Czech Government Scholarships for Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao Students

Two different Czech scholarship tracks

The Czech government runs its scholarship offer for foreign students through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MSMT) , in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are two separate tracks that ASEAN applicants should not confuse: a full degree scholarship program limited to a fixed list of developing countries, and a smaller Czech-language summer program that Vietnam participates in on its own terms. Which one applies to you depends entirely on your nationality.

Cambodia: master's and PhD degree scholarships

Cambodia is included on MSMT's current list of eligible countries for the government scholarship program for developing countries. For the 2026/2027 academic year, the Czech Embassy in Phnom Penh's announcement lists 19 places for Cambodian applicants, split between master's programs (1-3 years) and doctoral programs (3-4 years), both taught in English. No bachelor's-level scholarship is offered to Cambodia in the current cycle. The wider MSMT developing-countries program also funds Czech-taught bachelor's and master's degrees in other eligible countries, with a free one-year Czech-language preparatory course included for anyone studying in Czech rather than English.

The eligible-country list is reviewed and can change each year, so a country's inclusion is never guaranteed from one cycle to the next. Applications for the 2026/2027 cycle opened in August 2025 and closed on September 30, 2025, following the pattern MSMT uses most years: a call opens in summer for entry the following autumn. Cambodian applicants apply through the Czech Embassy in Phnom Penh , which manages the local nomination and document submission process before forwarding files to MSMT for final selection.

The table below describes the wider MSMT developing-countries program in general, not Cambodia's specific current allocation, which covers master's and PhD only.

Vietnam: the Summer Schools of Slavonic Studies

Vietnam is not currently on MSMT's list of countries eligible for the full developing-countries degree scholarship. Instead, the Czech government offers Vietnamese students 3 scholarships a year for the Summer Schools of Slavonic Studies, a Czech-language summer course hosted by Czech public universities. This is a language and cultural program rather than a full degree, and it runs through the Czech Embassy in Hanoi , which accepts printed and signed applications ahead of its own annual deadline, set for March 6 for the 2026 course.

Because this program changes size and terms from year to year and is not a full-degree track, Vietnamese students aiming for a bachelor's, master's or PhD in Czechia should apply directly to Czech public universities as a self-funded or partially funded applicant, since public Czech universities do not charge tuition for programs taught in Czech regardless of nationality. English-taught programs at Czech public and private universities do charge tuition, set individually by each institution.

Laos: no confirmed current program

Laos does not appear on MSMT's published list of eligible developing countries for the 2026/2027 degree scholarship cycle, and no separate bilateral scholarship equivalent to Vietnam's summer program turned up in current official Czech sources. Lao students interested in Czech government funding should contact the Czech Embassy in Vientiane directly to confirm whether any arrangement exists for the year they plan to apply, since bilateral programs can be added or dropped between cycles without wide notice outside the country concerned.

How to apply for the Cambodia degree track

1. Check the current year's eligible-country list and field allocation on the MSMT government scholarships page before assuming Cambodia is included for your intake year

2. Contact the Czech Embassy in Phnom Penh for the current application form and required documents, since applications go through the embassy rather than directly to MSMT

3. Submit certified transcripts, a diploma or equivalent, and any language test results the call requires, ahead of the embassy's internal deadline, which usually falls before the September 30 national cutoff

4. If selected for Czech-medium study, plan for a one-year preparatory language course at a Czech public university before your degree program begins

Always confirm the current year's country list, quota and deadline directly through MSMT and the relevant Czech embassy, since scholarship terms for developing-country programs are set annually and are not fixed from year to year.

Why the country list changes

The Czech developing-countries scholarship sits inside the country's foreign development cooperation policy, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reviews periodically alongside MSMT. Countries move on and off the list as Czech development priorities shift, which is why a country present in one academic year's call is not guaranteed to appear in the next. This is different from a fixed bilateral treaty scholarship, where terms are locked in for a set number of years regardless of policy changes. Applicants from any ASEAN country, including Cambodia, should treat their current eligibility as valid for one application cycle only and re-check before assuming next year's rules will match this year's.

Studying in Czechia outside the scholarship system

Public Czech universities remain tuition-free for Czech-medium programs regardless of nationality, which gives Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao students a route into Czech higher education even in years when they do not qualify for a government scholarship. This requires reaching a Czech-language level sufficient for university coursework, typically through a private or university-run preparatory course paid for by the student, since only scholarship recipients on the developing-countries track receive that preparatory year for free. English-taught programs remain tuition-charging regardless of scholarship status, with fees set individually by each public or private university.

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