Banach Scholarship (NAWA): Funded Master's in Poland for African Students

Below: exactly what the Banach Scholarship covers, which African countries are eligible (and which are not), the requirements, the deadline cycle, and how the NAWA application works — explained honestly.

What is the Banach Scholarship?

The Banach Scholarship Programme (named after the Polish mathematician Stefan Banach) is run by NAWA — the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange — together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of Polish development aid (Polish Aid). Its stated goal is to support the socio-economic development of developing countries by helping their citizens gain higher qualifications.

A few things define this scholarship:

• It funds master’s degrees only — full-time, second-cycle studies. It is not for bachelor’s or PhD study.
• You can study in Polish or English. English-taught master’s programmes are widely available in Poland, so you do not need Polish to apply for an English-taught course.
• It is free to apply — there is no application fee.
• It is open to citizens of 36 Polish Aid countries across Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America — but the African list is short, which is the part most agency blogs get wrong.

Poland is an EU and Schengen member, so a Polish degree is recognised across Europe. If you are weighing Poland as a destination overall, see our study in Poland guide for tuition, universities, the visa and living costs.

Do not confuse Banach with “Poland My First Choice.” That is a separate NAWA scholarship, and it excludes African countries entirely. For African applicants the realistic NAWA routes are the Banach Scholarship and the related Ignacy Łukasiewicz Scholarship (a sister programme focused on STEM, agriculture and natural sciences).

What does the Banach Scholarship cover?

The NAWA Banach Scholarship is a genuinely fully funded package for master’s study. It covers:

Benefit	What you get
Tuition	Full exemption from tuition fees at public universities supervised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education
Monthly stipend	PLN 2,500/month for the duration of your master’s
Preparatory course	A NAWA-funded preparatory (Polish-language) year for students on the Polish-language track
Language & culture course	A Polish language and culture course for students on the English-language track
Travel allowance	A one-off PLN 2,500 travel allowance

Be realistic about the budget. PLN 2,500/month (about €580 at current rates) is a solid stipend against Poland’s modest living costs — NAWA puts a student’s average monthly spend at roughly PLN 1,500–2,000 with a dormitory room. So the stipend can cover your day-to-day living if you keep costs down, especially outside Warsaw. Poland also lets full-time students work without a work permit, which adds a cushion. The scholarship removes tuition and gives you real money to live on — but plan your budget carefully and confirm the current stipend before you rely on it.

What to confirm in the call announcement: whether the travel allowance, preparatory year and exact stipend are the same in the cycle you apply for. NAWA sets the precise terms in each annual call — re-read the official Banach page and the call PDF before you start.

Which African countries are eligible?

This is the most important part of the page, and where honesty matters most. The Banach Scholarship is not open to all of Africa. It is limited to a defined list of Polish Aid partner countries.

Eligible (among the countries we focus on):

• 🇳🇬 Nigeria — eligible
• 🇰🇪 Kenya — eligible

The wider Banach African list in the 2026 call also included Angola, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia. (Re-confirm against the current call announcement, as the list is set each cycle.)

Not eligible (among our focus countries):

• 🇬🇭 Ghana — not eligible
• 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe — not eligible
• 🇿🇲 Zambia — not eligible
• 🇿🇦 South Africa — not eligible (for Banach)
• 🇪🇬 Egypt — not eligible

If you are in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa or Egypt, do not apply for the Banach Scholarship — your country is not on the Polish Aid list, so you will be screened out. Look instead at other fully funded scholarships for which you do qualify, or talk to us about the right fit.

One nuance worth knowing: the sister NAWA Ignacy Łukasiewicz Scholarship (master’s in STEM, agriculture and natural sciences) runs on its own, slightly different country list — for some African countries that are off the Banach list, Łukasiewicz can be the open NAWA route. If Banach is closed to your country and your field is STEM, check the current Łukasiewicz country list before ruling Poland out.

The eligible-country list is set per annual call and can change. Always confirm your country in the current official Banach call announcement before you start. Our advisors check this for you as part of the scholarship application service.

Eligibility and requirements

To be a competitive Banach Scholarship applicant you generally need:

1. Citizenship of an eligible Polish Aid country (see the list above) — this is the first filter, and a hard one.
2. A completed bachelor’s degree (or a qualification that gives you access to second-cycle/master’s study), because Banach funds master’s-level study only.
3. Good academic results. Selection is competitive and candidates are ranked, so strong grades and a clean transcript matter.
4. Admission to an eligible master’s programme at a participating public university — your scholarship is tied to a place on a qualifying course.
5. Language proof for your track — English proof (commonly IELTS 5.5+ or equivalent) for an English-taught master’s; the Polish-language track includes a NAWA-funded preparatory year for those studying in Polish. Check the exact level each programme requires.
6. Certified translations of your certificates and transcripts, and any document recognition Poland requires.

Note: APS does not apply to Poland. APS is a German requirement only. Poland recognises foreign qualifications through NAWA’s recognition system (ENIC-NARIC / SYRENA) and certified translations — there is no APS step for any African applicant. Read more in our study in Poland guide.

A practical heads-up: Poland tightened student-visa scrutiny in 2024–2026, and Nigeria was named among the more closely checked nationalities. A scholarship award helps your visa case a lot — it answers the funding question directly — but document quality still matters. We cover this in the Poland guide.

Deadline and timeline

The Banach Scholarship runs on an annual call, and it funds October-start master’s programmes.

• Application window: the call typically opens in late winter / early spring.
• Most recent deadline: the 2026 Banach call closed on 8 May 2026 (15:00 CEST, or earlier if a country group’s application limit was reached). If you are reading this after that date, that cycle is closed.
• Next cycle: plan around the 2027/28 intake — the next call should open in early 2027 for an October 2027 start. Re-confirm the date when NAWA publishes the new call.

Because Banach has one deadline a year and is tied to an October start, you cannot apply “any time.” If the current call has closed, use the months in between to finish your bachelor’s documents, sit your English test, get certified translations done and shortlist eligible master’s programmes. Always re-confirm the date on the official NAWA Banach page — deadlines shift each cycle.

How to apply: the NAWA process

You apply for the Banach Scholarship through NAWA’s own online system — not through a university portal and not through a national sending agency (Poland does not use the sending-agency model that Hungary’s Stipendium Hungaricum does). The core steps:

1. Confirm your country is eligible in the current Banach call announcement, and check the fields and universities the call covers.
2. Choose an eligible master’s programme at a participating public university, taught in English or Polish, and check its entry requirements and admission timeline.
3. Apply in the NAWA system (the NAWA programmes portal at programs.nawa.gov.pl). Upload your bachelor’s diploma, transcript, certified translations, language proof, passport copy and the documents the call lists.
4. Sort out qualification recognition if required — Poland recognises foreign degrees through NAWA (ENIC-NARIC); for master’s entry, a diploma that gives access to the next level in your home country generally gives the same right in Poland.
5. Wait for NAWA’s decision, then complete admission and visa steps. If you are awarded, you secure your university place, then apply for the Polish national (type D) student visa to begin in October.

The single biggest filter is eligibility — apply only if your country is on the Banach list and you are applying for a master’s. After that, a clean, complete NAWA application with proper translations is what separates strong candidates. Our team helps eligible students manage the whole process in our scholarship application service.

Programmes and universities

Banach funds full-time master’s (second-cycle) study at Polish public universities supervised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in Polish or English. Poland offers a deep pool of English-taught master’s degrees, with the strongest English provision in:

• Engineering and technology
• IT and computer science
• Business, management and economics
• Natural sciences and biotechnology

Well-regarded host universities include the University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University (Kraków), Warsaw University of Technology, AGH University of Kraków and Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań), among others. Because Banach is tied to your admission, check that your chosen master’s is at a participating public university and confirm its entry requirements.

Note on the related Łukasiewicz Scholarship: if your field is STEM, agriculture or natural sciences, the Ignacy Łukasiewicz programme is the more targeted NAWA route — and it covers a slightly different (and for some countries broader) list of nations. Banach is the more general master’s programme. Confirm the field scope and country list in each programme’s current call.

For a fuller picture of Poland’s universities, tuition and student life, see our study in Poland guide.

Tips for a strong application

It is competitive, and the eligible-country list is narrow — here is how to give yourself the best honest chance:

• Check eligibility first, before anything else. If your country is not on the Banach list, you cannot win it — do not waste the cycle. (Eligible among our focus markets: Nigeria and Kenya.)
• Match the master’s to your bachelor’s. Banach funds second-cycle study, so a clear academic progression from your degree strengthens your case.
• Get certified translations and recognition done early. Untranslated or unrecognised documents are a common reason applications stall.
• Sit your English test in good time. An IELTS/TOEFL result removes any doubt about your English-taught admission, especially as Poland narrowed some medium-of-instruction waivers in 2025.
• Write a specific motivation. Say why this programme and this university, and how it connects to development in your home country — Banach is a development-aid scholarship.
• Don’t pay anyone for a “guaranteed” award. No one can guarantee a Banach Scholarship. Anyone who promises one is a red flag.

How we help

World Study helps eligible African students apply for the Banach Scholarship — first confirming whether your country is even on the Polish Aid list, then choosing the right master’s programme, preparing clean documents and certified translations, handling NAWA recognition, and managing the NAWA application and your follow-on Polish student visa. We are honest about your odds: it is competitive, and we will tell you straight whether you are a realistic candidate.

If you are in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa or Egypt — where Banach is closed to you — we will point you to scholarships you can actually win, including the right NAWA programme where one fits.

Talk to an advisor on WhatsApp or take the free 2-minute eligibility check → to see whether the Banach Scholarship — or another fully funded scholarship — fits you.