UM Social Justice Scholarship

All candidates must meet the following requirements:

• You hold a nationality in a country outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland or 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 2026. If your residence permit expires before 2 September 2026 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 dual nationality from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland.
• You have applied for admission to the full-time master programme Globalisation and Law at Maastricht University for the 2026-2027 academic year.
• You have already made a proven contribution to support the rule of law and/or human rights by way of intra- and extracurricular initiatives and projects
• You meet the specific admission requirements of the UM master programme to which you have applied.
• Preference will be given to candidates who have not yet obtained a Master’s degree
• You are not older than 35 years of age on 1 September 2026.
• You have obtained excellent results during your prior education programmes, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript showing a GPA of 7,5 out of 10 or higher.
• 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 application portal will open on 1 October 2025. Application deadline is up to and including 1 February 2026, 23:59 CET

• 13 months for the one-year master programme Globalisation and Law

*These amounts are subject to change for academic year 2027-2028

Please note that a mandatory part of the Scholarship is a room that will be allocated to you. Accepting the Scholarship means that 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 e.g. 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

Please note that air tickets are not included and must be paid by the candidate.

Step 1: Apply for the master programme Globalisation and Law
For further details on how to apply for the master programme at UM, please see your programme’s webpage. 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).

• Please note: only the master programmes Globalisation and Law is eligible for the UM Social Justice Scholarship.
• Please note: you first have to apply for the master 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 the admission deadline when applying for this  Scholarship is 8 December 2025.
• Please note; by the Scholarship deadline of 01 February 2026  you must have met all admission requirements, (except legal residence, tuition payment & hard copy of a diploma)
• Please note: 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 8 December 2025.
• Please note: you must provide an official document from your home university showing your most recent GPA and a document explaining your grade system. We only accept applications a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 75% or higher of the scale maximum in the bachelor's degree.

Step 2: Please fill in the application form, you need to log in with your UM account
Please fill out the application form here.  We can only accept applications via the application form.

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, 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. Please emphasize in this letter on what you already did to improve Human Rights.
• Proof of academic excellence
  Please upload:
  1. Your university transcript or an official document from your home university showing your most recent GPA of 7.5 or higher. We only accept applications a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 75% or higher of the scale maximum in the bachelor's degree.
  2. A document explaining your grade system.
• 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 etc.
• A reference letter. We have prepared scholarship reference letter guidelines; please forward them to your referee, as they will help your referee to write a good reference letter on your behalf. Please note that referees must be (former) professors, lecturers, or employers, and not family members. Recommendation letters should be dated and written no earlier than February 2025. Letters that do not adhere to the guidelines are not taken into account, which means your application is incomplete. You must upload the reference letter yourself, this cannot be done by your referee.
• The contact details of one referee
  Please note that we may check the authenticity of your reference 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 professor, thesis supervisor, 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. 

• Step 1: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 February 2026.
   
• Step 2: The UM International Services Desk sends all complete applications to the UM Law Faculty in February 2026.
   
• Step 3: The Faculty selects and ranks their top 3 of scholarship applicants and sends these to the UM International Services Desk for a final check in March 2026.
   
• Step 4: The UM International Services Desk confirms the Faculty selections by the end of March 2026 and will invite the selected candidates for an online interview.  You will be asked to prepare an action plan detailing how the study programme at UM will help you to contribute to strengthening human rights and/or the rule of law in your home country and/or elsewhere.
• Step 5: After the interviews have taken place the UM International Services Desk will inform all candidates of their application status in April 2026. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of May 2026 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by May 2026. 
  
  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 - High Protential Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training starts in the first week of August 2026.
   
• Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.