Who Can Apply for Belgian Scholarships in 2027

Three systems, three sets of rules

Belgium does not have one scholarship system. It has three. The country is split along linguistic and political lines — French-speaking Wallonia, Dutch-speaking Flanders, and a small German-speaking community — and each region runs its own higher education system with its own international scholarship programmes. ARES handles scholarships for the French-speaking institutions. VLIR-UOS handles scholarships for the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) universities. And the Flemish government runs a separate merit-based programme called Master Mind. These three systems have entirely different eligibility requirements, different application procedures and different lists of eligible countries.

This matters because getting the eligibility wrong is the single most common reason Belgian scholarship applications fail before a reviewer ever opens them. Typical slips: preparing an ARES dossier without the two years of work experience it requires, applying to two VLIR-UOS programmes in the same year and being excluded from both, or a fresh graduate aiming for ARES when VLIR-UOS or Master Mind would fit. These mistakes are completely avoidable if you understand the differences upfront.

Below is the full eligibility breakdown for each programme. If your country is not on the ARES or VLIR-UOS lists, skip straight to the Master Mind section — it is open to almost every nationality in the world.

ARES — French-speaking Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels)

ARES (Académie de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur) manages scholarships for institutions in Wallonia and Brussels. These are development-focused scholarships, which means they are specifically designed for professionals from developing countries who will return home and apply what they learned. That focus shapes every eligibility requirement below. The rules here follow the official 2027–2028 International Training call (published 3 August 2026).

Residence: 32 partner countries

The 2027–2028 call lists 32 eligible countries. If you do not live and work in one of them, you cannot apply to ARES no matter how strong your profile is.

Residency and work

You must be a permanent resident and working in an eligible country when you apply. Being a citizen of an eligible country but living and working in Europe, North America or another non-listed country will disqualify you. This is one of the most overlooked requirements. If you are a Cameroonian living in France, you are not eligible for ARES.

Age and how old your degree can be

The 2027–2028 call does not set a separate age limit (earlier guidance cited under 40 for degree courses and under 45 for shorter training). What it does limit is the age of your degree: you must have obtained the relevant academic degree no more than 20 years before the course begins. This window is extended by one additional year for each childbirth or adoption, a provision specifically aimed at supporting people who took career breaks.

Academic qualifications

You need a higher education degree and must meet the admission requirements of the specific course, which ARES describes for each course on its website. A specialised bachelor's builds on a bachelor's degree; the specialised master's and the continuing training course build on a master's. ARES evaluates equivalence case by case.

Professional experience

This is the requirement that catches the most people. You need a minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in one of the 32 eligible countries, gained after your most recent higher education degree. (Earlier calls asked for 3 years if you held a postgraduate degree from an industrialised country; the 2027–2028 call does not mention this.) Fresh graduates cannot apply to ARES. Internships and volunteer work generally do not count — they want professional experience that is directly related to the course you are applying for.

Language

Most ARES courses are taught in French. You must complete the application in the language the course is taught in and show good written and spoken command of it. There is no standardised test score requirement (like DELF/DALF), but for a French-taught course the application, any interview and your motivation are all in French. If your French is not strong enough to do all of that comfortably, a French-taught course is not the right fit. ARES also notes that basic French makes daily life in Belgium much easier, even on an English-taught course.

• You cannot have previously received an ARES scholarship in Belgium. VLIR-UOS goes further and bars anyone who has held any Belgian government study scholarship.
• You can only apply for one course per call. Submitting multiple applications will not increase your chances — it will get all of them rejected.

Full details: ARES International Training Scholarships 2027–2028.

VLIR-UOS — Flemish Belgium (English-taught)

VLIR-UOS (Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad – Universitaire Ontwikkelingssamenwerking) funds scholarships at Flemish universities and university colleges, and its ICP Connect programmes are taught in English. Like ARES, these are development-oriented scholarships. But the eligibility rules differ in important ways — particularly around age limits, language requirements and the one-application-per-year rule, which excludes anyone who breaks it.

Nationality: 29 eligible countries

The VLIR-UOS country list overlaps significantly with the ARES list but is not identical. Here is the full official list:

Residency

You must hold the nationality of an eligible country and be residing in one of the 29 eligible countries when you apply. Unlike ARES, the residency country does not need to match your nationality — a Kenyan citizen living in Ethiopia, for example, would be eligible since both countries are on the list. But a Kenyan citizen living in Germany would not qualify.

Age limits

• No older than 35 for bachelor's and initial master's programmes, measured on 1 January of the intake year (not the application deadline).
• No older than 45 for advanced master's programmes.
• At least 19 by 1 January of the intake year for bachelor's programmes.

The way VLIR-UOS calculates age is different from ARES. They use 1 January of the intake year as the reference date. So if the programme starts in September 2027, your age on 1 January 2027 is what counts — not your age on the application deadline.

Professional background

VLIR-UOS gives preference to candidates employed in higher education, government and civil society, or targeting a career in one of these sectors. These are the sectors they consider most likely to create development impact when scholars return home. However — and this is important — recent graduates and private sector candidates can still be considered if they show strong motivation and a compelling profile. You are not automatically excluded. But you need a much stronger motivation letter explaining how your studies will contribute to development in your home country. Private sector applicants who cannot draw a clear line between their work and broader development goals tend to be ranked lower.

Language: English (TOEFL/IELTS)

Since ICP Connect programmes are taught in English, you need to demonstrate English proficiency. TOEFL and IELTS are the most commonly accepted, but the exact score requirements vary by programme. Some programmes accept TOEFL iBT 79, others require 90 or higher. IELTS requirements typically range from 6.0 to 7.0. Always check the specific requirements for the programme you are targeting — there is no single VLIR-UOS-wide minimum score.

• You cannot have previously received a scholarship from the Belgian government to attend a study programme.
• You cannot have been enrolled in a study programme at a Belgian higher education institution before 1 January of the intake year. If you are already studying in Belgium, you are not eligible.

Full details: VLIR-UOS study scholarships.

Master Mind — Flemish government merit scholarship

Master Mind is a completely different animal from ARES and VLIR-UOS. It is not a development scholarship. It is a merit-based scholarship from the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training to attract outstanding international students to master's programmes in Flanders and Brussels. The eligibility rules are much simpler, but the academic bar is significantly higher. Note that Study in Flanders says the scheme is under review for 2027–2028, so the grant, selection process and rules may change.

Nationality: open to all (with one exception)

Master Mind is open to all nationalities. You do not need to be from a developing country or from a specific list. A student from India, Brazil, Nigeria, Japan or Canada can apply. The one explicit exclusion: Russian nationals are not eligible, following the Flemish government’s measures after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Academic requirements: a very high bar

You need a GPA of 3.5 out of 4.0, calculated on your last obtained bachelor's or master's degree using the Scholaro GPA calculator, which Study in Flanders names as the official tool. That puts you roughly in the top 10–15% of graduates at most universities. If your grading system uses percentages, that roughly means 85–90% or above, depending on the conversion used. There is no wiggle room here — if your grades do not meet this threshold, your application will not be considered.

Language: high English proficiency

The English requirements are stricter than for VLIR-UOS, and your proof must be no older than 3 years when the host institution processes your application:

• Universities: IELTS 7.0 overall, TOEFL iBT 94, or C1 on the CEFR scale.
• Schools of arts: IELTS 6.5, TOEFL iBT 90, or B2 on the CEFR scale.

These are minimum thresholds. Universities may have their own higher requirements for specific programmes.

How it works: through the host institution

You cannot apply directly to the Flemish government for Master Mind. You apply to a participating Flemish institution for a master's programme (of 60 ECTS per year) and submit your scholarship documents to that institution before its own deadline. The institution checks eligibility, preselects up to 20 candidates and puts them forward through the Mobility Online tool. You must also be admitted to the degree programme to receive the scholarship. You can be nominated by only one institution. Your previous degree cannot come from a Flemish institution, and you cannot already be enrolled at one (credit-mobility exchanges such as Erasmus+ do not count against you). Preparatory, bridging and distance-learning programmes are excluded.

Numbers and reserved spots

Study in Flanders does not publish a total, but Master Mind is thought to award only around 30 scholarships per year (our estimate) across all Flemish institutions, which makes it extremely competitive. Some places are reserved for priority countries of the Flemish government:

The remaining spots are open to all other eligible nationalities, so the competition for the non-reserved slots is fierce. If you are from one of the reserved countries, your odds are meaningfully better — but you still need to meet the GPA and language thresholds.

Full details: Study in Flanders — Master Mind eligibility criteria.

Side-by-side comparison

Here is everything in one place. If you are still unsure which programme to target, this table should make it clear.

The traps that catch people

Many applicants are ruled out for reasons that were completely preventable. Here are four traps that come up again and again.

“I applied to two VLIR-UOS programmes and got disqualified from both”

The pattern is familiar. The applicant finds two ICP programmes that interest them, figures they will double their chances by applying to both, and instead loses everything. VLIR-UOS enforces a strict one-application-per-year rule: applying for more than one ICP Connect scholarship leads to the exclusion of all your applications.

The fix is simple: pick the one programme that best matches your background and go all-in on that single application. If you are torn between two programmes, choose the one where your professional experience and academic background align most closely with the programme description. A strong application to one programme beats two mediocre applications every time — except here you do not even get mediocre, you get zero.

“I didn’t know I needed work experience for ARES”

Fresh graduates cannot apply to ARES. The two-year work experience requirement is not a suggestion or a preference — it is a hard minimum. Excellent grades and a strong motivation letter do not make up for it: a candidate who graduated six months ago does not meet the rule. ARES scholarships are designed for mid-career professionals, not recent graduates.

If you just graduated and want to study in Belgium, VLIR-UOS and Master Mind are your options. VLIR-UOS prefers applicants with professional experience but does not require it. Master Mind has no work experience requirement at all. Come back to ARES after you have accumulated two or three years of solid professional experience in your field.

“I’m not from a listed country — am I completely out?”

Not at all. If your country does not appear on the ARES or VLIR-UOS lists, those two programmes are off the table for you. But Master Mind is open to students from any country in the world (except Russia). That is your primary option. The trade-off is that Master Mind requires a higher GPA (3.5/4.0) and has few spots (an estimated 30 or so a year), so the competition is intense.

Beyond Master Mind, individual Flemish and Walloon universities offer their own institutional scholarships for international students. These are separate from the three government-funded programmes discussed on this page, and each university sets its own eligibility criteria. Check the international admissions pages of universities like KU Leuven, UGent, VUB, ULB and UCLouvain — many have merit-based tuition fee waivers or partial scholarships that are open to all nationalities. For a broader overview, see the Study in Flanders scholarships page.

“I had a Belgian scholarship before and applied again”

VLIR-UOS excludes anyone who has previously received a Belgian government scholarship for a study programme, and ARES excludes anyone who has already held an ARES grant in Belgium. If you received an ARES scholarship in 2019 and want to apply for a VLIR-UOS scholarship in 2027, you are not eligible. It does not matter how long ago you received the scholarship or whether you completed the programme.

The reasoning behind this is straightforward: Belgium wants to spread its development funding across as many individuals as possible rather than giving multiple awards to the same person. Master Mind does not share this exact restriction (it is a Flemish education programme, not a development cooperation programme), but your previous degree cannot come from a Flemish institution, and you cannot combine Master Mind with another Flemish government scholarship.

Now that you know whether you are eligible, the next step is understanding exactly what each programme pays for. See what you get, or jump to how to apply.