VLIR-UOS ICP Connect Scholarship for the Master of Human Settlements

Benefits & funding

• A €1,400 monthly allowance covers living and accommodation costs, health insurance, installation costs, indirect travel costs and tuition fees.
• Scholarship holders receive an economy ticket to Belgium at the start and a return ticket to their country of residence at the end.
• Funding covers the programme’s full standard one-year duration.
• KU Leuven listed 10 scholarships for the Master of Human Settlements in the 2026–2027 cycle.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be nationals of one of these 29 countries: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestinian Territories, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam or Zimbabwe.
• At application, applicants must also reside in one of those countries; their country of residence need not match their nationality.
• Applicants must be no older than 45 on 1 January of the intake year.
• Applicants need a professional degree involving at least four years of study, preferably five, in architecture, architectural engineering, landscape architecture, spatial planning, urban planning or design, or a related field; applicants from another relevant discipline must demonstrate additional professional experience in human settlements.
• English proficiency must be shown through TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge CAE or CPE unless the stated country-and-programme exemption applies.
• Applicants may submit only one ICP Connect scholarship application per year and must not have previously received a Belgian government scholarship for a study programme or enrolled at a Belgian higher education institution before 1 January of the intake year.

Application process

1. 1
   Check both the ICP Connect eligibility rules and the Master of Human Settlements admission requirements.
2. 2
   Create a KU Leuven application account, select the Master of Human Settlements for the relevant academic year and complete the programme application.
3. 3
   Upload the standard programme documents, the ICP Connect scholarship document, two recommendation letters in the required format and the application-fee exemption document; applicants with an architecture background must also upload a digital portfolio.
4. 4
   Submit the programme application by the scholarship deadline; a complete application is then automatically considered for the ICP Connect Scholarship.
5. 5
   Track the application online. The Programme Committee first decides admission, then ranks 20 scholarship candidates; the top 10 are nominated and the remainder form the waiting list.

Program timeline

1. 16 October 2025

   Applications opened for the 2026–2027 cycle.

2. Application deadline.

   1 February 2026

3. VLIR-UOS communicated selections and waiting-list decisions.

   By mid-May 2026

4. Scholarship programme starts.

   1 September 2026