KAUST Fellowship Deadlines 2027: Official Admission Dates
The Spring 2027 Ph.D. round closed on 27 September 2026. Fall 2027 for M.S., M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D. opened on 28 September 2026 and closes on 3 January 2027, with decisions on 14 February 2027.
ScholarshipUnion Editorial
2 min read
Updated Oct 6, 2026
Verified on 6 October 2026 against the official Admission Timeline. The official URL uses admission-timelines (plural). KAUST labels every date tentative.
Fall 2027 is the open round: it opened on 28 September 2026 and closes on 3 January 2027. The Spring 2027 Ph.D. round closed on 27 September 2026; its decisions are due on 8 November 2026. When we rechecked on 6 October 2026 the official timeline intro still read “Applications for Spring 2027 entry are now open” even though that deadline had passed — go by the dates in the table, not the banner.
Fall 2027 — M.S., M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D.
The main cycle, open to every degree type. The official Study page lists Fall 2027 for every M.S.
| Activity | Official date |
|---|---|
| Round 2 application open | 28 September 2026 |
| Round 2 application deadline | 3 January 2027 |
| Round 2 decisions released | 14 February 2027 |
| Fall semester starts | 29 August 2027 |
Fall onboarding typically begins in May. Degree attestation can take up to 60 days. Do not treat 3 January as a night-before deadline: your referees need the extra seven calendar days KAUST allows after the close, and their requests only go out once you enter their details.
Spring 2027 — Ph.D. only (closed)
Ph.D. only. M.S. and M.S./Ph.D. applicants cannot use Spring entry.
| Activity | Official date |
|---|---|
| Round 1 application deadline | 27 September 2026 (closed) |
| Round 1 decisions released | 8 November 2026 |
| Spring semester starts | 17 January 2027 |
Onboarding for Spring-entry students typically begins in November. International visa and attestation work can take 8–12 weeks — that clock starts after the offer.
What the dates do not say out loud
- Tentative. Official copy says dates may change with application volume. Recheck the timeline the week you submit.
- No rolling “we’ll tell you when”. There is no published decision-release schedule beyond the round dates. The FAQs say they release as soon as a final decision is made and try to be timely. Wait until the published notification date before emailing.
- References after the deadline. Letters are expected within seven calendar days of the deadline. Enter referees early — requests fire immediately.
- One shot per year. One application at a time, one programme per year. Our reading: a Spring Ph.D. denial probably does not open a second Fall 2027 application — KAUST does not spell this out, so ask Admissions before relying on it.
- Offer clock. Accepted applicants get a limited time to confirm. Miss it and the offer may be withdrawn.
- Programme status changes. On 21 September 2026 the Study table marked Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship as “Applications Closed”; on 6 October 2026 it showed “Apply for Fall”, while Bioengineering and Bioscience showed “Applications Opening Soon”. Do not assume every row on a blog list is open — check the Study page.
Sources
Primary: admissions.kaust.edu.sa/how-to-apply/admission-timelines. The path /admission-timeline (singular) returned 404 when this guide was first written. Programme-level intake notes: Study. If the official timeline later diverges from this page, trust KAUST.