Scholarships in Spain

Scholarships

General situation in terms of scholarships

Scholarships available for study in Spain are mostly targeted at second and third cycle degrees, that is, Master's and Doctorates. At the Master's level full government scholarships are only available for students entering teacher training. The grant system is available for students in financial need studying for lower degrees. There is an important government scheme providing scholarships for international students for higher degrees only.

Private scholarships are more readily available and there are a number, often linked to specific schools or aimed at students with particular backgrounds. Since studies in Spain are generally taught in Spanish, language proficiency is a basic requirement for almost all scholarships offered.

Type of scholarships and granting institution

The Spanish government offers a limited number and range of scholarships for students in post-graduate studies. These are financed and administered by the Spanish Ministry for Education, the Ministerio de Educación, Formación Profesional y Deportes. University-level studies fall under the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. Private scholarships are given by a wide range of organisations which often target specific groups.

Undergraduates are supported through the grant system, rather than through scholarships. Students doing a non-compulsory extra year after their undergraduate degree can apply for a specific scholarship for that, and also for the last year of undergraduate studies or the first year of a Master's to undertake research.

Availability and conditions for getting a scholarship

For government scholarships students must be fiscal residents of Spain, or EU citizens resident in Spain. These scholarships are not available for students wishing to come to Spain to study. EU citizens should note a further condition: to receive the full range of higher-education grant amounts, either you or your family must be permanently resident in Spain, or you must show self-employed or employed work in Spain. If you do not meet this, you receive only a refund of the enrolment fee. For non-EU citizens the general immigration legislation on the rights and freedoms of foreigners in Spain applies.

For students finishing undergraduate or beginning Master's study the Collaboration Grant (Beca de colaboración) is a government programme run by the Ministry of Education. For the 2026-2027 academic year it offers 2,111 grants of €2,000 each, up from 2,000 the previous year. It is aimed at students in the final year of a Grado or the first year of a Master's, and requires a research project approved by the relevant department. The application deadline is 22 September 2026. For private scholarships students must often fall into a specific group, such as students from Latin America, or Spanish emigrants wishing to return to Spain to study. The full range of EU scholarships can be used to study in Spain, as can most scholarships granted by overseas bodies.

General student grants (Becas MEC)

The main government support for undergraduates is the general study grant administered by the Ministry of Education (Becas MEC). For 2026-2027 the total budget reached a record €2,559 million. The grant covers Grado and Master's degrees leading to official titles, higher artistic studies, and the university-access course for those over 25. It does not cover doctoral or third-cycle study, specialisation studies, or in-house university titles (títulos propios).

Local scholarships for foreign students

Students coming to Spain to study for a Master's or a Doctorate can access a government programme designed specifically for them. Students cannot be resident in Spain. They must be under 35, have completed an appropriate lower degree and have already been approved for admittance to their programme. The scholarship pays €600 a month plus board and lodging at one of two halls of residence in Madrid. For studies outside Madrid, or if accommodation is not available, the stipend is raised to €1,200. Tuition support to a maximum of €2,000 is also included.

The main national scheme for foreign students is the MAEC-AECID programme, run by the Foreign Ministry and the AECID for 2026-2027. It is aimed above all at citizens of developing countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and parts of Eastern Europe, and funds Master's, doctorate, research stays and Spanish-language courses, covering full enrolment among other costs. Applicants normally need a Bachelor's for a Master's grant and a Master's for a doctorate, are usually capped at age 35 for Master's and 40 for doctorate, and need Spanish at B2 or above for Spanish-language programmes. Deadlines vary by call: one partial call for Grado applicants from Latin America, Africa and Asia ran from 2 July to 15 July 2026.

Typical scholarships in Spain

The government grant is the main scholarship available for undergraduate degrees. The government programmes for Master's study and grants for Doctoral studies are the chief scholarships for post-graduate studies. EU students resident in Spain can also access these programmes. For international students, the government scholarship for Master's and Doctoral studies is the main financial support, although there are also a good range of private scholarships available for post-graduate studies too.

Spain has been the leading Erasmus destination country since 2021, hosting over 600,000 foreign students. The Comunidad de Madrid, among other regions, runs Erasmus+ mobility grants for study or internships abroad.

Five unusual scholarships in Spain

Beyond the mainstream government and EU support, Spain has a scattering of more specialised awards. These are worth knowing about because they target backgrounds and subjects the big schemes ignore.

1. Abat Oliba CEU University - Family Scholarships

The Abat Oliba CEU University in Barcelona, a private university founded in 1973 and raised to university status by the Catalan parliament in 2003, offers Family Scholarships: the higher the number of children in one family, the higher the discount on the cost of tuition. The university also runs a Financial Aid Programme covering 50% of the tuition fees for the chosen degree, open to international students with a grade average of at least 8.5; selection weighs the grade, languages and the quality of the extracurricular profile.

2. Government of Spain, Ministry of Defence - Naval Museum Research Grants

The Ministry of Defence offers the Naval Museum Research Grant to applicants of Spanish nationality to support research on the patrimonial, artistic-historical and bibliographical funds of the Naval Museum, run through the Fundación Museo Naval and the Spanish Navy. The grant is worth €6,000 and is offered for 6 months. The 2026 research grant, on the historical documentary holdings of the Navy, has a deadline of 20 March 2026, with applications by email to museonavalmadrid@fn.mde.es or by post to the Museo Naval de Madrid. The Beca Fundación Alvargonzález is also open.

3. Autonomous Community of Catalonia - Research Fellowships on Politically Autonomous Territories

The Autonomous Community of Catalonia offers fellowships for research on territorial political autonomy. Candidates must either be nationals of an EU member state or hold a Spanish long-term residence permit, and must additionally have resided in Catalonia for at least two years. Catalonia also runs a general grant (Beca general de la Generalitat de Catalunya) for the 2026-2027 course for students resident in Catalonia, with fixed amounts including €350 income-linked and €350 residence-linked, and a minimum enrolment normally of 30 credits. It is managed by AGAUR and the Departament d'Educació.

4. Dan David Prize - Scholarships for PhD and Post-Doc students

The Dan David Prize, an Israel-based award open worldwide, is offered to exceptional doctoral students whose research relates to the chosen fields for the current year. Grantees receive a lump sum of 15,000 US dollars (currently about €11,060). Note that this is not a Spain-specific scholarship but an international prize.

5. Agrupació Foundation - Postgraduate Scholarships

The Agrupació Foundation offers scholarships for customers or the children of customers of Agrupació. A maximum of 10 scholarships will be awarded, with a total budget of €30,000.

Five scholarships not based on merit or need

A handful of Spanish awards turn on something other than your grades or your income. Most of these are mobility or project-based schemes, so the label is loose, but they open doors the standard grants do not.

1. Autonomous University of Barcelona - Foreign Language Grants for internships abroad

The Autonomous University of Barcelona supports students undertaking language-based work experience abroad as part of their degree plan. The total funding for the grant is €6,000. Tuition fees for an abroad semester at the university run from roughly €2,713 to €4,615 per semester.

2. University of Málaga - SICUE Mobility Scholarship

SICUE (Sistema de Intercambio entre Centros Universitarios de España) is a national mobility programme for Bachelor's students, running since the year 2000 and carried by Crue-Asuntos Estudiantiles and Crue-Internacionalización. It lets students spend one or two semesters at another Spanish university with academic recognition. SICUE itself does not award national grants; funding comes regionally or from the institution. The University of Málaga, part of SICUE, offers €165 for each month a student spends at the destination university, capped at the number of months set in the exchange agreement. The application window for 2026/27 ran from 30 January to 13 February 2026, though calls vary each year by university.

3. Villalar-Castilla y León Foundation - Research Grants

The Villalar-Castilla y León Foundation supports studies of the historical, geographical, cultural, economic, anthropological, scientific, technical or any other kind of reality of Castilla y León, worth €6,000 per project, spread over nine months. Several grants are awarded each year.

4. Municipality of Monzón / CEHIMO - City of Monzón Research Grants

The Centro de Estudios de Monzón y Cinca Medio (CEHIMO) promotes studies or tasks related to any aspect of Monzón and its region. Applicants must be certified researchers. The "City of Monzón" grant is worth €1,300 (or €1,600 in its XLI edition), and the "Joaquín y Mariano de Pano" grant €2,000. The application deadline has historically been 31 October.

5. ESADE - IYE Scholarships

ESADE Business School sponsors young entrepreneurs who have developed and implemented a company without any prior training in business management. The programme fee is €14,980. ESADE's broader Scholarship Programme covers between 60% and 100% of tuition fees, with possible extra grants for accommodation and board; it is explicitly merit-based, rewarding excellent academic track records, and income-related, aimed at diverse socio-economic backgrounds. As a benchmark, tuition for the one-year MSc in International Management (MiM) was €37,500 for the 2025 intake.

Spanish foundation scholarships for study abroad

Several Spanish foundations fund postgraduate study, often abroad. Fundación Carolina, whose 2025-2026 call is its 25th edition, awarded 735 grants in total: 227 postgraduate, 121 short doctoral and postdoctoral stays, 110 doctoral extensions, 22 for teaching mobility and 255 institutional study grants, across 198 academic programmes. It focuses on applicants from Latin America, offering partial grants for Master's and doctorate that cover part of the enrolment, a flight and a living allowance, with applications running from September to November 2026. Fundación "la Caixa" offers 100 grants for Master's, doctoral or pre-doctoral study in the European Higher Education Area, North America or Asia-Pacific, for a maximum of 24 months. Fundación Barrié, in its 37th edition, offers a maximum of 10 grants for official full-time Master's studies abroad.

European scholarships you can use in Spain

The full range of EU scholarships can be used to study in Spain. The "Study a Master's in Europe Scholarship 2026" is worth 5,000 US dollars (the provider's own materials also quote this as €5,000, so the exact currency is unclear). It is open to international Master's students in Europe, the application is in English only, and the deadline is 15 May 2026 at 12:00 CEST; finalists must supply supporting documents within 7 days of being notified. The Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters run a 2027/28 application window expected to fall between October 2026 and January 2027, but each consortium sets its own deadlines and you apply directly to the programme you choose, not through any central system.