Who Can Apply for Slovak Scholarships

The NSP at scholarships.sk is the most accessible Slovak scholarship for international students. Any citizen of any country except Slovakia can apply, provided they meet the programme category criteria. The NSP does not fund full degree programmes — it funds stays of one or two semesters (students) or one to ten months (PhD students, researchers and teachers).

Master's students (and advanced students)

• Enrolled in a Master's programme at a university outside Slovakia — or a student who, by the application deadline, has completed at least 2.5 years of university studies in the same or a similar programme
• Stay duration: 1 or 2 full semesters (or 1–3 trimesters)
• Bachelor's students qualify only once they have completed 2.5 years of study; first- and second-year Bachelor's students are not eligible

PhD students

• Enrolled in a PhD programme outside Slovakia
• Accepted by a Slovak university or research institution that runs doctoral programmes (for example, the Slovak Academy of Sciences)
• Stay duration: 1 to 10 months

University teachers and researchers

• Invited by a Slovak university, Slovak Academy of Sciences institute or other non-business research organisation with a valid R&D certificate
• Stay duration: 1 to 10 months
• Artists are also eligible, and postdocs (researchers with a PhD) apply in this category
• Without a PhD, you must have less than 4 years of experience as a teacher, researcher or artist (PhD study counts, up to 6 years)

NSP disqualifying conditions

• Spent 15 or more months in total in Slovakia in the 36 months before the application deadline
• Receiving Erasmus+, Visegrad, CEEPUS, a bilateral-agreement or another publicly funded scholarship at the same time
• Slovak citizen
• Accepted for, or already in, a full degree programme in Slovakia
• Teacher or researcher without a PhD and with more than 4 years of experience
• Bachelor's-level student with less than 2.5 years of completed study

The ODA Government Scholarship covers full Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees at Slovak public universities. Eligibility is strict: you must be a citizen of one of the 32 ODA-eligible countries, you must fall within the age limits, and your desired field of study must have slots allocated to your country in the current cycle.

The Ministry's selection criteria add three more conditions: a nomination from your home country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Education, the Slovak embassy, or a compatriot organisation; grades of at least 80% throughout your previous secondary or higher education; and admission to a Slovak public university. Admission needs Slovak at B2 level, which is why non-speakers take the 10-month language course first.

This last point — field allocation — is the one most applicants miss. The Ministry of Education publishes an offer each year (on the Documents page) showing how many places each country has and which fields it supports. A student from Ethiopia may be eligible for the programme generally but have zero slots available in their chosen field that year. You must check the official allocation table before investing time in an application.

Age requirements (measured on 1 September of the intake year)

There are minimum ages too: 18 for Bachelor's and Master's, and 23 for PhD. The Ministry's FAQ is explicit: if you turn 27 before 1 September of the year you would begin your studies, you are ineligible for a Bachelor's or Master's programme under this grant.

ODA eligible countries (32 — 2026/2027 offer)

This list may change annually, and the 2027/2028 offer is not yet published. Some countries have PhD places only (Kosovo and Brazil in 2026/2027). Verify with the official eligibility wizard before applying. The wizard also lists countries such as the USA, Canada and Hungary: those entries are for people with Slovak Living Abroad status, who form a separate track.

Talented Students — SAT or SCIO required, STEM focus

The Scholarships for Talented International Students programme is open to applicants from all countries worldwide and funds full Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Slovak universities. Only selected study programmes at public universities are supported, all within Slovakia's Smart Specialisation Strategy (SK RIS3 2021+); the official list is on the programme site. There is no upper age limit. You must not be a Slovak citizen, must not have held permanent residence in Slovakia since 1 January 2021, and must not have studied at a Slovak secondary school.

The 2026/2027 call closed on 8 September 2026 (23:59 CEST). The 2027/2028 call is not yet published.

Bilateral grants — nominated by your government

For 2026/2027 the Ministry offered bilateral scholarships to 21 partners: Belgium (French Community/Wallonia), Bulgaria, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Ukraine. They fund stays of usually 1 to 10 months, not full degrees. Monthly rates are €620 (students), €1,025.50 (PhD students and researchers without a PhD) and €1,420 (researchers with a PhD), unless an agreement says otherwise.

You cannot apply to bilateral scholarships directly. You must be nominated by your home country's Ministry of Education or equivalent authority. If you believe your country has a bilateral agreement with Slovakia, contact your national academic exchange organisation for nomination procedures and deadlines. Deadlines differ by country: for 2026/2027 they ran from 1 March to 15 May, most often 31 March or 30 April. The 2027/2028 call is not yet published; the 2026/2027 call appeared in November 2025, so a similar date is likely but unconfirmed.

Eligibility criteria are set annually — always verify with the official portals before applying.