European Union - DG Interpretation bursaries

DG Interpretation bursaries

You have been awarded a one-off payment covering your enrolment fee, up to 3,000 EUR for a Master’s or postgraduate programme in conference interpreting for the academic year 2026/2027. Conference interpreting involves interpreting speeches live at meetings and conferences. The grant covers the amount of your tuition fees and/or administrative fees. It is not intended to cover your full study costs. The grant is provided by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation, which trains future EU interpreters. You may combine it with funding from your university, your country or other institutions. You may not combine it with other EU-funded scholarships, salaries or allowances (including Erasmus) and may only receive it once.

Who can apply

• Nationality: You are a national of an EU country or an official EU candidate country.
• Degree: You already hold a university degree (or an equivalent qualification) or are in your final year of study.
• Course: You have applied for a full-time Master’s degree programme or a postgraduate programme in conference interpreting at a recognised higher education institution, or you are enrolled there for 2026/2027. For programmes lasting more than one year, only students in their final year of study are eligible to take part.
• Enrolment fee: You must pay (or have already paid) the enrolment fee for this year.
• Languages: Your language combination matches the preferred profiles published each year by the Directorate-General, which list the language pairs currently required by the EU.
• Not eligible: You cannot apply if you are already registered as an interpreter in the EU, if you are an EU civil servant, or if you are studying at a higher education institution in a country against which the EU has imposed restrictive measures.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted online via the European Commission’s SPIRIT platform. Applications sent by email will not be accepted. The deadline for applications for the 2026/2027 round is Friday, 25. September 2026, at midnight Brussels time. An evaluation committee will then assess the applications and draw up a list of grant recipients as well as a reserve list. You will be notified of the result by the end of December.

How realistic are your chances?

This scholarship is very narrowly defined. You must be enrolled on a Master’s degree programme in conference interpreting and offer a language combination that the EU actually requires this year; consequently, the pool of eligible candidates is small. If your language combination is on the preference list and you clearly demonstrate your potential in your cover letter, your chances are good. It is advisable to apply early, as the technical support team tends to be busier as the application deadline approaches.