NL Scholarship (formerly Holland Scholarship) 2027-28

The NL Scholarship is the new name for what was the Holland Scholarship. It is paid for by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science together with the participating research universities and universities of applied sciences, and Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for international education, manages the programme. It gives €5,000 to students from outside the European Economic Area in the first year of a full-time bachelor’s or master’s in the Netherlands. This page is written mainly for bachelor’s applicants, though most of it applies to master’s students too.

Applications for 2027-28 open this autumn. Saxion University of Applied Sciences says its form opens on 1 November 2026 and closes on 1 May 2027, and the University of Groningen lists a 1 February deadline. Other institutions set their own dates (checked 9 October 2026 on Study in NL and the university pages).

What you get

Item	Detail (checked 9 October 2026)
Amount	€5,000
When	First year of study only, once
Tuition	Not covered in full; Nuffic says plainly this is not a full-tuition scholarship
How it is paid	Decided by the institution; Saxion and Groningen both pay after you arrive, Saxion to a Dutch bank account and Groningen in instalments

The money is not a fee discount. At Saxion, for example, it is not deducted from tuition, so you pay your fees as normal and receive the grant afterwards. That matters for your cash flow in the first months. Use our study cost calculator to see how far €5,000 goes against fees and rent, and our guide to fully funded and partial scholarships for how to combine a grant like this with other money.

The national rules

Nuffic sets four conditions that every participating institution uses:

• Your nationality is not that of a European Economic Area country
• You are applying for a full-time bachelor's or master's programme at a participating institution
• You meet that institution's own scholarship requirements
• You do not hold a degree from a Dutch higher education institution

The third condition is where most of the detail sits. Institutions add their own grade thresholds, language scores and documents, and some add exclusions. The University of Groningen, for instance, also bars students from Switzerland and Suriname and anyone who has held the scholarship before. Saxion asks that you have not studied in the Netherlands before at all, which is stricter than the national rule about holding a Dutch degree.

Where you can use it

The participating institutions change every year, and Nuffic has published only the 2026-27 list so far. For 2026-27 it included 11 research universities, among them Eindhoven University of Technology, Maastricht University, Radboud University, the University of Groningen, the University of Twente, Utrecht University, VU Amsterdam and Wageningen University & Research, plus 23 universities of applied sciences such as Amsterdam, Fontys, Hanze, The Hague, Rotterdam and Saxion, and several art schools. Note that a university can take part only for some of its programmes. Groningen’s page, for example, is aimed mainly at master’s students, so bachelor’s applicants should confirm their programme is included.

How selection differs between institutions

Two examples show how far apart the institutions can be.

Saxion University of Applied Sciences (Deventer, Enschede and Apeldoorn). For 2027-28 every bachelor’s programme qualifies, plus three master’s programmes. You first apply for your programme. Saxion then emails you an invitation to apply for the scholarship. To be considered you need a grade average of at least 80 per cent and an IELTS score of 7.0; Saxion accepts only IELTS for this scholarship, and students exempt from an English test are treated as having 6.0. You must be admitted, at least conditionally, by 1 May 2027. There is no motivation letter. Eligible applicants go into a lottery, and results come by email within 30 days of the deadline. Saxion says the deadline cannot be extended.

University of Groningen. Applicants are ranked on academic merit, including grades, research activity and an overall view of their education, together with a motivation statement. You need an admission offer from a participating programme, and only complete applications received by 1 February are compared.

So the same scholarship can be a merit competition with an essay at one institution and a draw among qualified applicants at another. Neither approach is better for you in general; it depends whether your strength is your grades, your writing or both.

How to apply

1. Pick programmes and check they take part. Use the list on Study in NL and then the institution’s own scholarship page. The 2027-28 lists will replace the 2026-27 ones during the cycle.
2. Apply for the programme. Check the programme’s own application deadline for non-EEA students, which can fall well before the scholarship deadline, and leave time for the admission decision.
3. Book an English test if you need one. If your target asks for a specific score or test, as Saxion does with IELTS 7.0, a strong result from another test may not count.
4. Submit the scholarship form. Follow the institution’s method, whether that is an invitation email, a separate online form or a section of your programme application. If a motivation letter is required, write it for that institution; our guide to writing a scholarship motivation letter covers structure.
5. Plan for the rest of the cost. Even with the grant you will need to show enough money for a student residence permit. Our guide on proving funds for a student visa explains how that usually works.

Put each institution’s scholarship and programme deadlines into the deadline planner once you have your shortlist, then check the official NL Scholarship page for the 2027-28 list of participating institutions when Nuffic publishes it.