Visegrad Fund Scholarships: Studying in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, or Hungary

What the Visegrad Scholarship Program pays

The International Visegrad Fund runs the Visegrad Scholarship Program, its main funding line for individual students moving between countries in the region. It pays 3,500 EUR per semester directly to the scholar and an additional 2,000 EUR per semester to the host institution to cover administration and academic supervision. You receive the grant for one or two semesters, so a full academic year of funding is possible if your study plan needs it.

This is not a tuition waiver on top of separate living costs. The 3,500 EUR is meant to cover your living and study costs together for the semester, so budget accordingly if you move to a more expensive city within the region.

Who qualifies

The fund is built around the four Visegrad Group countries, Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, plus a wider circle of Eastern Partnership and Western Balkans countries. If you are a citizen or resident of one eligible country, you apply to study at a partner institution in a different eligible country within that network. A Polish student going to Hungary, or a student from the Western Balkans going to Slovakia, both fit the model.

You need to be enrolled in, or admitted to, a Master's, post-Master's, doctoral or postdoctoral programme in your target field. The scholarship supports full-time Master's level study and full-time post-Master's study or research, across all academic disciplines, rather than a fixed subject list.

Where you study

The programme covers more than 190 accredited higher education institutions across Central and Eastern Europe. That range gives you real choice inside the region rather than a shortlist of a handful of universities, so check the current partner list on the fund's site for institutions that match your field before you apply.

Application timeline

The Visegrad Scholarship Program runs application rounds through the year rather than one single yearly deadline. Recent cycles opened for applications in early autumn, with a further window opening around the turn of the year and a deadline in mid-April for a later intake. Because these dates shift slightly year to year, confirm the exact opening and closing dates directly on visegradfund.org before you plan your semester around it.

How to apply

• Confirm your nationality or residency fits the eligible sending country list.

• Choose a host institution from the partner list in an eligible receiving country.

• Get admission confirmation or a letter of acceptance from your chosen host institution, since the scholarship application depends on it.

• Submit your application through the fund's online system with your study or research plan, transcripts, and supporting documents.

• Wait for the results announcement, then coordinate your semester start date with both your home and host institutions.

A related short-term option: the OSA research grant

If a full semester abroad does not fit your plan, the fund also runs the Visegrad Scholarship at OSA , a shorter grant tied to the Open Society Archives in Budapest. It pays 3,000 EUR to cover an eight-week research stay, including travel, accommodation and subsistence, aimed at researchers who need archive access rather than a full teaching semester.

Why it works well for European students

The scholarship's strength is flexibility inside a region where tuition and living costs already run lower than in Western Europe. Combining the grant with lower baseline costs in cities like Brno, Krakow or Debrecen means the 3,500 EUR per semester stretches further than the same figure would in Paris or Amsterdam. Pair it with your home university's exchange agreements if one exists, since some institutions also fast-track credit recognition for Visegrad-funded semesters.