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MAEC-AECID Scholarships for African Public Servants (2027)

Reviewed by World Study Team Updated

The MAEC-AECID Scholarships pay €1,500–2,000 per month plus health insurance for a master's in Spain, and nothing towards tuition. AECID made 41 awards in the 2026/27 round, and that window ran from 2 July 2026 to 15 July 2026. Only permanent public-sector employees with written leave from their superior may apply.

What is the MAEC-AECID Scholarships?

The MAEC-AECID Scholarships are run by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, AECID, inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. They fund one level only: master. There is no bachelor’s or doctoral track.

Two separate programmes share the name. África-Med Máster: any official Spanish university master's taught on campus, of at most 60 ECTS. Programa Escuela Diplomática: only the Máster de Formación Permanente en Diplomacia y Relaciones Internacionales África-Med is the wider of the two and takes the larger share of the awards; Escuela Diplomática has one master’s and one campus.

AECID made 41 awards across both strands in the 2026/27 round, each decided by open competition against a fixed budget. Spain is the only destination in our dataset that carries the scheme; Spain scholarships for African students sets out the alternatives.

What decides whether this page applies to you is your job, not your grades: it is written for serving public officials, and a student without a permanent public-sector post cannot apply.

What does it cover?

Start with what it does not pay. Tuition is not covered at all. The fee stays yours, and at a private university it is the largest single item you face — what studying in Spain costs sets out the range.

What arrives is an allowance of €1,500–2,000 per month, paid across the academic year, at the higher rate on the África-Med side under the 2026/27 BOE extracts and the lower on the Escuela Diplomática side. Health insurance is included. Flights are not: neither 2026/27 call funds travel, so the award is a monthly allowance plus health insurance only.

Housing is not handled: there is no housing allowance or placement, and rent is paid from the monthly allowance. Nothing is provided for anyone travelling with you either, since no family or dependant allowance appears in either 2026/27 call. A further charge falls on the holder: Bank charges arising on transfers to accounts outside Spain are borne by the holder.

Plan on the allowance covering tuition, rent, food and your own airfare, because nothing else is coming.

Who can apply from our countries?

Nationality is the first gate. Closed country lists per programme. África-Med Máster names 33 African and Middle Eastern states; the Escuela Diplomática list is wider and adds Latin America, the Philippines and Ukraine. Applicants must not hold dual nationality with Spain or any EU member state, must not hold a Spanish residence permit and must not reside or have resided in an EU country, unless they hold refugee status granted by Spain.

Three answers follow for our nine origins. Egypt is eligible outright. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco are restricted: all six sit on the 2026/27 África-Med list, but the residence and dual-nationality bars remove many strong candidates. Uganda and Zambia are not on the África-Med list at all, so for those two passports the Escuela Diplomática strand is the only route.

Employment is the second gate, and the one most applicants fail. Permanent, non-temporary employment in or dependence on a public body in the applicant's own country, evidenced by the contract or appointment, plus written authorisation from the competent hierarchical superior.

Your degree matters less than you expect. The qualification required for admission to the chosen master's; it is not evidenced at scholarship-application stage. Applicants must also be permanent, non-temporary civil servants or public-sector employees, public school and university staff included.

Language closes it. Documented knowledge of Spanish, waived only for nationals of Spanish-speaking countries — Equatorial Guinea among the African list. Where the master's is taught in another language, proof of that language is required as well. No CEFR level or named test is published

Deadline and timeline for 2027/28

Nothing is fixed yet for the intake you are planning: 2026/27 is the last published round, and AECID recurs annually without the 2027/28 dates being out. Work to the pattern. AECID publishes an extract of the call in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, the window opens the day after that extract appears, and it closes inside a fortnight.

The 2026/27 África-Med round is the reference: it opened 2 July 2026, closed 15 July 2026 and the definitive list appeared on 10 September 2026. The Escuela Diplomática strand runs an earlier calendar; its 2026/27 window closed before the África-Med one opened.

Your real deadline is the university one, because admission comes first. Spanish admission rounds run from winter to early summer, so the place must be secured months before the BOE extract appears.

Money follows the academic year: África-Med Máster: 1 September 2026 to 31 July 2027, one academic year for a master's of at most 60 ECTS. Escuela Diplomática: the master runs October to June

How to apply for the MAEC-AECID Scholarships

  1. Secure admission to an official on-campus Spanish master’s that fits the rules above. Online and blended master’s do not qualify, and on the Escuela Diplomática strand only the named diplomacy master’s does.
  2. Obtain written authorisation for study leave from the competent hierarchical superior in your ministry, agency, school or public university. Ask early: it is a signature releasing you for a full academic year, and no substitute is accepted.
  3. Register in the Carpeta del Ciudadano of the AECID electronic office and set up the electronic identification you need to sign, at the official AECID scholarships page. Do it before the call opens.
  4. Watch for the BOE extract. The window opens the following day and runs for a short fixed number of working days. There is no reminder service, and no extension.
  5. Complete the online form in Spanish. One application per person, per call. Attach your passport copy, a curriculum vitae of at most one page, proof of your permanent non-temporary contract, your superior’s written authorisation, proof of admission to the master’s, the document evidencing knowledge of Spanish, and proof of the language of instruction where the master’s is taught in another language.
  6. Submit and sign electronically, then keep the registration receipt issued by the electronic office. It is your only evidence that the file arrived in time.
  7. Check the provisional lists of admitted and excluded applicants and use the subsanación period to fix anything missing. Most exclusions here are document faults.
  8. Accept the provisional award inside the published period, then move to the visa. Selection is on the file alone, with no interview. Plan the visa and the resources test then — Spain student visa requirements and proof of funds.

Which universities and programmes

On the África-Med strand the choice is yours: any accredited Spanish university offering an official on-campus master’s within the ECTS limit, verifiable in the RUCT register kept by the Ministry of Universities. Check that entry before you pay a deposit, because a programme that is not an official título oficial cannot carry the award.

Two universities in our dataset publish the scheme directly. The University of Barcelona lists the África-Med Máster award for its own official master’s, naming Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Zimbabwe among eligible nationalities and stating plainly that tuition is not covered. The University of Granada lists the Latin America, Africa and Asia strand. Spanish universities for African students covers the wider list.

The Escuela Diplomática strand has one address, the Escuela Diplomática de España in Madrid, and one master’s, in diplomacy and international relations.

Odds, and what to do if you miss it

41 awards, split across two strands and a country list running to dozens of states, is a narrow gate. The competition is a formal concurrencia competitiva against a fixed budget, so a good file loses to a better one rather than to a quota. The employment rule thins the field more than the ranking does: most files that reach evaluation already carry the permanent post and the signed authorisation.

If you do not qualify, change scheme rather than country. Erasmus Mundus joint master’s funds study in Spain with no employment condition, and Spain scholarships for African students lists the university-level waivers. Our scholarships index compares schemes by level and passport.

  • The allowance is paid monthly across the funded year, €1,500–2,000 per month, with health insurance included on both strands.
  • Your academic record carries less weight than usual, because the degree itself is not evidenced at scholarship-application stage — the university has already tested it at admission.
  • No interview and no test to sit, and no return or service obligation appears in the FAQ or the BOE extracts
  • On the África-Med strand you pick the university yourself, anywhere in Spain, provided the master’s is official, on campus and inside the ECTS limit.
  • Seven of our nine origins appear on one list or the other, and the provisional-list stage gives you a subsanación period to repair a missing document.
  • Tuition is not covered, so the fee comes out of the same allowance that pays your rent.
  • The employment bar excludes most readers outright: private-sector staff, the self-employed, recent graduates and anyone on a temporary public contract cannot apply.
  • Uganda and Zambia are off the África-Med list, and Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco are restricted by the residence and dual-nationality bars rather than merely competitive.
  • No flights, no housing and no family allowance, and one more cost sits with you: Bank charges arising on transfers to accounts outside Spain are borne by the holder
  • The application runs in Spanish, on a Spanish electronic-signature system, inside a window of days announced only by a BOE notice.
World Study

Our core guidance is free, paid for by university commission when you enrol: checking whether your passport sits on the África-Med list or only the Escuela Diplomática one, confirming that your post counts as permanent public employment, and getting admission in place before the BOE extract appears. We vet every document — your superior's authorisation, the one-page CV, the Spanish-language evidence — before submission, because the subsanación period is short. Premium Placement is an optional paid service for full file preparation.

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How to apply for the MAEC-AECID Scholarships

  1. Secure admission to an official Spanish master's

    Win a place on an official on-campus master's at a Spanish university within the programme's ECTS limit, or on the named diplomacy master's at the Escuela Diplomatica. Online study does not qualify.

  2. Obtain written authorisation for study leave

    Ask the competent hierarchical superior in your public body for written authorisation to take the academic year as study leave. Evidence of the permanent contract or appointment is required too.

  3. Register in the AECID electronic office

    Create an account in the Carpeta del Ciudadano of the AECID electronic office and set up the electronic identification needed to sign the application. Complete this before the call opens.

  4. Watch for the BOE extract

    AECID publishes an extract of the call in the Boletin Oficial del Estado. The application window opens the following day and runs for a short fixed number of working days, with no extension.

  5. Complete the online form in Spanish

    One application per person. Attach the passport copy, a one-page CV, proof of the permanent public contract, your superior's authorisation, proof of admission, and the language evidence.

  6. Sign electronically and keep the receipt

    Submit and sign the application electronically, then save the registration receipt issued by the electronic office. It is the only proof that your file arrived inside the window.

  7. Check the provisional lists and correct faults

    Review the provisional lists of admitted and excluded applicants and use the subsanacion period to supply anything missing. Most exclusions here are document faults, not weak files.

  8. Accept the award and apply for the visa

    There is no interview. Accept the provisional award inside the published period, then apply for the Spanish student visa and prepare the proof-of-funds evidence for the academic year.

Frequently asked questions

They are Spanish government master's scholarships run by AECID, worth €1,500–2,000 per month a month plus health insurance, with no tuition cover. They are not general student scholarships. Every applicant must be a permanent, non-temporary civil servant or public-sector employee in their own country and must bring written authorisation for study leave from their hierarchical superior.

The monthly allowance is €1,500–2,000 per month, with the higher rate on the África-Med Máster strand and the lower on the Escuela Diplomática strand under the 2026/27 BOE extracts. Health insurance is added. Nothing is paid for tuition, flights, housing or dependants, and bank charges on transfers outside Spain fall on you.

Of our nine origins, Egypt is eligible outright. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco sit on the 2026/27 África-Med Máster list but are restricted by the bars on dual EU nationality, Spanish residence permits and past residence in the EU. Uganda and Zambia appear only on the wider Escuela Diplomática list.

No. The scheme funds master's study only. On the África-Med strand that means any official Spanish university master's taught on campus of at most 60 ECTS; on the Escuela Diplomática strand it means one named master's in diplomacy and international relations. Bachelor's and doctoral applicants should look at other Spanish and European schemes instead.

Not published yet. The 2026/27 África-Med call opened on 2 July 2026, closed on 15 July 2026 and published the definitive award list on 10 September 2026. Each window opens the day after its BOE extract and lasts a short fixed number of working days, so watch the Boletín Oficial del Estado rather than waiting for an email.

You need documented knowledge of Spanish, waived only for nationals of Spanish-speaking countries. AECID publishes no CEFR level and names no test, so submit the strongest evidence you hold. If your master's is taught in another language, English included, you must also prove that language to the standard the university requires.

No. Admission comes first, and proof of admission to the master's for the year applied for is one of the required documents. Secure the place through the university's own admission round, which usually runs from winter to early summer, then apply to AECID when the call opens in the following weeks.

Not on this scheme. The permanent public-employment rule and the authorisation from your superior are both mandatory documents, and there is no waiver. Look instead at Erasmus Mundus joint master's, which funds study in Spain with no employment condition, or at the tuition waivers Spanish universities award on academic record alone.

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