VU Amsterdam Fellowship 2027 — Full Master's Tuition Waiver
Tuition only Master scholarship in Netherlands for International students 2027
A full tuition-fee waiver for non-EU master's students at VU Amsterdam, requiring a GPA equivalent to a Dutch 8.0 and an admission offer before you apply.
Eligibility
- Non-EU/EEA passport and no Dutch nationality
- Bachelor's GPA at least equivalent to a Dutch 8.0
- Admitted to a full-time English-taught master's starting September 2027
- Previous degree not obtained in the Netherlands
- February starts and jointly administered programmes excluded
What it covers
The VU Fellowship Programme, usually shortened to VUFP, is Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's merit award for students from outside the European Union who pay the higher non-EU tuition rate. It is a full tuition-fee waiver, granted for one year on a one-year master's and for both years on a two-year master's.
The distinction that matters is what it does not cover. VU states plainly that the fellowship covers tuition fees only, with no allowance for rent, food, insurance or travel. The annual budget behind the scheme is substantial, but it is spent on fees rather than on living costs, so a recipient still needs a plan for roughly a year of Amsterdam living expenses.
Applying for VUFP also enters you automatically for the NL Scholarship, formerly the Holland Scholarship. That is a one-off contribution of EUR 5,000 towards living costs for the first year, and VU awards around 20 to 25 of them a year, which means only a minority of VUFP recipients receive it as well. There is no separate form, but the selection is a different process.
For a two-year master's, the second year of the waiver is conditional on earning 100 per cent of the first year's credits. Students who fall short pay the second year themselves, so the award is a two-year commitment only for those who stay on pace.
Eligibility: who can apply
This is a merit award with a high academic bar. The published threshold is a bachelor's grade point average at least equivalent to a Dutch 8.0 on the 1 to 10 scale, a mark the university itself describes as one very few applicants reach.
Run this self-check before you open the form:
Do you hold a non-EU, non-EEA passport, and are you outside the lower EU fee category?
Is your bachelor's GPA plausibly equivalent to a Dutch 8.0? The committee converts using its own equivalence data, so do not convert it yourself, but do upload the grading scale so the conversion is possible.
Have you been admitted, conditionally or unconditionally, to a full-time English-taught master's at VU Amsterdam starting in September 2027? This is a hard precondition rather than a parallel process.
Was your qualifying degree obtained outside the Netherlands, and are you free of any Dutch degree or current Dutch enrolment?
Is your programme one that VU admits students to itself? Joint degrees where another institution runs admissions are excluded.
Is your start date September rather than February? February starters cannot apply at all.
Only the bachelor's GPA is assessed, even if you already hold a master's degree, so a weak bachelor's record is not repaired by strong postgraduate work.
Deadline: the dates that decide it
The VUFP application window runs from 1 November 2026 to 1 February 2027 at 23:59 Central European Time. Results are expected around mid-March 2027.
The deadline that actually governs the outcome is earlier. You need an admission decision before you can submit a VUFP application, and VU advises applying for the master's programme by 1 December 2026, and earlier still if your programme includes an intake or assessment. Registration in Studielink opened on 1 October 2026.
In practice, treat 1 December as your working deadline and 1 February as the backstop. An applicant who waits until January may still be waiting for an admission decision when the scholarship window shuts.
How to apply
There are two steps, in order, and the second is invisible until the first is done.
First, register for a master's programme through Studielink and complete the application in your VU dashboard. You must hold at least a conditional offer before the scholarship form becomes relevant.
Second, submit the VUFP-NLS application form for 2027-2028 through the scholarship section of the same dashboard. Only the current version of the form is accepted, and older versions are discarded.
The materials checklist:
The current VUFP-NLS application form, completed in full with every question answered.
Your bachelor's transcript or GPA proof pasted into the end of the form.
A clear explanation of the grading scale used, so the committee can place your average against the Dutch 1 to 10 system.
Everything saved as a single PDF and uploaded in the scholarship section of the dashboard.
A conditional or unconditional admission offer for a September 2027 start.
Two further rules are easy to miss. You may apply for VUFP for one master's programme only, even if you applied for admission to several, and you may submit the form once. A submission with a blank question or a missing transcript is not evaluated, and there is no second attempt.
Common mistakes to avoid
The first is submitting the wrong year's form. VU says older versions are not accepted, and because the upload is final, a stale form ends the application rather than delaying it.
The second is treating the tuition waiver as a full ride. It is not, and the gap is large: a Dutch residence permit requires evidence that living costs are covered, and this award contributes nothing to that evidence. Applicants who budget only the fee discover the shortfall after admission.
The third is applying to several programmes and only then choosing one for VUFP. The scholarship is tied to a single programme, and a mismatched choice between the admission file and the scholarship file creates an administrative problem the committee will not resolve for you.
Tips to win
Start with admission, not with the form. The strongest VUFP file is one where the programme application went in during October or November, the offer arrived in good time, and the scholarship form was then completed without pressure.
Make the GPA legible. The committee has to convert a foreign transcript into a Dutch equivalent, and a clear grading-scale explanation plus a transcript showing your position in the cohort does that work for them.
Use the motivation section to explain fit with the specific programme, not with Amsterdam. The award is decided centrally on academic performance and motivation, and the applicants who stand out connect their record to a named track or research group.
https://vu.nl/en/education/more-about/incoming-master-scholarships
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=96
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=68
https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=19
Photo: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Choinowski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Last updated: 2 November 2026
Not sure whether your transcript clears a Dutch 8.0? Contact an OEAC advisor and we will assess your grades against this fellowship before the December admission cut-off.
Always confirm the deadline and eligibility on the official page before you apply. Scholarship dates change between rounds, and this listing is a summary — the provider's own page is the authoritative source. OEAC Network lists scholarships for free and is not an agent for any university or funding body.
