Scholarships and Student Financial Aid in Timor-Leste: What Exists and How to Apply
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Jul 12, 2026 • Scholarships & Funding, Study in Southeast Asia
Timor-Leste's main scholarship route is the Human Capital Development Fund (FDCH), which sent 92 students abroad in 2024 and opened 123 new scholarship places for 2026 study in Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Mozambique. On top of FDCH, Timorese students can apply for Australia Awards, Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships, and individual university aid.
🎓 FDCH: Timor-Leste's national scholarship fund, covers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral study at home and abroad.
📩 February 2026 FDCH round: 123 places across Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Mozambique, applications ran February 18 to March 6, 2026.
💵 Australia Awards: full tuition, travel, and living costs for undergraduate to PhD study in Australia.
⏱️ Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships: grew from 12 to 32 places a year for Timorese students starting in 2025.
FDCH: The National Scholarship Fund
The Fundo de Desenvolvimento do Capital Humano (FDCH), the Human Capital Development Fund, is Timor-Leste's main state scholarship mechanism, created in 2011 to build a skilled national workforce in sectors including justice, health, education, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, petroleum management, and financial management. FDCH funds both professional and technical training and full higher education scholarships, covering Licenciatura (bachelor's) and postgraduate study, and places students both inside Timor-Leste and abroad. Applications and program details run through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Culture and the official FDCH public scholarship program page .
Who Is Eligible
FDCH scholarships target Timorese nationals with strong secondary or undergraduate academic records who commit to returning to Timor-Leste to work in their funded sector after graduation. Destination-government awards such as Australia Awards and Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships add their own citizenship, academic, and in some cases professional experience requirements on top of that baseline, so check each program's own eligibility page rather than assuming FDCH criteria carry over.
Recent FDCH Rounds
In September 2024, FDCH sent 92 students abroad under its Merit Scholarship Programme: 21 to Portugal (4 PhD, 17 master's), 14 to Brazil for master's study, 16 to Indonesia for undergraduate study, 31 to Malaysia (13 master's, 18 undergraduate), and 10 to Thailand for master's study, according to the Government of Timor-Leste . In February 2026, FDCH opened a new round of 123 scholarships: 65 to Brazil across bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels in fields such as social work, pedagogy, physical education, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and Portuguese language teaching, 22 to Malaysia for bachelor's and master's study in cybersecurity, AI, project management, engineering, electronics, and psychology, 28 bachelor's places in Indonesia for mechanical engineering, manufacturing, physiotherapy, and marine sciences, and 8 bachelor's places in Mozambique for geographic information science, forestry engineering, and general medicine. Applications for that round ran from February 18 to March 6, 2026, according to TATOLI . Round sizes, destination countries, and fields change with each cycle, so check the FDCH page directly for the current round rather than relying on a past year's numbers.
Australia Awards
Australia Awards fund diploma, undergraduate, master's, and PhD study at Australian institutions for Timorese citizens, covering full tuition, travel, living costs, and health insurance for the length of the program. At least half of places target women, alongside applicants with disability and rural applicants, and roughly 15 percent of awards go to undergraduate study with around 5 percent reserved for PhD level. Selection weighs professional and academic strength alongside a candidate's potential to contribute to Timor-Leste's development challenges after graduation. Apply through Australia Awards Timor-Leste .
Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships
New Zealand's Manaaki Scholarships fund undergraduate and postgraduate tertiary study, plus thematic and vocational short courses, for Timorese citizens. In February 2025, the New Zealand government announced it would raise the number of scholarships available to Timorese students from 12 to 32 a year starting the following academic year, according to TATOLI . Check eligibility and open rounds directly on the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships site.
University and Institutional Aid
Beyond government-funded routes, individual universities in destination countries such as Brazil, Portugal, Malaysia, and Indonesia sometimes add their own partial scholarships or fee waivers on top of an FDCH placement, particularly for students who rank near the top of their FDCH cohort. Ask your placement university directly whether such supplementary aid exists, since these awards rarely appear on national scholarship pages and get allocated case by case.
How to Apply
Start by monitoring the FDCH and MESCC pages for open rounds, since windows run only a few weeks and close quickly. Prepare Exame Nacional or prior degree transcripts, identification documents, and any language test scores your target destination requires well before a round opens, so you can submit within the short application window rather than scrambling once it is live.