UM NL Global Studies Scholarship

The study programme offers students the opportunity to take part in a local or international field study, 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 NL 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 eligible countries with personal development potential who have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme.

Target group: 

Incoming bachelor students with demonstratable financial need from eligible countries and with strong personal development potential that can be uniquely supported by the Global Studies study programme. To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must be (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies programme. 

Who is eligible?
Duration of the UM NL Global Studies Scholarship
Amount of the UM NL Global Studies Scholarship programme
Application procedure
Selection procedure
Student testimonials

All candidates must meet the following requirements:

•  You hold the nationality of a country that is eligible to receive Official Development Assistance from the OECD,excluded Surinam, 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 2027. If your residence permit expires before 2 September 2027 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 an EU/EEA country, Switzerland or Surinam.
• You have applied for admission to the Global Studies bachelor's programme at the UM for the 2027-2028 academic year and have submitted your application file in full, meeting all admission requirements as stated on the website, before 10 December 2026.

• You meet the specific admission requirements of the UM bachelor programme to which you have applied.

   

• You do not have a diploma from a higher education institution; you are not eligible for a scholarship if you have completed a degree programme equivalent to a bachelor degree.
• You are not older than 35 years of age on 1 September 2027.
• 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 can only submit an application once, please make sure all documents meet the requirements before you start your application. We cannot add or replace documents after you submit the application.

Application deadline

Applications are open from 1 October 2026 until 1 February 2027 at 23:59 hrs.

• 36 months for the bachelor's programme in Global Studies

*This amount is subject to change for academic year 2028-2029

Please note that a mandatory part of the Scholarship is a room that will be allocated to you until 16 July 2028. This means you will have to find housing for the second and third year yourself. Accepting the Scholarship means, you accept the room. The accommodation provided to Scholarship students is not suitable for partners/spouses, children and/or pets. 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 € 20,150 for living expenses (€ 1,550 per month) covers the following expenses and can be broken down as follows (amounts are subject to change):

• Housing: € 960
• Groceries and personal hygiene: €160
• Telephone: € 60
• Travel: € 100
• Books and study materials: € 90
• Clothing, hobbies and going out: € 125
• Miscellaneous: € 55
• Please note that air tickets are not included and must be paid by the candidate. 
• Cleaning fee (approx. €75) is not included in the Scholarship and has to be paid to Maastricht Housing upfront.

Step 1: Apply for the Global Studies programme at Maastricht University
For further details on how to apply for this 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 (see Step 2 below).

• 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. Please be aware that to be eligible for this scholarship, the deadline to apply for one of the participating master programmes through Studielink and submit your application file in full, meeting all admission requirements, is 10 December. 
• By the Scholarship deadline of 1 February 2027 you must have met all registration requirements (except legal residence, tuition payment & hard copy of a diploma).
• If your study programme requires the payment of a handling fee as part of your 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 10 December 2026. 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. Your university transcript has to show at least 75% of the maximum grade, for example a 3 out of 4 that would be equivalent to a 7.5 out of 10 at Maastricht University.
• 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 2025. Letters that do not agree with 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: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 February 2027.
   
• 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 March 2027.
   
• 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 April 2027. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of June 2027 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by June 2027. 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 NL Global Studies Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training takes place in the first week of August 2027.
   
• Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.

Read more about the NL Scholarship