Application Opening Date: September 2025; Deadline: 1 November 2025
LOCATION: Switzerland
UNIL awards around ten excellence scholarships each year, exclusively to students who have graduated from a foreign university and whose academic results are of a very high standard.
ELIGIBILITY:
The list of all master’s degrees at UNIL for which it is possible to apply can be found here.
Candidates must have graduated only from a foreign university: their qualification/university degree must be deemed equivalent to a Swiss university bachelor’s degree (180 ECTS credits). If the Masters Scholarship application file is complete, the Admissions Office (SII) will decide if the candidate is formally eligible. If this is the case, the application file will be forwarded to the faculty, which will take a decision on whether the candidate is admitted to the chosen master programme or not.
To have obtained a foreign university degree considered equivalent to a Swiss university bachelor’s before the beginning of the master’s program at UNIL.
To have distinguished yourself during your studies, especially through particularly brilliant academic results.
To have a language level of at least C1 (according to the European Language Portfolio global scale) in French or at least C1 in English according to the language in which your chosen master is taught (to check on the programme’s page).
Not to be registered at UNIL
To have paid the CHF 200.00 Administrative fees (see document, “list of documents for an application”).
The application form for the Master’s Scholarship also serves as an application for admission to the chosen Master’s program (and hence as a matriculation form at UNIL): you therefore do not need to apply for the master’s degree at the Admission Office (SII) of UNIL.
The application for the academic year 2025/2026 is closed. The application for the academic year 2026/2027 will open in September 2025 and the deadline will be 1 November 2025.
There is no age limit to apply for the Master Scholarship. However, for candidates from countries subject to visa restrictions, a higher age as well as a completed first master’s degree may have an influence on the obtention of a visa (difficult or impossible to obtain). They recommend verifying with the Swiss diplomatic representation in your country before applying.
Withdrawal from the master programme will lead to the suspension of the scholarship.
BENEFIT:
The scholarship is granted for the minimum statutory period of the programme chosen by the student. It amounts to CHF 1,600 (for more details, please refer to Article 10 of the “General conditions for the award of a Master’s Excellence Scholarship”).
Students offered a scholarship will be exempt from the fixed registration fees for the courses, with the exception of the CHF 80.00 fees to be paid each semester.
