Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students 2027-28: What Each One Actually Pays

Which Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students Are Open in 2027-28

“Partial” below means you still have a tuition gap to fund. “Full” means tuition and usually living costs are covered, but at seat counts in the low double digits per intake.

Exchange rate used: Rs.109.87 per EUR. Verify the current rate before finalising your budget.

Counsellor insight: Maastricht’s NL-High Potential programme awards 21 scholarships per academic year across every non-EU country combined, per the university’s own page. Indian applicants compete in that pool against China, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and roughly ninety other nationalities. Treat it as a stretch application, not a plan. Build your budget on the NL Scholarship’s Rs.5.49 lakh and treat anything larger as upside.

Is the Orange Tulip Scholarship Still Available for Indian Students

Nuffic’s official scholarship register lists three programs it administers: the MENA Scholarship Programme, Erasmus+, and the NL Scholarship. The Orange Tulip Scholarship does not appear on it. The same page confirms the Orange Knowledge Program ended in 2024.

What this means in practice:

• Do not build an application plan around a centrally coordinated OTS round. The Neso India intake process that older guides describe is not part of Nuffic’s current scholarship offering.
• Some Dutch universities still run their own OTS-branded awards independently of Neso. These are university schemes, not a national program.
• Check the individual university’s scholarship page, not a listing site. If the award is live, it will be on the institution’s own site with a current deadline.

Counsellor insight: The tell for a stale listing is the email instruction. Any page telling you to send a Word document to ots@nesoindia.org with a subject line format is reproducing 2022 to 2024 guidance. Dutch universities moved scholarship intake into their own portals, tied to a student ID you only receive after applying for admission. If a page does not mention a student ID, it is out of date.

Which Universities Offer the NL Scholarship in Netherlands

The participating list changes every year. For 2027-28, Nuffic lists 11 research universities and 23 universities of applied sciences.

Research universities participating in 2026-27:

• Eindhoven University of Technology
• Maastricht University
• Radboud University
• University of Groningen
• University of Twente
• Utrecht University
• VU Amsterdam
• Wageningen University and Research
• Protestant Theological University
• Theological University Apeldoorn
• Utrecht Theological University

Not on the 2026-27 list, despite appearing on many guides that still publish the 2025-26 version:

• Delft University of Technology
• University of Amsterdam
• Leiden University
• Erasmus University Rotterdam
• Tilburg University

These universities run their own separate awards. UvA has the Amsterdam Merit Scholarship. Leiden has the Leiden University Excellence Scholarship. You can still get funded at all five. You just cannot get the NL Scholarship there this cycle. For a full institutional comparison, see the best universities in Netherlands for Masters.

Counsellor insight: VU Amsterdam awards the NL Scholarship at either Rs.5.49 lakh or Rs.10.99 lakh (€5,000 or €10,000), and applying for their Fellowship Programme automatically enters you for the NL Scholarship with no second form. That double consideration on a single application does not exist at most institutions. If your shortlist is flexible, it is a real advantage.

What Scholarships in Netherlands Leave Indian Students Still Paying

Per Nuffic’s tuition fee page, non-EU/EEA students pay:

Then the money you must prove you have before a residence permit is issued. The IND set the 2026 study requirement at €1,130.77 per month for university and HBO students, applicable throughout the year.

Work a realistic case. A Rs.20 lakh master’s with the NL Scholarship:

• Tuition: Rs.20,00,000
• NL Scholarship: minus Rs.5,49,350
• Tuition still owed: Rs.14,50,650
• IND proof of funds: Rs.14,90,861
• Total to arrange: roughly Rs.29.4 lakh

The scholarship covered about 19% of what you need to show. Model your own numbers with the study abroad cost calculator, and read the cost of living in Netherlands breakdown for city-wise figures.

One structural point families consistently miss. Amsterdam Merit Scholarship recipients still pay full tuition. The grant arrives in monthly instalments and cannot be applied as a fee waiver.

Counsellor insight: Several universities set their proof-of-funds bar above the IND minimum to absorb exchange rate movement. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences requires €1,140 per month, or €13,680 for two semesters, and charges €260 rather than the IND’s €254 for the same reason. Eindhoven sets its figure at €13,600 per year with a separate master’s guarantee fee of €22,000. Budget against your university’s number, not the IND’s.

Documents Required for Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students

Counsellor insight: The provisional certificate causes more delays than any other document. Email your examination section in March or April, not August. Ask for it on university letterhead with the registrar’s stamp and take several certified copies. Indian university offices slow down through August and September, which is exactly when Dutch admissions want the file closed. Dutch universities process Indian provisional certificates routinely, so having it early costs you nothing and having it late costs you the cycle.

Deadlines for Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students

Built for a September 2027 start, from where you are now.

Mapped against the Indian academic year, the pressure points are clear. Your final semester exams fall in April and May 2027, results arrive June to July, and convocation is often August or September. Every Dutch scholarship deadline that matters sits before your results exist. That is why the provisional certificate is not optional.

Counsellor insight: Internal scholarship cut-offs typically sit four to six weeks ahead of the published application deadline, because a committee can only consider candidates already admitted. Maastricht makes this explicit with a separate 8 December admission gate against a 1 February scholarship gate. Most universities do not publish the gap at all. Working backwards from the visible date is the most common planning error we see.

Missed a Scholarship Deadline in Netherlands? What Indian Students Can Do

You missed the scholarship deadline

Check for a second round first. Twente runs two. The NL Scholarship window runs from 1 November and closes per institution, so missing one university does not close the program everywhere. If everything published has passed, email the university’s international financial aid office directly. Discretionary funding is not always listed publicly.

You missed the December admission gate but not the February scholarship date

This one is not recoverable within the cycle. At Maastricht, the February scholarship deadline only applies to candidates who applied for admission by 8 December. Apply anyway if the programme deadline is still open, then target the scholarship in the following cycle with a stronger file.

Your final-year result is delayed

Submit the provisional certificate on official letterhead with the registrar’s signature and seal. Email admissions with your expected result date and attach a letter from your Indian university confirming the timeline. Send the final marksheet the day it is issued.

Your IELTS came back half a band short

Some Dutch universities offer conditional admission pending a retest. IELTS allows a retake after five days, and One Skill Retake covers a single module. Groningen and Maastricht tend to be more flexible than Utrecht when the rest of the file is strong. Check your specific programme page, and use IELTS preparation online to close the gap fast.

Your residence permit is running late

Do not contact IND yourself. Your university is the recognised sponsor and the only correct channel. Contact their international student services office early; they have an established escalation route.

Counsellor insight: IND fees rose 4.4% on 1 January 2026 and are re-indexed every January against Dutch collective labour agreement wages. Required amounts are revised on 1 January and 1 July. If you are budgeting in August 2026 for a September 2027 start, add a buffer of roughly 5% to every IND figure in this article. The number you plan against will not be the number you pay.

3 Takeaways on Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students

1. Confirm your target universities appear on the current NL Scholarship participating list before you build a shortlist around them. Five well-known Dutch universities are not on the 2026-27 list.

2. Work backwards from the admission gate, not the scholarship deadline. At Maastricht that is 8 December, roughly eight weeks ahead of the date most guides publish.

3. Budget the IND requirement of about Rs.14.91 lakh as a line separate from tuition. No scholarship in this article covers it. Start with the scholarship finder to shortlist by profile.

Verified by: LeapScholar’s Europe and Netherlands counselling team, with hands-on experience guiding Indian students through Dutch university admissions, NL Scholarship applications and IND residence permit processes.

Have questions about scholarships in Netherlands or which program suits your profile? Book a free session with a LeapScholar counsellor.

Frequently Asked Questions About Scholarships in Netherlands for Indian Students