others in Maastricht.

Read more about the GMAT and the GMAT test
View test dates and locations in the Netherlands (click on "search for a convenient test center)   

The GRE is often compulsory if you want to enrol in a graduate programme in the United States. No GRE is required for graduate programmes in the following fields of study: law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, fine arts and music. Graduate programmes in business administration and economics require a GMAT instead of a GRE.

Read more about the GRE

You can take a language course at the UM Language Centre. You will get a certificate at the end of these courses. You can use this certificate to demonstrate how well you have mastered a given language.

Some faculties also offer language training. Ask about this at your faculty's International Relations Office.

Overview of language courses > Choose 'Faculty' > Language Centre

If you are going to study abroad, you will often be asked to take a test to prove that you have mastered English sufficiently. Two well-known tests are the TOEFL test and the IELTS test.

Read more about the TOEFL test and the IELTS test

Students who go abroad through the Erasmus+ programme can take Online Linguistic Support (OLS). The training is available for the main languages within Erasmus +. Ask  the Central Erasmus Office for more information.

Read more on the Online Linguistic Support

The scholarship will be awarded to a talented bachelor's student who has been admitted to the unique bachelor’s programme in European Law School (ELS) at LAW starting in September 2026.

Candidates must have met the admission requirements (see below) and must have participated in the decentralised selection procedure.

• Applicants must hold a Belgium, Luxembourgian or French passport and meet the requirements for obtaining a Dutch visa (MVV residence permit).
• Applicants must be first generation students. We define first generation students as students from non-academic backgrounds. First generation students are the first in their families to follow higher education (university or university of applied sciences); their parents did not follow higher education.
• You can only submit an application once and for one Scholarship only. Please make sure all documents meet the requirements before you start your application. We cannot add or replace documents after you submit the application

The duration of the scholarship is a maximum period of 36 months for the 3-year bachelor programme at the European Law School.

Step 1: Apply for admissions to the bachelor's programme in European Law School at Maastricht University. Once you have submitted your application via Studielink, you will receive a student ID number.

Step 2: Application to the scholarship:

• Please fill out the application form and including the necessary documents.

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

Upload the following documents in .doc, .docx, or PDF format in English, 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 are up-to-date.

• Curriculum Vitae. Your CV should be up-to-date, contain relevant information about your education and (job) experience, and should not be longer 2 A4 pages.
• Letter of motivation. Your letter of motivation should be up-to-date and specifically tailored to this scholarship programme. Generic letters of admission that do not directly address your motivation for the scholarship selection will be rejected. Your letter of motivation should be no longer than 1 A4 page. Be sure to argue why you are a first generation student and why this scholarship is important to you, why you should be selected.
• A letter of reference from the dean of your high school

Your applications for the bachelor’s programme and for the scholarship will be assessed by the LAW faculty.

Step 1: The faculty will first assess your bachelor’s application. Once you have been accepted to the bachelor’s programme, the faculty will assess your scholarship application.

Step 2: The faculty will send a list with eligible candidates to the Maastricht University selection committee and the University Fund Limburg. These committees will make a definitive selection from the nominated candidates.

Step 3: If you have been awarded a scholarship, you will receive an official acceptance letter in July 2026.

Step 4: You must sign and return this letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.

All aspects of your application count towards the assessment of the application. The Scholarship Committee also looks at: academic excellence, your motivation, status of the institute you studied at in your home country, the match of the chosen bachelor's programme with your previous qualification(s), level of this previous qualification or these previous qualifications, your career planning, and your references.