ICP Connect is the study-scholarship arm of VLIR-UOS, the operational agency of the Flemish Interuniversity Council, which funds academic cooperation between Flanders and partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Every year it places scholarship holders in a fixed list of English-taught programmes at Flemish universities and university colleges: two three-year professional bachelor’s degrees, thirteen two-year initial master’s degrees and five one-year advanced master’s degrees, twenty programmes in total for the 2026-2027 round. The subjects run from water resources engineering, aquaculture and food technology to epidemiology, statistics, human settlements, governance and cultural anthropology, and the common thread is sustainable development. Applicants need the nationality of one of 29 eligible countries and must be living in one of them when they apply. Selection favours people already working in higher education, government or civil society who intend to put the degree to work at home. There is no central application: you apply to the institution that runs the programme, it ranks the eligible candidates, and VLIR-UOS screens that ranking and makes the award.
Benefits & funding
- A full scholarship only; partial awards are not offered.
- A monthly allowance of EUR 1,400 for 12, 24 or 36 complete months, matching the length of the programme.
- The allowance is calculated to cover living costs, board and lodging in Belgium, health insurance, installation costs, indirect travel costs and the tuition fee. Depending on the institution, some of those are billed against the scholarship directly instead of paid by the scholar.
- A return economy-class air ticket to Belgium, including any domestic flight needed at the start, plus the ticket back to the country of residence at the end.
- Scholars on a three-year bachelor’s programme are entitled to one extra return ticket during the degree.
- No application fee on any ICP Connect programme.
- VLIR-UOS provides no separate budget for extras such as student study trips.
Eligibility
- Nationality of one of the 29 eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South East Asia.
- Residence in one of those 29 countries at the time of application, though not necessarily the country of nationality.
- Age on 1 January of the intake year: 35 or under for a professional bachelor’s or an initial master’s, 45 or under for an advanced master’s. Bachelor’s applicants must also be at least 19 by that date.
- Admission to one of the listed programmes. Scholarships exist for those programmes only.
- One ICP Connect application per year, and no other scholarship running at the same time.
- No earlier scholarship from the Belgian government, and no enrolment at a Belgian higher education institution before 1 January of the intake year.
- A high level of English; every ICP Connect programme is taught in English.
- Professional experience in higher education, government or civil society is preferred rather than required. Recent graduates and private-sector candidates are considered when the motivation is convincing.
- Women are encouraged to apply. Among equally qualified candidates, preference goes to applicants from underrepresented groups and to those who have not studied in a high-income country before.
Can you apply?
Worth a closer look
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Eligible nationalities
Benin · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · DR Congo · Ethiopia · Guinea · Kenya · Madagascar · Mali · Mozambique · Niger
+ 17 more
Senegal · South Africa · Tanzania · Uganda · Zimbabwe · Morocco · Palestine · Bolivia · Cuba · Ecuador · Haiti · Nicaragua · Peru · Cambodia · Indonesia · Philippines · Vietnam
Not in your profile yet
Residence required
Benin · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · DR Congo · Ethiopia · Guinea · Kenya · Madagascar · Mali · Mozambique · Niger
+ 17 more
Senegal · South Africa · Tanzania · Uganda · Zimbabwe · Morocco · Palestine · Bolivia · Cuba · Ecuador · Haiti · Nicaragua · Peru · Cambodia · Indonesia · Philippines · Vietnam
Not in your profile yet
Education required
High School · Bachelor · Master
Not in your profile yet
Age requirement
≤ 45 yrs
Not in your profile yet
We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Check the two hard bars first: nationality and residence in an eligible country, and the age limit for the level you want.
- 2Pick one programme from the list on the ICP Connect scholarship page and read its own admission requirements.
- 3Apply through that institution’s own portal and mark the application as an ICP Connect scholarship application, so admission and funding are assessed together.
- 4Meet that programme’s deadline. Each institution sets its own window: for the September 2026 intake, applications opened between 1 October and 3 November 2025 and closed between 31 January and 28 February 2026.
- 5The institution reviews and ranks all eligible applications, then VLIR-UOS runs a separate screening and decides.
- 6Selected candidates and those on the waiting list are contacted by email no later than mid-May.
Program timeline
1 October to 3 November 2025
Programme application windows opened for the September 2026 intake
Programme deadlines, set individually by each institution
31 January to 28 February 2026
28 February 2026
Closing date of the 2026-2027 round
Selected candidates and waiting-list candidates notified by email
Mid-May 2026
Programmes start
1 September 2026
Programmes end, depending on length
September 2027, 2028 or 2029