We list 3 fully Funded Masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in the Netherlands, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 2 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
Written from the 3 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 6 min read.
This page collects 3 fully funded masters scholarships in the Netherlands that are open to Nigerian students. Every award here is at masters level, every one is in the Netherlands, and every one is labelled fully funded by the body that offers it. The three come from three different Dutch universities: the University of Groningen, Maastricht University and the University of Twente.
Because the list is short, it is worth reading each entry in full rather than skimming. Three awards means three sets of rules, three sets of documents and three different closing dates. The differences between them matter more than the similarities.
Of the three awards, 2 are open to Nigerian applicants on the terms stated on the award itself. Neither of those two names Nigeria or a region as a condition, and neither carries a nationality restriction in its text. For the third award, eligibility is not stated on the page.
That distinction is worth holding on to. An award that does not restrict nationality is not the same as an award that says nothing about nationality. Where eligibility is not stated, the safe move is to open the award page and read the provider's own conditions before you spend money on transcripts or a courier.
On qualifications, the pathway into this level is straightforward: you hold a first degree or an HND. In practice that means a B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND. These are taught and research masters, and awards at this level usually state a minimum class of degree. Where an award asks for an "upper second", that corresponds to Second Class Upper (2:1) on a Nigerian transcript. Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page, so confirm it with the institution before you apply.
These are fully funded awards, and the benefits named in the award texts break down as follows:
Read those counts as what the awards say in writing, not as a guarantee of what lands in your account. A fully funded award that names tuition and living costs is covering two different things, and the way each is paid — whether fees go straight to the university or money comes to you — is set out in the provider's own terms. Check that before you budget.
The three awards run for different lengths. One runs for 1 to 2 years. One is described as 13 months for a one-year programme and 25 months for a two-year programme. One runs for 2 years. If you are weighing up a one-year taught masters against a two-year research route, the duration stated on the award tells you how long the funding is meant to last.
The requirements stated across these three awards are:
The recommendation letters are the item that catches Nigerian applicants out most often. Two awards ask for them, and referees who have moved institutions, changed email addresses or gone on leave can hold up an application for weeks. Ask early, ask in writing, and give your referee the exact deadline rather than a rough one.
The English test is asked for by one award only. Where a test is not named as a requirement, do not assume a waiver applies — the university's general admission rules still govern, and those are set by the institution, not by the scholarship. If you studied your first degree in English, say so clearly in your application and let the university decide.
The award that requires an admission offer first changes the order of your work. You cannot apply for the funding until the university has admitted you, which means the admission application has to go in well before the scholarship deadline, not alongside it.
Two of the three awards carry a stated closing date. Two are still open at the time of writing. Two are recurring, meaning they come round again on a yearly cycle. One is undated.
The busiest months are December and February, with one award closing in each. The two closing soonest are:
The third award, the University of Twente Scholarship 2026-2027, runs in rounds: Round 1 closes 1 February, with a second round following. It also carries a stated number of awards, approximately 50. If you are applying to Twente, the round structure matters — a later round is not the same as the first.
One award closes 1 December, which is 54 days away. The other closes 1 February, which is 116 days away. Neither window is generous once you count the time a transcript takes to reach a Dutch university by courier, and the time a referee takes to write and upload a letter.
The three awards between them name seven fields. Each field is named by one award:
If your intended masters sits in one of these areas, there is an award on this page that names it. If it does not, this particular list will not help you, and you should look at the wider Netherlands collection rather than forcing an application into a field that does not fit.
The Netherlands is not a large destination for Nigerian students. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics recorded 162 Nigerian students in the country in 2019, ranking it 48th as a host country. That is a small number, and it has two practical consequences.
First, you are unlikely to find a large Nigerian community at any single Dutch university, so plan for the administrative side — residence permits, bank accounts, housing — largely on your own or through the university's international office. Second, because the numbers are small, there is little word-of-mouth information circulating among Nigerian applicants about how these particular awards behave in practice. The award page itself is your most reliable source.
None of the three awards names Nigeria or a region as a condition. Two state no nationality restriction at all. That is a useful position to be in: you are not competing for a country-specific slot, and the strength of your application is what carries it.
Start with the two dated awards, because the calendar decides the order of your work. The Groningen award closes 1 December and the Maastricht award closes 1 February. If you intend to apply to either, the transcript request and the referee requests should go out now, not after you have drafted a personal statement.
Then check the admission requirement. One award needs an admission offer before you can apply for the funding, which means the university application is the first task, not the second. Confirm the degree class each award expects, and confirm whether your HND or your particular degree classification is accepted — that decision sits with the university.
Finally, read each award page in full before you submit anything. The counts on this page tell you what the awards say they cover and what they say they ask for. They do not tell you how a selection committee weighs one applicant against another, and no page can.
Are you a Nigerian student dreaming of studying in the heart of Europe? The Netherlands, with its globally ranked universities, innovative research environment, and multicultural society, offers exceptional scholarship opportunities for students worldwide. Whether you're pursuing a master's degree or an MBA, the Dutch government and universities offer fully funded and partially funded scholarships to help you unlock your academic potential.
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*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2019.
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