Read the amount first and decide whether the rest matters: 5,000 euros, once, in year one. Nuffic says outright that this is not a full tuition scholarship. Non-EEA tuition at a Dutch research university typically runs well beyond that figure, so this narrows a gap rather than closing one.
What makes it worth knowing anyway is reach. Thirty-four institutions take part for 2026-2027, eleven research universities and twenty-three universities of applied sciences, which is most of the Dutch sector. If the Netherlands is on a student's list at all, this award probably applies to wherever they are applying.
The eligibility test is unusually simple. A non-EEA nationality, a full-time bachelor's or master's place at a participating institution, and no previous Dutch degree. There is no income test and no centrally published merit criterion.
Everything else is decided locally. Each institution sets its own deadline, its own selection criteria and the fields of study it opens to the scheme, and it redraws them annually. The scheme page carries no single closing date, so the institution's own page is the only reliable source for when to apply. Applications for 2026-2027 opened on 1 November 2025.
One eligibility trap: a student already holding a Dutch degree cannot apply, which rules out a bachelor's graduate of a Dutch institution progressing to a Dutch master's.
The scheme page was checked on 15 September 2026.