Scholarships and Student Financial Aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina

No single national scholarship fund

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not run one central student aid agency. Education policy sits with Republika Srpska, the ten cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Brcko District, so scholarship budgets, eligibility rules and amounts get set locally by each entity and cantonal ministry rather than by a single national body. If you study at a public faculty, ask its student affairs office which cantonal or entity ministry runs its scholarship scheme and what the current application window looks like, since the cycle and paperwork differ by location.

University scholarships and discounts

Individual universities publish their own aid, and private universities in particular run structured, published schemes that are easier to plan around than local government budgets. At the International University of Sarajevo , for example, you find several routes:

• A 5% discount for paying the full year's tuition before the fall semester starts

• A 10% discount if a second sibling enrols at the same time, which does not combine with a scholarship of 50% or more

• A 50% discount for close relatives of university staff

• Full-tuition OSYM scholarships for eligible international applicants, which still require a 300 EUR book fee each year

Scholarship recipients at the 100% level must keep a minimum 3.00 GPA to renew the award, and the university caps renewal at five years of undergraduate study. Check the equivalent scholarship page at any university you apply to, since amounts, GPA thresholds and renewal rules are set per institution, not nationally.

Erasmus+ and exchange funding

Bosnia and Herzegovina takes part in Erasmus+ as a partner country rather than a full programme country, through the National Erasmus+ Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina . This gives students at Bosnian universities access to funded exchange and credit mobility placements at partner universities in EU countries, arranged through your home university's international relations office rather than a direct application to Brussels. If you already study in an EU country and want a semester in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ask your home international office whether your university holds a partnership agreement with a Bosnian institution, since access depends on existing inter-institutional agreements rather than an open call.

Documents you typically need

Whichever route you apply through, prepare a similar core file: your enrolment or admission letter, an academic transcript showing your grades, proof of your family's financial situation, and a copy of your passport or ID. Cantonal and entity schemes usually also want a residence certificate proving you or your family live in that canton or entity, which is why these programmes rarely reach students who move to Bosnia and Herzegovina from elsewhere in Europe for their whole degree. University scholarships, by contrast, apply directly to incoming students, since they rest on your enrolment and academic record rather than local residence.

What to check before you rely on a scholarship

• 💶 Whether the award covers tuition only, or also a stipend for living costs

• Whether it renews automatically or needs a GPA or credit threshold each year

• Whether it stacks with other discounts or excludes them, as with the IUS sibling and merit rules

• Which office pays out: university finance office, cantonal ministry, or an external foundation

Practical next steps

Start with your target university's own scholarship or tuition page first, since it is the most reliably updated and the most likely to apply to you as an incoming student. Then contact the relevant cantonal or entity education ministry directly if you plan to study at a public faculty and want to check for local resident aid. Avoid third-party scholarship listing sites for exact figures, since amounts and deadlines on those pages go outdated quickly. Confirm every number directly with the paying institution before you budget around it.