Netherlands government scholarships for international students are much smaller in 2026 than most lists suggest. The Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP), the Dutch government’s fully funded award for professionals from 55 countries, ended in 2024 and has no replacement. The main government-funded option still open for 2027-2028 entry is the NL Scholarship (formerly the Holland Scholarship), a one-off €5,000 grant for non-EEA students in their first year.
If you need full funding to study in the Netherlands, you now have to look at two other places: university merit awards (some cover tuition and living costs) and EU-funded Erasmus Mundus scholarships. Below I go through what ended, what is still running, the 2027 deadlines I could confirm, and how much money the Dutch immigration service expects you to show.
What happened to the Orange Knowledge Programme?
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched OKP on 1 July 2017 to replace the older Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) and NICHE. Nuffic ran it from 2018 to 2024 in 55 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. It paid tuition, travel and living costs for mid-career professionals doing short courses and master’s degrees.
Nuffic announced that OKP would close at the end of 2024 because the Ministry gave no prospect of further funding. In February 2025, Utrecht University’s news site DUB reported that the government was scrapping the roughly €70 million a year education slice of the development aid budget, and that OKP had funded almost 10,200 study and research grants over its life. The Minister said there would be no new higher education scholarship programme for Africa.
From 1 January 2025, Nuffic began phasing out most of its work outside Europe. The Study in NL website, which Nuffic runs, now says plainly that OKP ended in 2024 and has no new application rounds. The government’s evaluation of OKP, published in January 2026, mentions no successor either.
Any 2026 or 2027 post that tells you to “apply for OKP” or the “Netherlands Fellowship Programme” is out of date, and I would not spend time on it.
The NL Scholarship: the Netherlands government scholarship still open
The NL Scholarship is the Holland Scholarship under a new name. The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science pays for it together with the participating universities. It is a partial grant, and Study in NL describes it as not a full-tuition scholarship.
| Item | NL Scholarship details |
|---|---|
| Amount | €5,000, paid once, in your first year |
| Who funds it | Ministry of Education, Culture and Science plus each participating institution |
| Nationality | Non-EEA nationals. Groningen also excludes Swiss and Surinamese students |
| Level | Full-time bachelor’s or master’s (each university chooses which programmes) |
| Prior Dutch study | You must not already hold a degree from a Dutch institution |
| Where you apply | On the website or application portal of the university you are applying to |
| Typical deadline | Around 1 February 2027 for master’s; some bachelor’s deadlines run to 1 May |
Which universities take part?
Study in NL says the list changes every year. For 2026-2027 it named 11 research universities and 23 universities of applied sciences. The research universities were Eindhoven University of Technology, Maastricht University, Protestant Theological University, Radboud University, Theological University Apeldoorn, University of Groningen, University of Twente, Utrecht Theological University, Utrecht University, VU Amsterdam and Wageningen University & Research.
Leiden University is not on that list, and the 2027 list was not yet published when I checked. TU Delft and Erasmus University College are also missing from it, yet both still publish NL Scholarship pages, so confirm on your target university’s site before you count on it.
NL Scholarship deadlines confirmed for 2027-2028
| University | Deadline (CET) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| University of Groningen | 1 February 2027, 23:59 | Applies to the 2027-2028 academic year; needs an admission offer and motivation letter |
| Radboud University (master’s) | Initial application 31 January 2027; complete file by 14 February 2027, 23:59 | Up to 26 awards across six faculties; decision around mid-April 2027 |
| TU Delft (MSc) | 1 February, 23:59 | Four awards per faculty; the page did not yet state the 2027 year |
Radboud makes you apply for its own Radboud Scholarship Programme at the same time. You cannot receive the NL Scholarship alone there.
Other Dutch government programmes you may see listed
MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP)
MSP is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. It pays for short courses of 2 to 13 weeks in the Netherlands for working professionals aged 45 or younger. It does not fund degrees. Eligible countries are Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Sudan and Tunisia, and Syrians living and working in one of those countries. Sudan was left out of the 2025 rounds. Nuffic’s own MSP page still refers to rounds opening on 1 April 2025, and I found no published 2026 or 2027 round, so email msp@nuffic.nl before you plan around it.
Orange Tulip Scholarship
The Orange Tulip Scholarship used to be coordinated by Nuffic’s Neso offices in countries such as India, Indonesia and Mexico. The Neso network has been closed, so there is no central government round any more. A few universities, for example Groningen’s Faculty of Arts, still run awards with the Orange Tulip name under their own rules.
Fully funded alternatives now that OKP is gone
Full funding in the Netherlands now comes mostly from the EU and from the universities themselves.
| Scholarship | Funded by | What it pays | 2027 deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters | European Union | EU scholarship of €1,400 per month for up to 24 months | Set by each programme’s consortium; check its website |
| Leiden University Excellence Scholarship (LExS) | Leiden University | €10,000 to €19,000 off tuition | 1 December 2026 |
| Maastricht University NL-High Potential | Maastricht University | Tuition, living allowance, insurance and visa costs (21 awards a year) | 1 February 2027 (as reported; confirm on maastrichtuniversity.nl) |
| NL Scholarship | Dutch Ministry of Education plus university | €5,000 in year one | About 1 February 2027 |
One award many lists still include has gone: Utrecht University says its Utrecht Excellence Scholarship is no longer offered for programmes starting in 2026-2027. Current holders keep theirs.
For Erasmus Mundus, you apply to the consortium that runs the master’s, not to the Dutch government. My MARIHE Erasmus Mundus guide shows what one of those applications looks like from start to finish.
What a partial scholarship leaves you to pay
Non-EEA students pay the institutional fee, which is far above the €2,771 statutory fee that Dutch and EU students pay in 2027-2028. At Leiden, two master’s programmes I checked charge €22,900 and €23,300 for 2027-2028. Fees at other universities differ by programme.
You also have to prove to the IND (the Dutch immigration service) that you can live on your own money. For 2026, the required amount for university or hbo students is €1,130.77 a month, which comes to €13,569.24 for twelve months. Your university usually collects this before it applies for your residence permit. A €5,000 NL Scholarship covers less than half of one year’s living costs, so it only helps if you already have most of the money.
How to apply for Netherlands government scholarships in 2027
- Choose universities: pick programmes at universities that take part in the NL Scholarship for 2027-2028. Check each university’s NL Scholarship page, because the national list changes yearly.
- Apply for admission early: Dutch applications open on Studielink from 1 October for the following September. Most scholarship deadlines fall well before the 1 April admission deadline that Leiden and others set for students who need a visa.
- Prepare documents: passport, transcripts and degree certificate, an English test result if your programme needs one, a CV, a motivation letter for the scholarship, and reference letters where asked (TU Delft wants two). My recommendation letter samples will help your referees.
- Request the scholarship: tick or submit the scholarship request in the university’s portal by its deadline, usually 1 February 2027 for master’s.
- Apply for backups: at the same time, apply for at least one Erasmus Mundus master’s and any university award that covers living costs. Do not rely on the €5,000 grant alone.
If you are comparing Europe more widely, other partial-scholarship options include the Leiden University Excellence Scholarship, University of Oulu scholarships in Finland, and Portuguese options such as University of Porto scholarships and the University of Coimbra for international students.
FAQ on Netherlands government scholarships
Is the Orange Knowledge Programme open for 2027?
No. OKP ended in 2024 and Nuffic has confirmed there are no new application rounds. The Dutch government has not created a replacement.
Is the NL Scholarship fully funded?
No. It is €5,000 paid once in your first year. You still pay the institutional tuition fee and show about €1,130.77 a month for living costs.
Is the Holland Scholarship the same as the NL Scholarship?
Yes. Study in NL says the NL Scholarship was formerly known as the Holland Scholarship. The amount and basic rules are the same.
Can I get a fully funded scholarship in the Netherlands without the government programmes?
Yes, but the places are few. Erasmus Mundus pays €1,400 a month for up to 24 months, and a small number of university awards such as Maastricht’s NL-High Potential cover tuition and living costs.
Sources and updates
The end of OKP comes from Nuffic’s announcement on the programme’s closure, the Study in NL scholarships page, the Government of the Netherlands’ January 2026 OKP evaluation, and DUB’s February 2025 report on development aid cuts. NL Scholarship rules and the 2026-2027 participant list come from the Study in NL NL Scholarship page; 2027 deadlines come from the University of Groningen, Radboud University and TU Delft scholarship pages. MSP details come from Study in NL and Nuffic. Erasmus Mundus figures come from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ page on Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters. The Utrecht Excellence Scholarship’s end comes from Utrecht University. Tuition examples come from Leiden University programme fee pages, and the living cost figure from the IND required amounts page. The Maastricht NL-High Potential figures were taken from a secondary listing because the university page could not be read; check them on maastrichtuniversity.nl. Information checked on 24 October 2026. I will update this post when the 2027-2028 NL Scholarship participant list is published.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
