The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) is Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s merit scholarship for incoming master’s students from outside the EU/EEA, financed by the VUvereniging, a network of people connected to the university. VU commits about €1 million to it.
Recipients take a full-time, English-taught master’s in Amsterdam with tuition waived. A VUFP application also counts for the NL Scholarship, a living-cost grant that only some VUFP winners receive.
Benefits & funding
- Waives tuition for a one- or two-year master’s; year two continues only if every first-year ECTS is earned.
- No allowance for rent, food or insurance: you fund living costs yourself (VU advises about €20,000 a year).
- Possible NL Scholarship for year one only: a one-time €5,000. Around 20–25 a year.
- Recipients serve as international student ambassadors throughout their studies.
Eligibility
- A non-EU/EEA passport, no Dutch nationality, and no right to the lower (statutory) tuition fee; Swiss and Surinamese nationals pay that fee, so they are excluded.
- Conditional or unconditional admission to year one of a full-time English-taught VU master’s starting September 2027; February starts, those needing a preparatory programme, and joint programmes whose admission VU does not run are excluded.
- The admission degree obtained outside the Netherlands, no degree from any Dutch institution, and no current Dutch bachelor’s or master’s enrolment.
- A bachelor’s GPA equivalent to at least a Dutch 8.0; final-year students submit grades to date.
- Students already in a two-year VU master’s without VUFP for 2026/2027 cannot apply.
Application process
- 1Apply for the master’s via Studielink and the VU dashboard from 1 October 2026, ideally by 1 December 2026; international-degree holders pay a non-refundable €100 fee, and decisions take about six weeks.
- 2Once conditionally admitted, complete the 2027–2028 VUFP–NL Scholarship form with your bachelor’s transcript and grading scale.
- 3Upload it as one PDF in the dashboard by 1 February 2027, 23:59 CET — for one programme, and only once.
- 4Accept an offer within two weeks of the results.
Program timeline
VUFP applications open
Nov 1, 2026
Advised master’s application deadline
Dec 1, 2026
VUFP deadline (23:59 CET)
Feb 1, 2027
Mid-March 2027
Results; accept by end of March
Master’s programme starts
Sep 1, 2027