Applicants are invited to apply for the Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship. The Maastricht University (UM) NL-High Potential Scholarship program offers 18 full scholarships, including tuition fee waivers and monthly stipends, each academic year for highly talented students from outside the European Union (EU) who have been admitted to a master’s program at UM.
This scholarship to study in Europe consists of both the High Potential Scholarship (funded by the Maastricht University Scholarship Fund) and the NL Scholarship, which is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in conjunction with Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences. It is aimed at international students from outside the EU/EEA who wish to follow a full degree program in the Netherlands.
Founded in 1976, Maastricht University (UM) is the most international university in the Netherlands and uses Dutch and English as languages of instruction. However, most of the master’s and doctoral programs are in English. The university has more than 18,000 students and 4,400 employees and offers high-quality research and study programs. UM has quickly built up a solid reputation that makes it one of the best young universities in the world. Please note that this is a very competitive scholarship, and only 2% of the applicants get awarded the scholarship.
Programme Details
- Host Institution: Maastricht University, Netherlands.
- Field of Study: Participating in master’s programs (full list below).
- Number of awards: 18.
- Duration: 13 months for a one-year master’s program, 25 months for a two-year master’s program.
- Target group: Open to citizens of countries outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland, or Surinam.
Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship Benefits
This Europe scholarship program provides selected candidates with the following benefits:
- Living expenses €20,150 (13 months) or €38,750 (25 months), paid to students by the UM International Services Desk.
- Health & liability insurance €700, arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk.
- Visa application costs are arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk.
- Tuition fees, arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk.
- Pre-Academic Training costs are arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk.
- International Student Ambassador Programme (ISAP): cost covered for the first block only, arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk.
These amounts are subject to change for academic year 2028-2029.
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
Note : Air tickets are not included and must be paid by the candidate. A cleaning fee (approx. €75) is not included in the scholarship and has to be paid to Maastricht Housing upfront. A mandatory part of the scholarship is a room that will be allocated to you until 16 July 2028. Students who receive a scholarship for a two-year program will have to find housing for the second year themselves. 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, for example, religious beliefs, will be taken into account. Refusing the room means your scholarship will be cancelled.
NL-High Potential Scholarship Eligible Programmes
Below is the list of master’s programs that are eligible for the UM NL-High Potential Scholarship 2027-2028:
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
- MA Arts and Culture: spec. Arts and Heritage
- MA Arts and Culture: spec. Modern Political Culture
- MA Arts and Culture: spec. Contemporary Literature and Arts
- MA European Studies
Faculty of Law
- LLM European Law School: spec. European Business Law
- LLM European Law School: spec. European Public Law
- LLM European Law School: spec. General program
- LLM European Law School: spec. Law for a Sustainable Europe
- LLM European Law School: spec. Law & AI
- LLM Forensics, Criminology, and Law
- LLM Globalization and Law: spec. Corporate and Commercial Law
- LLM Globalization and Law: spec. General program
- LLM Globalisation and Law: spec. Human Rights
- LLM Globalization and Law: spec. International Trade and Investment Law
- LLM International and European Tax Law: spec. International and European Tax Law
- LLM International and European Tax Law: spec. Customs and International Supply Chain Taxation
- LLM International and European Tax Law: spec. Tax and Technology
- LLM Advanced Master in Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge Management
- MSc Advanced Master in Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge Management
Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences
- MSc Epidemiology
- MSc Global Health
- MSc Governance and Leadership in European Public Health
- MSc Health and Digital Transformation
- MSc Health Food Innovation Management
- MSc Health Promotion
- MSc Healthcare Policy, Innovation, and Management
- MSc Human Movement Sciences: spec. Health and Rehabilitation
- MSc Human Movement Sciences: spec. Sports and Nutrition
Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience
- MSc Forensic Psychology
- MSc Psychology: spec. Developmental Psychology
- Research Master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience: spec. Fundamental Neuroscience
School of Business and Economics
- MSc Financial Economics
- MSc International Business: Accounting and Financial Analysis
- MSc International Business: spec. Organization: Management, Change, and Consultancy
- MSc International Business: spec. Strategy and Innovation
- MSc Learning and Development in Organisations
Other Opportunities
Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship Eligibility
To apply for this scholarship, applicants must satisfy the following eligibility criteria:
- Hold nationality in a country outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland, or Suriname, and meet the requirements for obtaining an entry visa and residence permit 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 an MVV visa application.
- Do not hold dual nationality from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland.
- Have applied for admission to a participating full-time master’s program at Maastricht University 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.
- Meet the specific admission requirements of the UM master’s program to which you have applied.
- Have never participated in a degree-seeking higher education program in the Netherlands. Students who have completed exchange programs in the Netherlands are welcome to apply.
- Preference will be given to candidates who have not yet obtained a master’s degree.
- Are not older than 35 years of age on 1 September 2027.
- Have obtained excellent results during your prior education programs, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript showing a GPA of 7.5 out of 10 or higher. This is equivalent to a minimum of 75% out of 100% or 3 out of 4 depending on your grade system.
- Agree to become an active UM NL High Potential 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 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.
How to Apply for Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship
Eligible applicants who would like to be considered for this university scholarship to study in the Netherlands are required to follow the steps below:
Step 1: Apply for a Master’s programme via Studielink
Apply for one of the participating Master’s programmes at Maastricht University. For further details on how to apply for a Master’s programme at UM, please see your prospective 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).
- Only the Master’s programmes in the list above are eligible for a UM NL-High Potential Scholarship.
- The deadline to apply for one of the participating Master’s programmes through Studielink and submit your application file in full, meeting all admission requirements, is 10 December 2026.
- By the Scholarship deadline of 1 February 2027 you must have met all registration requirements (except legal residence, tuition payment and 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.
- You need to provide an official document from your home university showing your most recent GPA and a document explaining your grade system. We only accept applications with a GPA of 7.5 out of 10 or higher.
Step 2: Fill out the application form
Please fill in the application form, you need to log in with your UM account. 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.
Note : Due to an upgrade, the application portal is not available between 22 – 26 October.
Required Documents
- 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.
- Proof of academic excellence: Please upload:
- Your university transcript or an official document from your home university showing your most recent GPA of 7.5 or higher. Only applicants with a grade point average of 7.5 out of 10 or higher will be considered.
- A document explaining your grade system. 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 etc.
- A reference letter: There are 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 2026. 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 yourself, this cannot be done by your referee. Please note we may 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 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.
Selection Procedure
- Step 1: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 February 2027.
- Step 2: The UM International Services Desk sends all complete applications to each UM Faculty in February 2027.
- Step 3: Each Faculty selects and ranks their top 5 of scholarship applicants and sends these to the UM International Services Desk for a final check in March 2027.
- Step 4: The UM International Services Desk confirms the Faculty selections by the end of March 2027 and will invite the selected candidates for an online interview.
- Step 5: After the interviews have taken place 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 May 2027 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by May 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-High Potential Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training starts 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.
Applications are open from 1 October 2026 until . For more details on the Maastricht University NL-High Potential Scholarship, please visit the university’s website.