VU Masters Fellowship Programme (VUFP) 2020/2021 for International Students – The Netherlands

The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) offers talented prospective students the unique opportunity to pursue a degree in a selection of Master’s programmes at VU University. VU University has committed to providing approximately 1 million euro towards attracting highly motivated, excellent students.

Application Deadline: 1 February 2020 

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands

Eligible Field of Study: Courses offered at the University

About Scholarship: The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) offers talented prospective international students the unique opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has committed to providing approximately 1 million euro towards attracting highly motivated and excellent students.

All VUFP applications received by 1 February will be reviewed by the faculty at which the applicant will be participating in a Master’s programme. Faculties then nominate applicants to the central scholarship committee, which then awards scholarships to the most talented students. The award is based on the motivation letter, the quality of previous education and the student’s academic performance therein. A scholarship offer will then be made to successful candidates.

Type: Masters, Fellowship

Selection Criteria and Eligibility

• The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) is a Merit scholarship programme for strongly motivated students with excellent study results.
• Eligible candidates must be able to prove their academic excellence, and they must be admitted to an English-taught Master’s degree at VU Amsterdam starting per September 2019.
• Students with the Dutch nationality and/or a Dutch degree (given that the Dutch degree is used for admission) are not eligible for admission.
• Students following a one-year Master’s programme may not apply for the VUFP scholarship for a second year.
• Students already enrolled in a two-year Master’s programme who have not been awarded the VUFP scholarship in 2018/2019 are not eligible to apply for the VUFP scholarship 2019/2020.
• Only when a student was granted a scholarship from the beginning, then the scholarship can be extended if he/she achieved 100% of the credits of the first year.
• The Faculty VUFP committee will be asked to demonstrate to the Central VUFP committee that these credits have indeed been achieved.
• The scholarship will only be granted to a student once and is explicitly intended for the Master’s programme for which it has been awarded.

Number of Scholarships: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: The VUFP scholarship is a tuition fee waiver. VUFP scholarship does not provide any additional allowance towards study or living costs.

Duration of Scholarship: One or two years of Masters degree programme

How to Apply

Register for a Master’s programme (from 1 October 2019)

Students register for a Master’s programme in Studielink and after that in the VUnet portal. Here you can find more information on how to apply for one of our English taught Master’s programmes. Please note that you must have applied for the Master’s programme before you can apply for the VUFP scholarship and your VUFP application has to be received in good order by the deadline.
Deadline: 1 February 2020.

2. Submit VUFP application (from 1 November 2019)

Submit your VUFP application  in VUnet.
Deadline: 1 February 2020

For VUFP application 3 documents in PDF format are required:

A. Proof of excellence / transcript, GPA and grading scale
Please upload the transcript and grading scale of your qualifying degree with a clear explanation of the GPA calculation.

Students who apply for a VU Fellowship Programme need to have a GPA of at least 80% of the highest possible mark (calculated over full previous degree or current Bachelor’s degree). For example, if the highest possible mark is a 10 you need to have an average of at least an 8. Excellence in previous education is proven if the grade point average achieved is at least the equivalent of the Dutch grade of an 8.0 on the Dutch grading scale 1 – 10. The VUFP  Scholarship Committee will decide on the local grade equivalents for the Dutch grade of an 8.0 using the grade information included in the NUFFIC country modules.

B. Motivation Letter (around 500 words)  
We would like to know your motivation for applying to the VU Fellowship Programme. Topics that should be reviewed in the motivation letter are the following:

• Why do you want to study this specific Master’s programme?
• What are your future goals?
• Why do you deserve the VUFP scholarship?

Do not hesitate to mention other factors of motivations as well, taking initiative is appreciated!

C. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
We strongly recommend the use of the Europass format.

3. Decision

The Central VUFP Committee decides which students will be offered a VUFP scholarship. All VUFP applications received by 1 February 2020 will be reviewed by the faculty of the applied for Master’s programme. Faculties then nominate applicants to the central scholarship committee, which subsequently awards scholarships to the most talented students. The award is based on the motivation letter, the quality of previous education and the student’s academic performance therein. The Committee makes a merit based selection. A scholarship offer will be made to successful candidates.

4. Results

All students will receive an e-mail/ notification informing them of the Central scholarships  Committee’s decision concerning their application.
Expected date:  1 April 2020 (8 weeks after the deadline).

5. Acceptance of VUFP or HSP offer

Selected candidates accept/ decline the VUFP offer in VUnet. Deadline: 15 April 2020 (2 weeks after the results are published).

Conditions VUFP Scholarship Programme

Visit Scholarship webpage for details

Sponsors: VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands