Stipendium Hungaricum for African Students (2027 Entry)

What is the Stipendium Hungaricum?

The Stipendium Hungaricum is the Hungarian state’s scholarship programme, run by the Tempus Public Foundation on behalf of the government. It funds study at bachelor, master, phd, short-course, language-course level, and the destination is always Hungary. The subject range is set by the host universities rather than by the funder: All fields offered by the Hungarian host institutions; about 900 full-degree programmes in the 2026/27 call. Art and music applicants submit a portfolio.

The scheme runs on bilateral education agreements, not on an open global competition. Hungary signs an agreement with your country, your country appoints a sending partner — usually the education ministry or a national scholarships body — and that partner nominates the candidates it will back. The number of places is not published: each country’s quota is fixed inside its own agreement. Our study in Hungary guide covers the universities, living costs and the student visa this scholarship leads to.

What does it cover?

Tuition is covered in full for the whole programme — not a first-year waiver, not a discount. The monthly payment is HUF 43,700–180,000 per month: the low end for non-degree, bachelor and master students, the high end for doctoral candidates after the complex examination, paid twelve months a year.

Housing is HUF 40,000 per month — Free dormitory place subject to institutional capacity; otherwise a contribution of HUF 40,000 a month for the whole scholarship period. Medical insurance is included: yes. There is also Two semesters of Hungarian language study free of charge for bachelor and master scholarship holders.

The stipend is a contribution to living costs rather than a salary, and no flight allowance appears in the published benefits — budget your own airfare. Funding runs for the length of the course: Bachelor 2-4 years; master 1-2 years; one-tier master 5-6 years; doctoral 8 semesters (4+4); preparatory course 1 year; partial studies 1-2 semesters. The amounts for the 2027/28 round are not yet published.

Who can apply from our countries?

Six of the nine countries we serve are sending partners: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco. Uganda is restricted: it is listed among the African sending partners, but not every level and field is open under its agreement, so confirm your programme against the national quota first. Zambia and Zimbabwe are not sending partners, and there is no route in through this scheme.

If your country has no agreement, the portal will still accept your application and the nomination stage will end it. The rule is national before it is personal: Citizens of countries and territories holding a valid bilateral educational cooperation agreement with Hungary, nominated by their national sending partner; over 100 sending partners on five continents. Hungarian citizens, including dual nationals, and holders of Hungarian refugee or long-term resident status are excluded.

Your prior qualification has to match the level: Secondary school leaving certificate for bachelor and one-tier master; bachelor degree for master; master degree for doctoral. Language is set programme by programme: Set by the host institution for each programme; English-taught programmes require proof of English, Hungarian-taught programmes require Hungarian at B2 or the one-year preparatory course. No age limit and no work-experience rule are published.

One condition catches holders of other awards: No other scholarship from the Hungarian central budget for studies in Hungary; a scholarship for studies outside Hungary lasting more than 30 days terminates the agreement.

Students in Zambia and Zimbabwe should look at Chevening scholarships and Commonwealth scholarships instead.

Deadline and timeline for 2027/28

The 2027/28 call is not out yet; 2026/27 is the last one published. The pattern, though, is stable. The last round opened 17 November 2025 and closed 15 January 2026, so plan for a call published in mid-November 2026 and closing in mid-January 2027, and treat those as expected dates until Tempus posts the real ones.

Two clocks run at once, and the earlier one belongs to your own country. The online system closes at a set hour in Central European Time on the deadline day, not at midnight where you live, while your sending partner sets its own national deadline weeks before that.

Host institutions run entrance examinations and interviews in the spring. Tempus publishes no fixed results day; in the recurring pattern the decisions come at the end of June. Accept in the online system within a week of the notification, then start in September.

How to apply for the Stipendium Hungaricum

1. Choose up to two study programmes from the eligible study programmes annex attached to the call. Check entry requirements and language of instruction on each: the two choices are ranked and cannot be swapped later.
2. Read your national sending partner’s own procedure. It runs a parallel process with an earlier national deadline, and its rules on fields, levels and documents sit on top of the Hungarian ones.
3. Register in the online application system at https://apply.stipendiumhungaricum.hu/ and use an email address you check daily; every later instruction arrives there.
4. Complete the profile, education, language and motivation sections for each choice. The motivation letter runs to a minimum of one page and you write a separate one for each programme.
5. Upload the documents: the online application form with a recent photograph, proof of language proficiency, your secondary school certificate or degree certificate, a transcript of records with certified translation, a copy of the passport data page or national ID card, the signed statement for application, the medical certificate on the official template, and a portfolio if you are applying for art or music.
6. Submit before the deadline, 15 January 2026 in the last published round. Late uploads are not accepted, and the system does not reopen.
7. Submit the parallel application to your national sending partner authority, with whatever it asks for, by its own date.
8. Sit the host institution’s entrance examination or interview in the spring. The scheme confirms an interview stage.
9. Wait for the nomination from your sending partner and then the award decision, and accept in the online system within a week of being notified.

The commonest reason a strong applicant fails is not grades — it is treating this as one application when the route is mixed: the Hungarian portal and the national sending partner, both on time.

Which universities and programmes

Twelve Hungarian universities in our dataset host Stipendium Hungaricum students. Health sciences run through Semmelweis University, the University of Pécs and the University of Szeged, though the Medicine quota at Pécs and a dentistry listing at Szeged are not confirmed as scholarship places.

Engineering and IT sit at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Óbuda University, the University of Miskolc and Széchenyi István University. Corvinus University of Budapest takes business and economics, the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences takes agriculture and food science, and Eötvös Loránd University, the University of Debrecen and the University of Pannonia offer broad faculties.

You apply centrally through Tempus, never to the university’s own admissions office, and a university cannot award you this scholarship directly. Compare the institutions first in our Hungarian universities guide.

Odds, and what to do if you miss it

Nobody can quote you a success rate. The number of places is not published, applications reached a record level in the last cycle, and the quota that matters is your country’s, not the global total. That cuts both ways: you compete mainly with other applicants from home, but a small national quota can be filled by a handful of people.

Judge your chances on the filters you can see — country agreement, matching qualification, language proof, and a sending partner that nominates you. If this one is closed to you, the other funding for Hungary sits on our Hungary scholarships page, and Erasmus Mundus joint masters take applicants from every African country.