SI Scholarship for Global Professionals 2027/28

What is the SI Scholarship?

The Swedish Institute (SI) is a Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Its core job is to build relationships between Sweden and the rest of the world — and the SI Scholarship for Global Professionals (SISGP) is one of the main tools it uses to do that. The scholarship funds full-time, one- or two-year master's degrees at Swedish universities, covering tuition, a monthly living allowance and a travel grant for the duration of your studies.

The target group is working professionals from 34 eligible countries who have a genuine plan to contribute to sustainable development back home. SI is not looking for career students. It wants people who have already done something in their professional lives, who can articulate why Sweden is the right place to study, and who can explain how their studies connect to a real goal when they return. The 3,000-hour work experience requirement (roughly 18 months full-time) is there to enforce that. Internships and traineeships do not count.

You need both an admission offer and a scholarship to study. The scholarship application is separate from your university admissions.

The eligible programmes are English-taught master's programmes in four broad fields: governance, public health, entrepreneurship and innovation, and STEM. SI's list for 2026/27 contained roughly 400 programmes; the 2027/28 list is expected in mid-November 2026. When you apply, you choose a programme first through University Admissions, then apply to SI separately.

Once you finish, you're not just a graduate. During your studies you are part of the SI Network for Global Professionals (NFGP), and afterwards you join the Sweden Alumni Network, with local alumni networks around the world. For many scholars, the network is a big part of the scholarship’s value.

Earlier versions of this guide listed Kammarkollegiet emergency insurance and a visa-fee waiver as scholarship benefits. SI's 2026/27 call says insurance is not included; separately, the Swedish Migration Agency exempts SI scholarship holders from its permit fee.

Who This Scholarship Is For

You're a working professional, not just a student. The 3,000-hour work requirement is real and it's enforced. That's roughly 18 months of full-time employment, and it has to be genuine professional work — internships and traineeships don't count. If you're fresh out of an undergraduate degree with only a few months of experience, this scholarship is not for you yet. Come back when you've built something.

You've led something. A team, a project, a community initiative — something where you were responsible for outcomes and other people. SI reviews thousands of applications every year. The ones who stand out aren't the ones with the most impressive institutions on their CV. They're the ones who can clearly explain what they led, what changed because of their work, and who their leadership benefited beyond themselves.

You have a home country you genuinely plan to return to. This is a development scholarship, not an immigration route. SI expects you to bring your skills back and use them in your country of citizenship. If your plan after graduation is to stay in Sweden or move elsewhere permanently, this scholarship is not aligned with your goals. Evaluators notice when the development commitment in an application feels like checkbox-filling.

To put the competition in perspective: for 2026/27, SI received 12,922 applications across its two master's scholarships and awarded 232 (189 Global Professionals plus 43 Pioneering Women in STEM) — roughly 1 in 56 (SI, April 2026). The applicants who didn't get it were not weak candidates; most were genuinely qualified. What separates the recipients is usually the clarity and credibility of their leadership narrative, the specificity of their development contribution plan, and the coherence of their programme choice relative to that plan.

These are the countries listed for the 2026/27 call. SI publishes the list each autumn, so confirm your country is still on it when the 2027/28 call opens.

The Reality of This Scholarship

This is genuinely competitive. In the 2026 round SI received over 12,900 applications — a 50 per cent jump on the year before — and 189 people won a Global Professionals scholarship. A lot of people who don't win are well-qualified: they have the hours, the degree, the nationality. What they often don't have is a clear and credible story connecting their leadership, their proposed programme, and their development impact plan back home. That's the part that actually decides things.

The two-week application window in February is tight. If you're scrambling for reference letters or work certificates in the first week of February, your application is going to suffer. Your documents need to be ready months before the window opens — not the week before. Every year, people who would have been competitive candidates submit incomplete applications simply because they ran out of time.

Academic grades matter less than you'd expect. Swedish universities have their own admission requirements, and your grades need to meet those — SI itself sets no GPA or language requirement. SI's evaluation focuses heavily on leadership impact and your development contribution. Someone with a 3.8 GPA and a generic personal statement will not beat someone with a 3.2 GPA and a specific, credible account of something they actually built or changed.

You can apply again if you are not selected; SI invites unsuccessful applicants to re-apply in the next round. Use the year to sharpen your narrative and contribution plan and to strengthen your documentation. Persistence here is not stubbornness; it's strategy.

The network you get is arguably as valuable as the degree itself. The NFGP puts you in the same room as scholars from across the eligible countries, working in governance, public health, innovation and STEM, and the alumni network extends that globally. Scholarships that come with communities like this are rarer than people realise.

1. 1
   16 Oct 2026 – 15 Jan 2027

   Apply to master's programmes

   Through universityadmissions.se, up to four programmes. Application fee and documents due 1 February 2027.

2. 2
   Mid-November 2026 (expected)

   SI publishes eligible programmes and templates

   Download the 2027/2028 CV, work and leadership, and reference letter templates.

3. 3
   February 2027 (expected)

   SI scholarship portal open for about two weeks

   In 2026 it ran 9–25 February and closed at 14:59 CET. Exact 2027 dates are not yet published.

4. 4
   1 April 2027

   University admission results

   You must be admitted (or conditionally admitted) to an eligible programme on this day.

5. 5
   Late April 2027 (expected)

   SI announces recipients

   In 2026 the list was published on 23 April.

6. August 2027

   Studies start

   The scholarship covers the autumn semester start of your awarded programme.

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