Scholarships to Study in Austria for African Students 2027

Best scholarships to study in Austria

Austria runs one national scheme for foreign students: the OeAD Ernst Mach Grant, administered by OeAD-GmbH for the Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research. It pays €1,300 per month, the host university waives tuition, and travel is refunded against original invoices for citizens of DAC-list countries. Ernst Mach funds a research stay, not a degree, and the stay lasts 1 to 9 months (Ernst Mach worldwide); 4 to 10 months at a university of applied sciences; the grant must be consumed by the end of 2028. You need an Austrian lecturer’s written consent to supervise you before you apply. The worldwide call closes 1 December 2026 for the 2027/28 year, and OeAD funded 1024 incoming holders in 2025. Our OeAD scholarship guide sets out the strands.

The route that funds a whole qualification is Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters, paid by the European Commission. Tuition is covered in full and the stipend is €1,400 per month for the entire programme. Each course runs 12, 18 or 24 months (60, 90 or 120 ECTS); the scholarship runs for the full programme duration. You apply to a consortium of universities in several countries, not to Austria; see Erasmus Mundus scholarships.

Universities add their own awards, and these are smaller. TU Graz runs the High Potentials Scholarship for bachelor’s and master’s entrants. TU Wien runs the Helmut Veith Stipendium, which includes a tuition-fee waiver. The University of Klagenfurt refunds university fees for outstanding third-country students and adds a degree-completion award. WU Vienna’s Mondi International Scholarship reserves most of its places for women. MODUL University Vienna cuts tuition by a set percentage for strong grades or test scores. Each amount and deadline sits on our Austrian university pages.

The honest point: what tuition really costs without a scholarship

Austria is cheap by design, which is part of why full scholarships are scarce. A public bachelor’s costs €726.72 per semester for third-country nationals, and a master’s costs the same, €726.72 per semester: the fee does not change with degree level. Add the compulsory student union fee of €26.20 per semester. Citizens of Uganda and Zambia sit on Austria’s least-developed-country exemption list and pay only the union fee; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco pay the full rate. Living costs, not tuition, are the real bill: €1,250–1,500 per month nationally, plus health insurance at €78.84 per month. Private universities are a separate market, at €18,000–24,068 per year for a bachelor’s.

Who is eligible from our countries

Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters is open to all nine of our origin countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Morocco. The scheme sets no nationality bar, and African applicants are a targeted region, with extra scholarships funded from the EU’s external instrument and a reserved share for Sub-Saharan Africa and for Egypt and Morocco. A per-consortium cap limits how many awards go to one nationality, so a file from Zambia is not competing only against other Zambians.

The OeAD picture is split. Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are eligible across the scheme. Ghana, South Africa and Morocco are marked restricted: parts of the scheme are closed to those passports, so read the current call before you spend weeks on an application. The Ernst Mach worldwide call itself takes citizens of every country except Austria, while the university of applied sciences variant runs on a closed country list that names all nine origins. Age is the harder filter: the limit is 35.

Two origins get something that is not a scholarship but works like one. Uganda and Zambia pay no tuition at public universities at all, only €26.20 per semester. For the other seven, the arithmetic is on our page about what studying in Austria costs.

Fully funded vs partial — know what you are applying for

“Fully funded” has a narrow meaning here. Erasmus Mundus is the only route that meets it: tuition covered in full, a stipend of €1,400 per month for the whole programme, and consortia barred from charging holders an application fee or any mandatory participation cost.

Ernst Mach is a stipend, not a package. The university waives tuition, but insurance is not covered and housing is not paid; OeAD residences can be booked, with limited places and no guarantee. Gainful employment is barred apart from marginal academic work, so the stipend has to cover the month.

University awards are almost all partial: a percentage off tuition, a fixed annual sum, or a refund of the semester fee. A partial award at a private university still leaves a bill far above a public place, at €14,000–22,000 per year against €726.72 per semester.

Eligibility — grades, age, degree level, language

Neither national scheme publishes a minimum grade average. What they check is the stage you have reached. Erasmus Mundus asks for A first higher education degree or a recognised equivalent; final-year bachelor students may apply where the consortium allows it. Ernst Mach is narrower: the worldwide call is written for doctoral candidates, recent graduates and serving researchers rather than school leavers, and the age limit is 35. The applied sciences variant reaches further down, to master’s students and bachelor’s students with several semesters behind them.

Language works differently in each. OeAD asks for very good English or German and requires no test certificate, because the Austrian supervisor confirms the project can run in English. Erasmus Mundus consortia each set their own accepted certificate and minimum score. Your university admission is a separate gate: the usual Austrian floor is IELTS 6 for a bachelor’s and 6.5 for a master’s, set institution by institution. See studying in Austria without IELTS for the exemptions.

Neither scheme makes you hold an admission letter first, and Ernst Mach runs no interview. Documents decide it: certified transcripts, the degree certificate, a passport scan, a CV, a motivation letter, and for Ernst Mach two recent recommendation letters on letterhead, dated, signed and stamped.

How to apply

1. September 2026 — choose the route. Erasmus Mundus if you want a full master’s paid for; Ernst Mach if you want a funded research stay attached to a doctorate or a recent degree. Both are allowed.
2. September to November 2026 — secure an Austrian supervisor for Ernst Mach. You need a lecturer’s written consent at the host institution, and OeAD will not find one.
3. October 2026 — search the EACEA Erasmus Mundus catalogue by field, country and duration, then confirm on each programme’s own site that it still offers EU scholarships for 2027.
4. November 2026 — prepare and legalise documents. An apostille is enough only for South Africa and Morocco; the other seven origins need full consular legalisation, which adds weeks.
5. Submit the Ernst Mach application at scholarships.at before 1 December 2026, 23:59. Describe the research activities in full and declare any use of generative AI.
6. October 2026 to January 2027 — submit Erasmus Mundus applications to each consortium, marking the scholarship request, and sit any interview or test the consortium runs.
7. Spring and summer 2027 — apply for university admission separately. Set by each university; non-EU/third-country deadlines run well ahead of EU ones. Example: University of Vienna WS non-EU window 22 Jun–3 Aug (for the following October intake). General statutory EU deadline: 5 Sept (WS) / 5 Feb (SS).
8. July 2027 onwards — accept the award and file for the residence permit, which takes 13 to 26 weeks and costs €218. Our Austria student visa guide lists the file.