Study In Netherlands. Maastricht University NL-High Potential scholarship 2024. The Maastricht University (UM) NL-High Potential Scholarship programme offers 24 full scholarships of € 30,000 (including tuition fee waiver and monthly stipend) each academic year for highly talented students from outside the European Union (EU) who have been admitted to a master’s programme at UM.
The Scholarship programme 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 programme in the Netherlands.
Who is eligible?
All candidates must meet the following requirements:
- You hold 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.
- You do not hold a double nationality from an EU/EEA country.
- You have applied for admission to a participating full-time master programme at Maastricht University (participating programmes) for the 2024-2025 academic year.
- You meet the specific admission requirements of the UM master programme to which you have applied.
- 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 2024.
- You have obtained excellent results during your prior education programmes, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript or certified by academic excellence. If several applicants are equally qualified, UM will give preference to applicants whose academic transcript or certified letter of academic excellence demonstrate that they are among the top 5% of the 2024-2025 scholarship programme applicants.
Please note, this is a very competitive scholarship, only 2% of the applicants get awarded the scholarship.
Duration of the NL-High Potential scholarship
- 13 months for a one-year master programme
- 25 months for a two-year master programme
Amount of the NL-High Potential scholarship programme 2024-2025
| Living expenses | € 12,350* (13 months) or € 23,750* (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 | € 210 | Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk |
| Tuition fees | At cost | 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 |
*These amounts are subject to change for academic year 2024-2025
Application procedure
Step 1: Register for one of the participating master programmes at UM (participating programmes)
For further details on how to register for a master 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).
- Please note: only the master programmes in the list above are eligible for a UM NL-High Potential 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. However, you must be conditionally approved for admission to your master programme in order to be awarded a scholarship.
- 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 1 February 2024. To check whether your programme requires the payment of a handling fee, please check your programme’s webpage under the menu tab ‘Admission requirements’.
Step 2: Please fill in the application form, you need to log in with your UM account
Please use this link to fill out the application form. 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. If you have applied for multiple UM study programmes, the UM International Services Desk will ensure that your complete scholarship application is considered for all eligible programmes for which you have a conditionally approved or approved admissions status.
- 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. - Letter of motivation
Please use the templatefor the motivation letter. This template will focus on your motivation for the scholarship. - Proof of academic excellence
You may upload one of the following documents in order to prove your academic excellence:
1. Your university transcript that explicitly states your grade point average or class ranking (i.e. first class honours) for your entire study programme; or,
2. A letter signed by your institution’s Head of Department or Registrar stating that you are one of the top 20 students in the graduating year of your study programme. Please ensure that the letter contains the contact details of your Head of Department or Registrar. - 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 2024.
- 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 2024.
Step 2: The UM International Services Desk sends all complete applications to each UM Faculty in February 2024.
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 2024.
Step 4: The UM International Services Desk confirms the Faculty selections by the end of March 2024.
Step 5: The UM International Services Desk will inform all candidates of their application status in April 2024. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of May 2024 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by May 2024. 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 three-week mandatory component of the UM NL Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training takes place in August 2024.
Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.
