Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships for International Tertiary Students

Benefits & funding

• Full tuition fees at the host institution.
• A living allowance for basic costs, adjusted for where the scholar is based.
• An establishment allowance for setting up in New Zealand, plus a reintegration allowance for returning home.
• Return travel between the home country and the place of study, travel insurance, and medical insurance while in New Zealand.
• Tutoring costs where extra academic support is needed, and help with research and thesis costs for many postgraduate scholars.
• One or two trips home during awards longer than 1.6 years, depending on the length of study.
• Award length follows the qualification: postgraduate certificate 6 months, postgraduate diploma 1 year, master’s degree 1–2 years, PhD 3.5 years, undergraduate degree 3–4 years.
• The programme does not publish the cash value of any allowance.

Eligibility

• Open to citizens of Fiji (postgraduate only), French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.
• Applicants from Asian countries may study at postgraduate level only. Timor-Leste is the exception and may also apply for an undergraduate degree.
• Pacific applicants may study in New Zealand. Applicants from Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu may instead study at the University of the South Pacific or Fiji National University.
• Applicants must be 18 when they sign the scholarship letter of offer. The Samoa Foundation intake, which leads to undergraduate study, accepts 17-year-olds, so the structured minimum age is recorded as 17 to keep that route visible.
• There is no upper age limit. The programme states a preference for applicants under 40.
• Applicants must have lived in their home country for the two years before applying, unless they were on a diplomatic assignment for their country or enrolled in a course of study overseas. The structured residency field is left empty because a country gate would hide applicants covered by those exceptions.
• Applicants need one year of full-time work experience (30 hours a week or more) or two years of part-time experience. This does not apply to applicants in their final year of high school, applicants applying in the academic year straight after high school, or applicants already in paid or unpaid employment. The structured experience field is left empty because the requirement does not apply to every route.
• English language, postgraduate: IELTS 6.5 with no band below 6.0, TOEFL 90 with writing 21, PTE 58 with communication skills 50, or Cambridge 176 with no band below 169.
• English language, undergraduate: IELTS 6.0 with no band below 5.5, TOEFL 80 with writing 21, PTE 50 with communication skills 42, or Cambridge 169 with no band below 162.
• PhD applicants from Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands must qualify for direct entry, as English language training is not funded for prospective PhD candidates.
• Scholars must contribute to their country’s social or economic development for at least two years after the scholarship, as a condition of the award.
• Anyone whose earlier Manaaki scholarship was terminated for inappropriate conduct is permanently barred from applying again.

Application process

1. 1
   Check that your country is on the eligible list and which qualification levels it can use.
2. 2
   Check the eligibility criteria, including age, residence, work experience and English language level.
3. 3
   Choose a study subject from the recommended sectors for your country; applications that do not align with them are unlikely to be considered.
4. 4
   Research courses at the eligible New Zealand institutions or the two Pacific universities, and set your course preferences.
5. 5
   Apply through the online applicant portal during your country’s window, uploading your academic transcript together with its grading scale.
6. 6
   Complete the abstract reasoning and personality test within 10 days of receiving the link by email.
7. 7
   Attend an online interview of about 40 minutes with six questions, usually held between May and July.
8. 8
   If named a preferred candidate, apply to the institution for admission, then accept the scholarship letter of offer online within 14 days.

Program timeline

1. Samoa Foundation intake opens at midnight New Zealand time.

   4 August 2026

2. Samoa Foundation intake closes at midday New Zealand time.

   4 September 2026

3. General tertiary round

   closed; the programme states that applications reopen in 2026 for the next intake. Deadlines fall at midday New Zealand time, not midnight.

4. online interviews for the round.

   May to July

5. Six to ten months after applications close

   selection completed, with the exact timing varying by country.

6. After selection

   institutional admission takes about two months for undergraduate and three months for postgraduate candidates, and preferred candidates then have 14 days to accept the scholarship letter of offer.