Eric Bleumink Fellowship 2027 — Fully Funded Master's at Groningen, Netherlands

The Eric Bleumink Fellowship is the University of Groningen's own fund, and it has been paying for students from low-income countries since 2000. It is fully funded in the literal sense: tuition fees, international travel, subsistence, books and health insurance, for a one or two-year master's starting in September. There is no scholarship form to fill in, and that is precisely why good candidates miss it.

The gate is a master's application completed before 1 December 2026. Everything else — nomination, motivation letter, final selection — happens after the Admissions Office has already read your file and ranked it.

WHAT THE SCHOLARSHIP COVERS

The grant covers the tuition fee for the programme, the cost of international travel to and from the Netherlands, a monthly subsistence allowance, books and study materials, and Dutch health insurance. For a two-year research master's in a science faculty, where non-EU tuition alone runs into five figures, that is the difference between an offer you can accept and one you cannot.

It is awarded for the full duration of the programme rather than year by year, and only for programmes that begin in September. A February start is outside the scheme, which rules out a number of Groningen's spring intakes.

WHO CAN APPLY — AND THE SELF-CHECK THAT MATTERS

Nationality is a hard filter. The fund publishes a fixed list of eligible countries, and it is genuinely a list of low-income and lower-middle-income states: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan all appear on it. China and the United States do not. Being a refugee or displaced student does not by itself change the nationality test — the passport is what the fund reads.

The remaining criteria are academic: excellent grades in your bachelor's, English proficiency at the level your programme requires, good health so that insurance can be arranged, and no other means of financing the degree. That last one is not a formality; the fund exists for students who could not otherwise attend.

Ask yourself:

Is your nationality on the published list? Read the list on the fund's page, not a summary of it.

Can you submit a complete master's application — transcripts, degree certificate, English test, motivation — before 1 December 2026?

Do your undergraduate grades place you near the top of your cohort? Nomination is competitive across faculties, and nomination is competitive across faculties, and excellent is the word the fund uses.

Is the programme you want a September start of one or two years?

Can you show that you have no other way to fund the degree?

THE DEADLINE

There are two dates, and confusing them is the standard error. The master's application has to be complete before 1 December 2026 so that the Admissions Office has time to assess it and nominate. The admission offer itself must be in place before February 2027, which is when nominations are settled.

The final selection is made by the central fund committee before 1 March 2027, and results reach applicants in the weeks that follow. If you have not heard anything by the start of February, you have not been nominated — the fund does not contact unsuccessful applicants.

HOW TO APPLY, AND WHAT TO HAVE READY

Read the fund page first, because it carries the current country list and the nomination rules:

https://www.rug.nl/education/scholarships/eric-bleumink-fund

Then apply for admission through Studielink and the university's own application portal. What the Admissions Office needs from you:

A completed bachelor's degree with transcripts, translated into English if the originals are not.

English proficiency at the level your specific programme requires — Groningen programmes differ, and some ask for higher writing scores than others.

A motivation letter that connects your academic record to a problem in your home country. This is the document the faculty reads when deciding whom to nominate.

Two academic references, ideally from lecturers who taught you in your final year.

A CV that accounts for any gap between graduation and now.

A passport copy, so that nationality can be verified against the list.

OTHER DUTCH FUNDING TO COMPARE

Twente's scholarship is the closest equivalent in structure, though it funds a defined amount rather than the whole cost:

https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=44

Radboud's NL Scholarship is smaller again and worth pairing with a tuition waiver:

https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=43

And if your field is engineering, TU Delft's excellence scholarship is the strongest Dutch award in that faculty:

https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=56

COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID

Waiting for a scholarship form. There is none — nomination happens inside the admission process.

Applying for admission in February or March. The programme may still accept you; the fund will not consider you.

Choosing a programme that starts in February. The fellowship only covers September starts.

Assuming a nomination is an award. Faculties nominate, and the central committee selects from the nominees.

Writing a motivation letter about what you will learn rather than what you will do with it. The fund is philanthropic, and it reads for the return-home plan.

Not sure whether your file is competitive? Take it to an OEAC advisor before you submit — a second reader on the transcript and the motivation letter is usually what separates a shortlisted application from a complete one.

Source — Eric Bleumink Fellowship, University of Groningen: https://www.rug.nl/education/scholarships/eric-bleumink-fund

Photo: Erekle K, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (File:Academy Building of RUG on May 27, 2019.jpg)

Last updated: 19 October 2026