Swedish Institute Scholarship for Global Professionals

Benefits & funding

• Full tuition fee coverage, paid by SI directly to the Swedish university each semester.
• A monthly allowance of SEK 12,000 for living costs, paid throughout the study period.
• A travel grant of SEK 15,000, reduced to SEK 10,000 for scholars from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
• Membership of the SI Network for Global Professionals during the studies, and of the Sweden Alumni Network after graduation.
• The award covers a full-time one-year or two-year master’s programme.
• 189 Global Professionals scholarships were awarded in the 2026/2027 round.
• Insurance is not included in the scholarship.

Eligibility

• Citizens of these 34 countries only: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia.
• Citizenship is what counts, not where you live now — applicants currently resident elsewhere may apply.
• Applicants must be admitted, by the University Admissions notification date, to a programme on SI’s published list of eligible English-taught master’s programmes.
• Applicants must be liable to pay tuition fees at Swedish universities under University Admissions rules, since the scholarship covers both fees and living costs.
• Documented paid work experience is required. For most of the listed countries the bar is at least 3,000 hours of employment from no more than three employers, completed before the scholarship deadline. For Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, any documented work experience qualifies and more experience is prioritised. Internships do not count as employment.
• Documented leadership experience from an employer or from civil-society engagement is required.
• Not eligible: anyone currently enrolled at or holding a degree from a Swedish university or university college; anyone who has already lived in Sweden for two years or more in total before the scholarship period; previous holders of any Swedish Institute scholarship; holders of Swedish or EU/EEA citizenship, a Swedish permanent residence permit, or a temporary permit based on work or on family ties to a Swedish or EU/EEA citizen with residence rights in Sweden; and anyone whose second citizenship is in a country outside the DAC list of ODA recipients 2025.
• Master’s level only. SI funds no bachelor’s or PhD studies, no single courses, exchange studies, study visits or conference travel.
• No age limit is set, and SI sets no GPA or English-test threshold of its own — the universities and University Admissions assess academic qualifications.

Application process

1. 1
   Check the list of eligible master’s programmes, which SI publishes on the programme page in mid-November together with the application documents.
2. 2
   Apply to your chosen programmes through University Admissions during the autumn-semester round, which opens in mid-October and closes on 15 January. Stockholm School of Economics and Konstfack run their own application processes. Pay the University Admissions application fee, which is not refundable, and get all supporting documents in on time — an admission decision that arrives after the notification date rules you out of the scholarship.
3. 3
   Submit the SI scholarship application through the SI portal during the two-week window, which ran 9–25 February in the 2026 round. Only programmes from SI’s eligible list can be entered.
4. 4
   Upload the mandatory SI templates: a CV of at most three pages; proof of work and leadership experience, signed and stamped, with up to three work forms and two leadership forms in one PDF of at most five pages; and two letters of reference, at least one of them based on your work experience. A document submitted in any other format makes the application ineligible.
5. 5
   SI screens and evaluates applications through late February and March, University Admissions publishes admission results on 26 March, and SI announces the scholarship recipients in late April.
6. 6
   One application per person. Applicants who meet the criteria for SI’s Pioneering Women in STEM scholarship are considered for it automatically. Late applications are not accepted.

Program timeline

1. 16 October 2025 to 15 January 2026

   University Admissions application round for autumn 2026 master’s studies

2. eligible master’s programmes and application documents published on the programme page

   Mid-November 2025

3. SI scholarship application window

   9 to 25 February 2026

4. SI screening and evaluation

   25 February to 25 March 2026

5. University Admissions publishes master’s admission results

   26 March 2026

6. final evaluation of scholarship applications

   26 March to 23 April 2026

7. scholarship recipients announced

   23 April 2026

8. scholarship period and autumn semester begin

   August 2026

9. The next round is expected to follow the same rhythm, with the SI application window in February; SI has not yet published dates for it.