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The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) offers talented prospective international students the unique opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. VU Amsterdam has committed to providing approximately 1 million euro towards attracting highly motivated and excellent students.
All VUFP applications received by 1 February 2019 will be reviewed by the faculty of the apllied for Master’s programme. Faculties then nominate applicants to the central scholarship committee, which subsequently awards scholarships to the most talented students. The award is based on the motivation letter, the quality of previous education and the student’s academic performance therein. A scholarship offer will be made to successful candidates.
Eligible candidates
The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) is a Merit scholarship programme for strongly motivated students with excellent study results. Eligible candidates must be able to prove their academic excellence, and they must be admitted to an English-taught Master’s degree at VU Amsterdam starting per September 2019. Students with the Dutch nationality and/or a Dutch degree (given that the Dutch degree is used for admission) are not eligible for admission. Students following a one-year Master’s programme may not apply for the VUFP scholarship for a second year. Students already enrolled in a two-year Master’s programme who have not been awarded the VUFP scholarship in 2018/2019 are not eligible to apply for the VUFP scholarship 2019/2020. Only when a student was granted a scholarship from the beginning, then the scholarship can be extended if he/she achieved 100% of the credits of the first year. The Faculty VUFP committee will be asked to demonstrate to the Central VUFP committee that these credits have indeed been achieved. The scholarship will only be granted to a student once and is explicitly intended for the Master’s programme for which it has been awarded.
One VUFP scholarship will be reserved for an applicant who previously completed a semester or full academic year abroad at the VU Amsterdam via the Semester in Amsterdam program and is now applying for a full time Master’s programme at VU Amsterdam. The application process for Semester in Amsterdam alumni is the same as applying for a VUFP scholarship. When you are applying as a Semester in Amsterdam alumnus or alumna then you need to email semesterinamsterdam@vu.nl to inform the staff that you applied via VUnet for a VUFP scholarship. Please indicate in your motivation letter that you previously completed a semester or full academic year at VU Amsterdam via the Semester in Amsterdam program. Students who are not selected for the scholarship reserved for Semester in Amsterdam alumni can still be considered for a regular VUFP scholarship.
Scholarships amounts
The VUFP scholarship is a tuition fee waiver. VUFP scholarship does not provide any additional allowance towards study or living costs.
Application procedure
1. Register for Master’s programme
Students register for a Master’s programme in Studielink and after that in the VUnet portal. Here you can find more information on how to apply for one of our English taught Master’s programmes. Please note that you must have applied for the Master programme before you can apply for the VUFP scholarship.
Deadline: 1 February 2019.
2. Submit VUFP application
Submit your VUFP application in VUnet.
Deadline: 1 February 2019
For VUFP application 3 documents in PDF format are required:
A. Proof of excellence/ GPA
Please upload a proof of transcript of your previous degree or current Bachelor’s degree. Please provide a document with the used grading scale and clear explanation of the GPA calculation. Students who apply for a VU Fellowship Programme need to have a GPA of at least 80% of the highest possible mark (calculated over full previous degree or current Bachelor’s degree). For example, if the highest possible mark is a 10 you need to have an average of at least an 8.
Excellence in previous education is proven if the grade point average achieved is at least the equivalent of the Dutch grade of an 8.0 on the Dutch grading scale 1 – 10. The VUFP Scholarship Committee will decide on the local grade equivalents for the Dutch grade of an 8.0 using the grade information included in the NUFFIC country modules.
B. Motivation Letter
We would like to know your motivation for the VU Fellowship Programme. Why do you think you deserve to receive a VUFP scholarship?
Topics that are reviewed in the motivation letter are the following:
• Why do you want to study this specific programme?
• What are your future perspectives?
• Why do you deserve the VUFP scholarship?
Do not hesitate to mention other motivations as well, taking initiative is appreciated!
C. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
We strongly recommend the use of the Europass format.
3. Decision
The Central VUFP Committee decides which students will be offered a VUFP scholarship. The Committee makes a merit based selection.
4. Results
All students will receive an e-mail/ notification informing them of the Central scholarships Committee’s decision concerning their application.
Expected date: 1 April 2019 (8 weeks after the deadline).
5. Acceptance of VUFP or HSP offer
Selected candidates accept/ decline the VUFP offer in VUnet. Deadline: 15 April 2019 (2 weeks after the results are published).
Conditions VUFP Scholarship Programme
Current VUFP scholars
VUFP scholars enrolled in a two years Master’s programme do not need to re-apply for the VUFP scholarship for the second year. The VUFP scholar will be nominated for a second year provided that he or she has obtained 100% of the first year ECTS. VUFP candidates will receive an e-mail from the Central Scholarships Committee on or around 1 July 2019 confirming the extension of the VUFP scholarship. Students who have not achieved sufficient study results will be informed that they will not be offered the VUFP scholarship for the next academic year, unless there are clear reasons why the results were lower than average.
Complaint procedure
An interested party that does not agree with the decision of the scholarship committee, may file a written complaint to VUFP@vu.nl. Complaints regarding the application procedure (not the results!) should be addressed to the student ombudsman by e-mail and must include:
• Your name and full address.
• Details of the selection procedure that you do not agree with.
• The grounds for complaint: why are you unable to accept the selection procedure?
• Date and signature.
For pressing questions regarding the VUFP scholarship, please email: vufp@vu.nl.
Support
The VU Fellowship Programme (VUFP) is financially supported by VUvereniging. VUvereniging is a social network of people who are connected to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Their support of VUFP is specified on their website.
