VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP), Amsterdam, Netherlands

Deadline for Applications: February 1, 2021

The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) offers talented prospective international students the unique opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. VU Amsterdam has committed to providing approximately 1 million euro towards attracting highly motivated and excellent students. 

Eligibility

The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) is a Merit scholarship programme for strongly motivated students with excellent study results.  

• You can prove your academic excellence with a GPA of at least 80% of the highest possible mark.
• You are applying for the first year of a full-time English-taught Master’s programme at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam starting per September 2021.
• You do not have the Dutch nationality.
• The degree with which you are seeking admission has not been obtained in the Netherlands.

The VUFP scholarship can be granted for a one or two-year Master’s programme. The scholarship will only be extended for the second year of the two-year Master’s programme if 100% of the credits of the first year have been achieved. The Faculty VUFP committee will be asked to demonstrate to the Central VUFP committee that these credits have indeed been achieved. Students already enrolled in a two-year Master’s programme who have not been awarded the VUFP scholarship in 2020/2021 are not eligible to apply for the VUFP scholarship 2021/2022. The scholarship will only be granted to a student once and is explicitly intended for the Master’s programme for which it has been awarded. 

One VUFP scholarship will be reserved for an applicant who previously completed a semester or full academic year abroad at the VU Amsterdam via the Semester in Amsterdam programme and is now applying for a full-time Master’s programme at VU Amsterdam. When you are applying as a Semester in Amsterdam alumnus or alumna, please complete the regular application procedure and then email semesterinamsterdam@vu.nl to inform the staff that you applied via VUnet for a VUFP scholarship. Please indicate in your motivation letter that you previously completed a semester or full academic year at VU Amsterdam via the Semester in Amsterdam program. Students who are not selected for the scholarship reserved for Semester in Amsterdam alumni can still be considered for a regular VUFP scholarship.

Benefits

The VUFP scholarship covers the tuition fees. VUFP scholarship does not provide any additional allowance towards study or living costs.

Application Process

1. Register for a Master’s programme (from 1 October 2020)  
Students register for a Master’s programme in Studielink and after that in the VUnet portal. Here you can find more information on how to apply for one of our English-taught Master’s programmes. Please note that you must have applied for the Master’s programme before you can apply for the VUFP scholarship and your VUFP application has to be received in good order by the deadline.   
Deadline: 1 February 2021.

2. Submit VUFP application (from 1 November 2020)
Submit your VUFP application  in VUnet. 
Deadline: 2 February 2021
Please note that we strongly recommend to submit the required documents before 22 January 2021 to have a chance to upload any revised documents again if this should be necessary.

For VUFP application 3 documents in PDF format are required:

            A. Proof of excellence / transcript, GPA and grading scale
Please upload the transcript and grading scale of your qualifying degree with a clear explanation of the GPA calculation. Students who apply for a VU Fellowship Programme need to have a GPA of at least 80% of the highest possible mark (calculated over full previous degree or current Bachelor’s degree). For example, if the highest possible mark is a 10 you need to have an average of at least an 8. Excellence in previous education is proven if the grade point average achieved is at least the equivalent of the Dutch grade of an 8.0 on the Dutch grading scale 1 – 10. The VUFP  Scholarship Committee will decide on the local grade equivalents for the Dutch grade of an 8.0 using the grade information included in the NUFFIC country modules. 

           B. Motivation Letter (around 500 words) 
We would like to know your motivation for applying to the VU Fellowship Programme. Topics that should be reviewed in the motivation letter are the following:

• Why do you want to study this specific Master’s programme?
• What are your future goals?
• Why do you deserve the VUFP scholarship?

Do not hesitate to mention other factors of motivations as well, taking initiative is appreciated! Be aware that you need to write a different motivation letter than the motivation for the application of your study programme. For VUFP, we expect a motivation letter where you elaborate on the above-mentioned questions. If you do not meet these requirements, your application will be rejected.

           C. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
We strongly recommend the use of the Europass format.

Please note that we only accept PDF files. We will reject the documents if they are uploaded in any other type of format. The VUFP team will notify all students who uploaded their documents before 22 January 2021 and who do not meet the requirements. Students will have the possibility to upload new documents until the deadline of 1 February 2021. Applications and documents submitted for the first time after 22 January are considered as final documents.

3. Decision
The Central VUFP Committee decides which students will be offered a VUFP scholarship. All VUFP applications received by 2 February 2021 will be reviewed by the faculty of the applied for Master’s programme. Faculties then nominate applicants to the central scholarship committee, which subsequently awards scholarships to the most talented students. The award is based on the motivation letter, the quality of previous education and the student’s academic performance therein. The Committee makes a merit based selection. A scholarship offer will be made to successful candidates.

4. Results
All students will receive an e-mail/ notification informing them of the Central scholarships  Committee’s decision concerning their application. Expected date:  1 April 2021 (8 weeks after the deadline).

5. Acceptance of VUFP or HSP offer
Selected candidates accept/ decline the VUFP offer in VUnet. Deadline: 15 April 2021 (2 weeks after the results are published).

Conditions VUFP Scholarship Programme

The conditions for the VUFP Scholarship Programme can be found here.

Source / Additional information: Official Website.