A Central European educational hub, Slovakia is the upcoming major international students’ destination. With its world-class universities, equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities, Slovakia has been able to attract students from around the world to pursue higher education in both Slovak and English languages. The country is rich with its culture, heritage and nature with having the world’s highest number of UNESCO caves per-capita.
While making a decision for studying abroad, one of the major factors to consider is finance. Slovakia offers a wide range of scholarships for students starting from state funded programs to private initiatives.
Here is a list of available scholarships for pursuing higher education in Slovakia:
- National Scholarship Program of the Slovak Republic
Applicable universities of higher education institutions and research organizations in Slovakia.
Eligibility:
I) International students:
- are university students at universities outside Slovakia
- are students of the second level of higher education (master’s students), or are students who at the time of application deadline have already completed at least 2.5 years of their university studies in the same study program
- will be on a study stay in Slovakia during their higher education outside Slovakia and who will be accepted by a public, private or state university in Slovakia for an academic mobility to study in Slovakia.
- Duration of a scholarship stay (students): 1 – 2 full semesters
II) PhD students:
whose higher education or scientific training takes place outside Slovakia and who are accepted by a public, private or state university or a research institution in Slovakia eligible to carry out a doctoral study program for an academic mobility to study/conduct research/artistic stay in Slovakia. Duration of a scholarship stay (PhD students): 1 – 10 months.
III) International university teachers, researchers and artists:
who are invited to a teaching/research/artistic stay in Slovakia by an institution with a valid certificate of eligibility to carry out research and development, which is not a business company and it has it seat in Slovakia.
Amount of the monthly scholarship
| a) university student of the second level of higher education | 400 € |
| b) PhD student | 734 € |
| c) university teacher/researcher/artist: | |
| without PhD degree (or its equivalent) and at the same time less than 4 years of work experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist | 734 € |
| with PhD degree (or its equivalent) and at the same time less than 10 years of work experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist | 980 € |
| with PhD degree (or its equivalent) and at the same time more than 10 years of work experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist | 1 050 € |
Scholarship applications are submitted online at www.scholarships.sk
Application deadlines
- 31 October at 16:00 CET – scholarship for summer semester of the current academic year
- 30 April at 16:00 CET – scholarship for next academic year
For more information visit: https://www.scholarships.sk/en/main/programme-terms-and-conditions/foreign-applicants
- CEEPUS
An applicant whose home university is involved in the CEEPUS program within the approved network in the academic year 2020/2021 and is applying to stay at a partner university within this network list of participating Slovak universities you can find HERE.
General conditions for mobility:
- Students and doctoral students
- 1st level university students must have completed at least 2 semesters at the time of starting their stay,
- the minimum length of stay is always 1 month – the condition for the payment of a one-month scholarship is at least 21 calendar days of stay
- for multi-month stays, the condition for the payment of the last scholarship is at least 16 calendar days of stay in the last month .
- University teachers
- for the completion of the stay it is possible to award a maximum of 1 scholarship month, while the condition for the payment of the scholarship is a minimum length of stay of 5 working days and the obligation to teach or lead at least 6 teaching hours during these 5 days.
- Teacher mobility will be approved only on the basis of the submitted time schedule of the stay, including the planned lectures, in the “Motivation” section of the electronic application.
General Deadline:
- Annually on 15 June for scholarship stays in the winter semester of the following academic year and annually on 31 October for scholarship stays in the summer semester of the current academic year
- 30 November for scholarship stays in the summer semester of the current academic year for outside approved networks (free mover)
For more information visit: https://ceepus.saia.sk/sk/main/stipendia-na-mobility/
- Visegrad Scholarship
Visegrad scholarships support Bachelor, Master and post-Master students and researchers in all disciplines and in any language for up to four semesters
Eligible Nationalities:
Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine
Conditions:
- The country of your citizenship, permanent residence and home university must be different from the country of the host institution; moreover, the applicant’s previous level of university studies must be completed in a country other than where he/she applies for the scholarship
- The distance between the applicant’s current employer/university or the permanent residence and the host university/institute must be above 150 km
- Study period/length of support is 1–4 semesters for full-time Master’s level studies, and for Bachelor studies, or 1–2 semesters for post-Master’s full-time studies/research
- The amount of the support is €2,500/semester for scholar + €1,500/semester for the host institution
Deadline for application 15 march.
For more information visit https://www.visegradfund.org/apply/mobilities/visegrad-scholarship/
- ITEC Scholarship
For citizens of India who are currently pursuing their studies in:
natural sciences/ technical sciences/ medical sciences/ agricultural sciences/ social sciences/ humanities science/ art in English Language.
Scholarship includes:
- return ticket costs
- tuition fee
- accommodation
- health care
- pocket money
- contribution to books and study trip.
Application deadline: continuously (4.5 months before the start of the stay)
Quota = 12 people
Apply through: www.granty.saia.sk
For more information visit https://www.itecgoi.in/terms_and_conditions
- Short Term Fellowship EMBO
Applicants must be active researchers at any stage in their career with a minimum of one year of research experience at the PhD student level, or equivalent at the time of application. EMBO Short-Term Fellowships are awarded for research exchanges between laboratories in EMBC Member States (Including Slovakia), Associated Member States or Cooperation Partners.
For more information visit: https://www.embo.org/funding-awards/fellowships/short-term-fellowships.html#about
- NADACE
The scholarship is intended for bachelor’s or master’s degree students in universities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia up to and including 25 years of age who will study in the Erasmus program or in other short-term study program, after which they return to the parent university. Supporting technical fields and medicine.
For more information visit: https://www.nadaceprovzdelani.cz/za-vzdelanim-zahranici/
7. Slovak research and development agency (APVV)
The Slovak Research and Development Agency was established in 2005. There are bilateral cooperation, international cooperations and multilateral cooperation (Dunajska strategia).
Currently, Slovakia has signed international contracts on scientific and technological cooperation with the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of South Africa, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine and United States of America.
The Agency is a state-budget institution linked to the State Budget of the Slovak Republic through the budgetary chapter of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic and fulfils the Programme Declaration of the Slovak Government whose core priority is formation of knowledge society in Slovakia.
For more information, make sure to check website of the Slovak research and development agency
8. VEGA agency
VEGA (Vedecká grantová agentúra) – Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Academy of Sciences is an internal grant system for the Ministry of Education and Slovak Academy of Sciences, which provides a common, coordinated approach in selection and evaluation of basic research projects addressed to universities and research institutes of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
The key activity of the VEGA is to support basic research in the SAS and universities in general and institutional finance in particular. The VEGA is an advisory body in field of implementation of S&T policies, financing basic research and evaluation of research projects.
Learn more about VEGA agency