Delft University of Technology - Justus & Louise van Effen Excellence Scholarships

Benefit

You get a full scholarship for a two-year Master's programme at TU Delft in the Netherlands. It covers your full tuition fees for both study years. It also adds a monthly living allowance for 24 months, with the exact amount set in your scholarship contract. The award runs for a maximum of 24 months and cannot be extended. To keep it for the second year, you must pass at least 48 of 60 ECTS credits in your first year. The money comes from the estate of Justus and Louise van Effen. TU Delft awards 2 full scholarships per faculty. Flights, accommodation and setup costs of about 1,500 EUR are not covered, so you pay those yourself.

Eligibility

• Degree level: You are admitted, or conditionally admitted, to a regular 2-year TU Delft MSc programme. Joint education programmes and a few named MSc programmes (including Industrial Ecology and Applied Geophysics) do not count.
• Nationality: You are an international applicant. You cannot apply if you did your Bachelor's at a Dutch university, are already enrolled at TU Delft, or are a TU Delft Bachelor's student.
• Grades: You have excellent results in your previous studies, relevant to your chosen Master's. As a guide, roughly the top 10% of graduates in your programme. You do not need to prove a ranking.
• Age: You are no older than 35 on the start of the first academic year (1 September).
• Other funding: You do not hold another partial or full scholarship at the same time.

How to apply

You submit a complete MSc application, upload the Scholarship Application Form and one reference letter, and include your English language certificate. Everything is due by 1 December 2026 (23:59 CET) for the 2027-2029 cycle. If you miss this deadline, your scholarship application is not reviewed. Faculty selection committees make the final choice. Selected candidates hear back by email by the end of March.

How realistic are your chances?

TU Delft receives far more scholarship applications than it can fund, and only 2 full awards go to each faculty, so this is highly competitive. Strong grades are the baseline, not the deciding factor: the motivation form and reference letter are where you stand out. If you are clearly in the top tier of your programme and submit a complete, convincing application before the deadline, you have a real chance. Still, treat it as a long shot and plan how you would fund the two years without it.