Maastricht University UM Global Studies Scholarship in the Netherlands
The Global Studies bachelor-level study programme trains students to understand and develop solutions for complex global issues, crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries. The study programme is unique in the Netherlands for having six faculties, each with their disciplinary expertise, contribute equally to the educational content of the programme.
The study programme offers students the opportunity to perform a field study in the global south, 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 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 the Global South with personal development potential who have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme.
Target group: bachelor students with proven academic excellence and personal development potential, that have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme.
Who is eligible?
All candidates must meet the following requirements:
- You hold the nationality of a country in the Global South, here defined as least developed (column 1), low income (column 2) and lower middle-income (column 3) countries in Africa, Asia (including the Middle-East), Latin-America and the Caribbean based on the definition of the OECD and meet the requirements for obtaining an entry visa and residence permit for the Netherlands
- You do not hold a double nationality from a country in the Global North
- 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 2022
- 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 have have been (conditionally) admitted to the Global Studies study programme
Application deadline
The deadline is up to and including 1 March 2022, 23:59h CET.
Duration of the UM Global Studies Scholarship
- 36 months for the bachelor’s programme in Global Studies
Amount of the UM Global Studies Scholarship programme 2022-2023
| Living expenses | € 11,400 per academic year | Paid to students by the UM International Services Desk |
| Health & liability insurance | At cost | Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk |
| Visa application costs | € 192* | Arranged for and paid by the UM International Services Desk |
| Tuition fees | € 12,800 per year | 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 |
*This amount is subject to change for academic year 2022-2023
Application procedure
Step 1: Register for one of the Global Studies programmes at Maastricht University
For further details on how to register for a master 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.
- Please note: you can apply for the master programme at UM and the scholarship simultaneously. However, you must be conditionally approved for admission to the bachelor programme in order to be awarded a scholarship.
- Please note: if you have to pay a handling fee as part of the 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 March 2022. 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
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; include proven previous extracurricular engagement with your previous (academic) organisation and active citizenship in your community; and should not be longer than two A4 pages. - Letter of motivation
Your letter of motivation should be up-to-date and specifically tailored to the Global Studies Scholarship, including the substantiated envisaged contribution to UM and the Global Studies study programme. Your letter of motivation should be no longer than one A4 page. Be sure to argue why this scholarship is important to you, why you should be selected, and what your role as an ambassador of UM would be during your scholarship period, and during the upcoming years after you finish your studies at UM. - Proof of academic excellence
Continuous good to excellent results during your prior (high school) education programmes, as demonstrated by your latest grade transcript. - 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 referees must be (former) professors, lecturers, or employers, and not family members. Recommendation letters should be dated and written no earlier than February 2021. Letters which do not agree with the guidelines are not taken into account, which means your application is incomplete. - The contact details of one referee
Please note that we 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.
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 | Register for the bachelor programme via Studielink.nl |
| Step 2 | Fill out the application form You need to log in with your UM account |
Selection procedure
Step 1: The UM International Services Desk checks if all applications are complete after 1 March 2022.
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 April 2022.
Step 4: The Global Studies Scholarship selection committee (composed of the Global Studies academic programme coordinator, a representative of the UM Scholarship Office, the UM Diversity & Inclusivity Office and UM Academic Affairs) 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 May 2022. Your status will be selected, waitlisted or rejected by the beginning of June 2022 at the latest. Waitlisted application statuses will be changed to selected or rejected by June 2022. 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 Global Studies Scholarship programme. The Pre-Academic Training takes place in August 2022.
Step 6: You must sign and return the award letter to the UM International Services Desk to accept the scholarship.