The Swedish Institute and the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) sponsor a range of scholarships for master’s level studies at Swedish universities, targeted at citizens of developing countries and for specific programmes.

You are eligible for these scholarships if you are a university graduate, citizen of a developing country and have several years of relevant work experience.

The purpose of these scholarships is to help grow special competencies in targeted countries.

Eligibility is thus restricted to candidates from specific countries seeking admittance to approved programmes at Swedish universities.

Because Sida has identified different developmental needs in different countries, your citizenship determines which programmes are available for scholarship support.

Priority

In the scholarship selection process, your application is given priority if you can secure a leave of absence from your job which allows you to return upon completion of your studies.

If not enough applicants meet this criterion, your application will be considered if you have at least five years of relevant work experience.

Citizenship, study level and study areas Eligible countries are listed by programme. Below each approved master’s programme you’ll find a list of countries whose citizens are eligible for scholarship support under that programme.

Study period

The master’s level programmes are between one and two academic years in duration.

They usually start at the end of August or early September.

Language

You need to have a good knowledge of English. All approved master’s level programmes are taught in English.

Scholarship benefits

Currently, a scholarship pays SEK 8,000 per month, plus travel costs to and from Sweden.

These scholarships are designed to cover living expenses for one person only.

Tuition for the eligible programmes is free.

Application

You can apply for this scholarship when you apply for admission to one of the approved master’s programmes at a Swedish university.

There is no application form for this scholarship. Do not send any master’s scholarship requests or applications to the Swedish Institute.

Instead, you apply directly to the university for the master’s programme and at the same time inform them that you would like to be considered for this scholarship.

Some universities let you indicate this on their admission application forms.

In other cases, you will need to attach a letter to your admission application spelling out your request for this scholarship explicitly.

Note: Contact information are found on the specific programmes.

Also see Programmes and eligible countries;

For more information, see: Scholarships for Developing Countries