With its famous and influential history, Greece has significantly impacted education in Europe and globally. This southeastern European country is the home of Greek mythology and the birthplace of democracy used and taught in various countries. Greece has educational institutions that deliver world-class opportunities for every learner.
Today, Greece offers various programs for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. Universities in this country are usually affordable, and they do have English – taught programs for foreign students. Aside from being affordable, Greek universities are world-renowned as they provide quality education and research.
If you’re going to choose Greece as your next destination for your studies, you’ll meet their unique lifestyle and culture. You’ll also experience its breathtaking beaches and great weather as you continue your degree. Additionally, Greek universities have scholarships to offer for international students. So, let’s take a look at these top scholarships in Greece for international students.
Best Scholarships in Greece
1. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Undergraduate Merit Scholarships
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount:10,000 €
- Eligible Degree: Undergraduate programs
The National and Kapodistrian, shortly known as the University of Athens, is considered the first and oldest university in Greece. It is also one of the top public universities in the country. As they provide education to their local and foreign students, they give scholarships to incoming undergraduate international students taking up the “BA program in the Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece.”
This merit scholarship in Greece for international students aims to award incoming foreign students who are academically excellent and highly committed to taking the BA program in Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece. To start your scholarship application, kindly prepare your passport and previous academic transcripts and certificates from your home country, land letters of recommendation, along with the application form. Also, please be reminded that you should apply for the program.
Since there is a limited number of recipients and a highly competitive scholarship, please be reminded that they will select the scholarship awardee based on the letters of recommendation, academic profile, knowledge of the foreign language, and more. The duration of this merit scholarship is up to four years.
2. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Scholarships
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: A monthly stipend of €345 for the undergraduate and €450 for the postgraduate students.
- Eligible Degree: Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is a tertiary educational institution, and it is the largest university in Greece. Their programs are also open for international students aiming to study in this country. They have various Greece scholarships for these incoming, current undergraduate, and postgraduate international students.
Every year, the university opens the scholarship application to these students. Usually, they have a limited number of recipients per degree, and it is open to any program as long as they meet the requirements mandated by the Aristotle University Senate. Documents that should be presented with the application form may vary depending on your degree. Incoming undergraduate students will need to submit recommendation letters, GPA in high school, proof of financial needs, and other documents.
On the other hand, postgraduate students should present proof of proficiency in the Greek language, recommendation letters, curriculum vitae, declaration form stating the student’s financial needs. Other documents can be found on the scholarship link, and please be advised that applicants should follow the time timeline given by the university. Lastly, qualified candidates will be interviewed by the Program Studies Committee.
3. Onassis Foundation – Annual Scholarship Program
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: A monthly stipend of € 300 – 600 and an additional allowance of € 5,000 for tuition and relocation fee (The exact amount varies depending on the region or country)
- Eligible Degree: Postgraduate studies
Since 1978, the Onassis Foundation provides merit-based scholarships to Greek and other nationalities to continue their postgraduate studies. Also, the foundation has a set of approved programs, and with that, they remind the applicants to check first if their chosen field of study is under the scholarship program.
All applications will be made online for this scholarship in Greece. The supporting documents will be attached and submitted as a PDF file along with the application form. Prepare your previous academic transcripts, proof of Language proficiency, recommendation letters, research, and others (The whole list of supporting documents needed is in the scholarship link). After attaching these scanned documents, the foundation will assess the entire application.
The foundation will review the applicant’s academic background, language proficiency, and other educational standings for the evaluation and assessment. Awardees will be notified through the foundation’s website.
4. Fulbright Foundation Scholarships
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Partial tuition fee coverage, a monthly stipend of 1,300 USD, and other benefits.
- Eligible Degree: Undergraduate, graduate studies, and Ph.D. degrees.
The Fulbright Foundation – Greece offers scholarships to U.S. citizens aiming to study in Greece. They are looking forward to incoming international students taking up programs in the undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. degrees. The Fulbright Foundation accepts programs in all fields, but they encourage students taking Modern Greek studies, social sciences, education policy, government or public administration, arts and culture, environmental sciences, and business-related programs to apply for the scholarship.
To apply for this scholarship in Greece, you may visit the U.S. Fulbright Program to view the scholarship application process.
5. International Propeller Club Piraeus Scholarship
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Full tuition fee coverage
- Eligible Degree: Master’s degree
The Alba Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece, and the International Propeller Club Piraeus offer one full scholarship to a student of MSc in Shipping Management program. This is a competitive merit scholarship as it aims to recognize excellent students in the said program.
You will be answering a scholarship form given by the Alba Graduate Business School. For submission, you can personally send it to the school or submit it electronically. All candidates will be interviewed as a part of the scholarship selection. Additionally, the committee will use personality, commitment, and other factors as a basis for the scholarship selection.
Since this is a competitive scholarship in Greece, the Alba Graduate Business School advises the applicants to submit their application forms early to have a higher chance of scholarship.
6. Technological Educational Institute of Epirus Grants, Loans, and Scholarship
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Partial tuition fee coverage
- Eligible Degree: Undergraduate degrees
The Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Epirus is a university founded in 1994 in Arta, Greece. In its early years, TEI only had fields of study focused on agriculture and health. Since then, it has expanded its horizon in academe with degree offers including Management and Economics, Applied Technology, and Arts.
While the university is relatively limited and specialized, the supposed costly entry fee is counterbalanced by various forms of financial support offered by the university. Local and international undergraduate students may apply for reciprocal grants, loans, or scholarships which the Board of the Department of their field of study will review. Reciprocal Grants entail the student providing part-time service to the university in exchange for financial support. The loans and scholarships have specific requirements that students have to meet.
Additionally, the application and review of all these financial assistance are subject to rules and regulations covering Greek national education. The loans given may or may also not have interest depending on the verdict of the department’s board and must be paid within 15 years from the student’s graduation. Failure to comply with this is against the law and the financial aid recipient may be put in jail.
7. Alba Graduate Business School Scholarships and Financial Assistance
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Partial tuition fee coverage up to 30%
- Eligible Degree: Master’s Degree
Alba Graduate Business School, or ALBA, is a university with top-notch facilities, programs, and services that intends to propel Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Sciences (MSc) students in their career path after their studies. Additionally, both MBA and MSc programs are offered to both local and international students with some available to be taken online.
The cost of tuition and living expense is expensive in ALBA just like most business schools in the world. Fortunately, ALBA offers different financial assistance through flexible payments, loans, or scholarships. On the one hand, local students may get up to 50% tuition fee coverage from scholarships. On the other hand, international students may only get their tuition fee coverage from scholarships up to 30% if the university finds all requirements eligible and acceptable.
Finally, many scholarships in ALBA are offered in specific programs and have specific requirements. Therefore, international students should check with great attention if he or she is eligible for this Greece scholarship. Other financial assistance offered applies to all programs and all students granted that all requirements are met.
8. Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) programs
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: minimum of US$5,000 in international expense coverage, minimum of US$10,000 in project funding, maximum of US$100,000 for long-term projects, minimum of US$5,000 for networking gatherings
- Eligible Degree: Social Sciences and Humanities Degrees (students must also be SYLFF fellows)
The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) program was founded in 1987 by the Nippon Foundation. Part of the name which is Ryoichi Sasakawa comes from the chairman of the said foundation. Additionally, the goal of the fellowship program is to nurture the growth of leadership qualities in and outside of the realm of academe.
SYLFF programs offer different kinds of support namely: Sylff Research Grant (SRG), Sylff Research Abroad (SRA), Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI), Sylff Project Grant (SPG), Sylff Leaders Workshop, and Local Association Networking Support (LANS).
Each of these support programs offers different aid to its fellows with SRG and SRA granting at least US$5,000 to help with travel or academic expenses, SLI awards US$10,000 per project, SPG provides up to US$100,000 for supported long-term projects, and LANS funding at least US$5,000 per gathering. International students will have to become a fellow and then apply for programs they deem helpful to them.
9. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Scholarship
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Full tuition fee coverage, Travel expense coverage, Student allowance coverage
- Eligible Degree: Master’s degrees
The European Union (EU) is a regional union of European countries that operates with the intent of regional development in different aspects such as economy, social welfare, and education. Part of their programs is the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Scholarship which they offer to particular countries to cover the cost of education in particular fields of study. One of the countries that have this scholarship is Greece in the study of island sustainability and marine biotechnology.
A list of joint Master’s programs covered by this Greece scholarship can be seen in their Erasmus Mundus Catalogue. Greece has two projects of joint master’s programs specifically named ISLANDS and EU-CONEXUS Joint Master Programme in Marine Biotechnology (JMPMB). ISLANDS cover the study of islands and their sustainability while JMPMB, as its name suggests, covers the study of Marine Biotechnology.
The joint programs in the Erasmus Mundus Catalogue are limited but not scarce, and not all joint programs are available in all countries. Likewise, the scholarship will cover all academic expenses related to the program, travel expenses, and student allowance.
10. SNF-ETH Excellence Program – ETH Zurich Foundation Scholarship
- Scholarship Link
- Scholarship Amount: Partial Tuition fee coverage, partial living expense coverage
- Eligible Degree: Master’s degree
The SNF-ETH Excellence Program of partnered organizations Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) and ETH Zurich Foundation offer fellowships to Ph.D. students and Post-Doctoral students from Greece. The ETH Zurich Foundation was created in 2003 to bolster research and education in ETH Zunich, while the SNF was created in 1996 with the growth of education, welfare, and culture in mind.
The program allows both organizations to extend their aid outside their region. Additionally, the goal of this program is to create excellent individuals capable of meaningful output in and out of the academic realm.
This scholarship in Greece offers partial accommodations for academic and living expenses for qualified students from all around the globe. Limitations on specific degrees or fields of study are also inexistent, as long as all requirements are met. Aside from study and living expense coverage, research funding can also be provided by the program to qualified recipients.
We hope that this article on the best scholarships in Greece for international students was helpful. Make sure to also check out the Available Programs in Europe!
