There are 60 fully funded scholarships in Ireland for international students each year. That is not a shortlist, it is the whole scheme. Every one of those 60 awards comes from a single government programme, every one is for a master’s, a postgraduate diploma or a PhD, and none of them is for an undergraduate degree.
Everything else you’ll find under the phrase “scholarships in Ireland” is a reduction in your tuition bill, usually between €2,000 and €5,000, occasionally a percentage, and almost never anything towards rent or food. A student who budgets for a scholarship and receives a discount is short by several lakh rupees at exactly the wrong moment.
All euro figures below are for 2026/27 entry. Rupee conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate of EUR 1 = INR 109.8650 on 24 July 2026.
How many fully funded scholarships in Ireland are there for Indian students?
Sixty. The Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship, run by the Higher Education Authority for the Department of Further and Higher Education, is the only Irish award that covers both your fees and a meaningful part of your living costs. The 2026 call document says it plainly, that “a total of 60 scholarships will be funded under the GOI-IES programme for the 2026/27 academic year”.
Each award is worth €10,000 (about 11.0 lakh) for one year of study, and the university you attend has to waive your tuition fee and registration charge on top of that. The stipend reaches you in two instalments of €5,000, paid first to your institution and then passed on to you, so there is no lump sum waiting when you land.
Three conditions decide whether it can apply to you at all. It’s open only at NFQ level 9 or 10, which means a taught master’s, a postgraduate diploma, a research master’s or a PhD. It runs for one year and is never extended, though a university may choose to stretch the fee waiver over a three semester course. And you must already hold an offer from an eligible Irish institution before you apply, conditional or final, either one counts.
Two numbers inside the call document change how you should read the figure 60. No single institution can receive more than five awards, and the top 12 applications are funded automatically on score alone, which the HEA describes as “the top 20% of the 60 awards to be funded”. Twenty-three institutions are eligible, from Trinity and UCD down to private colleges like Griffith and Dublin Business School. Spread 60 awards across 23 institutions with a hard cap of five each and you get an average of roughly two and a half per campus.
How do you win a Government of Ireland scholarship?
You apply after you have an offer, on the HEA’s own portal, and you get marked out of 100. Academic record and work experience carry 40 marks, the personal statement carries 45, and two references carry 15. Anything below 60 marks is not considered at all.
The personal statement is therefore worth more than your degree result, and it splits into three equal parts of 15 marks. One asks what becoming a scholar does for you, for the university, for Ireland and for India. One asks how you’ll involve yourself in Irish society beyond your coursework. One asks about your long term interest in Ireland and how you’ll keep that link as an alumnus. The call document also says that applications drafted by third parties or containing AI generated content are prohibited.
Here’s the part that most affects an Indian applicant, and it isn’t in the marking scheme at all. Before the HEA’s independent panel ever sees your file, your chosen university shortlists it against its own international strategy, and the call document lists country of origin of applicants as one of the criteria they use. Ireland’s Indian student population is large and growing, so a university that already fills its intake from India has a reason to send a Brazilian or Nigerian file forward instead of a fourth Indian one.
A few practical rules that disqualify people every year. You may submit exactly one application, and if you submit two, both are thrown out. Your references must be dated within a year of the closing date, run to 500 to 700 words, sit on official letterhead, and be uploaded by you rather than by the referee, because the portal has no referee upload. There is no age limit and no English test needed for the scholarship application itself, though your course will still ask for IELTS.
The 2026 round opened on 29 January 2026, closed at 5pm Irish time on 12 March 2026, and released results in early June 2026. As at 27 July 2026 the HEA page reads “2026 Call Closed” and no 2027 call has been published, so if you’re aiming at September 2027 you’re waiting on a call that has historically opened in January.
Where does the money for a PhD or research master’s in Ireland come from?
The largest single award an Indian student can hold in Ireland is Research Ireland’s Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, worth up to €34,000 a year (about 37.4 lakh) for up to four years. It combines a €25,000 stipend, a fee contribution capped at €5,750 and €3,250 for research expenses.
That fee cap is set at roughly the Irish and EU doctoral rate, which is well below what an Irish university charges a non-EU student. Research Ireland closes the gap only partly, allowing that where “the grant recipient is a non-EU national, they may request an additional €4,000 per annum over-and-above the standard fee contribution”. So your fee support tops out near €9,750, and if your department bills more than that for a non-EU doctorate, the balance is yours to find.
The most recent call closed on 23 October 2025, with outcomes at the end of April 2026 and awards starting on 1 September 2026. Research Ireland does not publish how many scholarships each call funds.
What do Irish universities give an Indian applicant?
They give you a discount on your tuition invoice, and in most cases you never apply for it. Irish university awards for non-EU students are usually assessed automatically when your application is scored, so you find out you’ve won one in the same email that carries your offer. Munster Technological University puts the position more honestly than anyone else in the sector, telling applicants outright that “MTU does not currently offer full scholarships”.
Convert any award into a share of the bill before you get attached to it.
What the award is really worth = award amount ÷ the non-EU fee for your course
A DCU MSc in Computing costs a non-EU student €25,000 a year, and DCU’s Faculty of Engineering and Computing award knocks €5,000 off it, so that’s 20% and you’re still paying €20,000. A €2,000 award against the same fee is 8%, which is under a month of Dublin rent.
| Institution | What you get | Level | How you get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| UCD Global Excellence | 100% or 50% of tuition | Undergraduate and taught graduate | Separate application after an offer. South Asian graduate applicants close 28 February, a month before everyone else |
| Trinity Global Excellence Postgraduate | €2,000 to €5,000, one time only | Taught postgraduate | Separate application, rolling. Business, engineering, natural sciences and computer science and statistics are exempt |
| UCC merit scholarships | 20% off a taught master’s for a first class degree, €2,000 a year at undergraduate | Both | Automatic at offer, no form. Cannot be combined with another UCC award |
| DCU faculty scholarships | €5,000 for Science and Health or Engineering and Computing postgraduates, €2,000 for Business or Humanities, €6,100 for Science and Health undergraduates | Both | Automatic, one DCU award per student |
| University of Limerick faculty awards | €2,000 a year, or €2,500 at Kemmy Business School | Both | Automatic on application |
| Maynooth International Scholarships | €2,000, €2,500 or €5,000 off tuition | Taught master’s | Scholarship form by 15 March. Cannot be deferred or combined (2025 terms, the newest published) |
| MTU scholarship | €2,500 off a €13,500 fee, or €3,000 off €15,000 for data science, cybersecurity and AI | Both | Automatic on approval, €1,000 deposit within four weeks |
| Dublin Business School | €500 at NFQ 6, 7 and 8, €1,000 at NFQ 9 | Both | Only if you pay the acceptance fee within 30 days |
| TU Dublin | No entry scholarship published for non-EU students | n/a | Fees start at €11,650, and half of that is due before your place is held |
University of Galway alone made more than 280 Global Scholarship awards last year to non-EU students, nearly five times the entire national programme from a single campus.
Two conditions show up in the fine print often enough to plan around. Almost every award says it cannot be combined with another award from the same university, so winning two doesn’t stack. And at both UCD and Maynooth, accepting the money commits you to promotional work. Maynooth’s terms require recipients “to participate in marketing activities for Maynooth University postgraduate programmes including testimonials, participation at open events, webinars and social media initiatives”, and UCD’s require a contribution to its social media, website content or ambassador platform.
Which scholarships in Ireland are only for Indian students?
Ireland has two India-only awards and both are for undergraduates. It runs country-specific postgraduate schemes for China, Brazil and Indonesia, and nothing equivalent for India.
University of Limerick’s Jim Kemmy India Scholarship is worth €4,000 (about 4.4 lakh) and, unusually, you keep it for all four years of the degree as long as you progress. It’s limited to Kemmy Business School undergraduate programmes, and the bar is an average of 75% or above in Class X and Class XII including English and Maths. UCD’s Aryabhata Science Scholarship, new for 2025/26, offers Indian applicants to undergraduate Science a tuition fee waiver of 50% to 100%.
If you’re applying for a taught master’s, which is what most Indian students in Ireland are doing, neither of these reaches you. That leaves the automatic faculty discount at your chosen university, plus a Government of Ireland application if you can get an offer in hand by around February.
Which Ireland scholarships can an Indian student not enter?
Quite a few of the ones that fill the listicles. Some belong to other countries, one belongs to Irish school leavers, and one has been suspended, yet they keep turning up under headings like “top scholarships in Ireland”.
| Award | What its own page says |
|---|---|
| Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship | Open to any student domiciled outside the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK, at NFQ level 9 or 10 |
| University faculty awards at UCD, UCC, DCU, UL, Maynooth, MTU and Galway | Open to non-EU fee payers, mostly automatic, partial fee reductions only |
| Trinity Global Excellence Postgraduate | Open, but the exempt subject list covers most of what Indian applicants study |
| UCD Global Excellence | Open, but Indian graduate applicants face an earlier deadline than everyone else, and it cannot be combined with any other tuition fee scholarship |
| UCC School of Nursing and Midwifery scholarships | Open, but the size of the award is set by your country’s Human Development Index rank, so confirm your band with UCC before you count on 50% |
| Ireland Fellows Programme | India appears on no strand. The Asia strand covers Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and SIDS Asia covers Maldives and Timor Leste |
| Naughton Scholarships | You must have attended a recognised school in an Irish county for the two years before sitting the Leaving Certificate |
| Claddagh Scholarship Programme | “established specifically for Chinese students pursuing education in Ireland” |
| Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship | You must be a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma |
| UCC MSc Food Security Policy and Management Award | Listed as suspended on UCC’s own scholarship index |
The Ireland Fellows Programme is the one worth understanding properly, because it’s the award people mean when they say Ireland gives full masters scholarships. It does, covering fees, a stipend and flights, and it’s run by the Department of Foreign Affairs as development assistance. That’s exactly why India isn’t on it. Ireland targets it at partner countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, small island developing states and Palestine, and India has never been in scope.
Northern Ireland is the other thing that costs Indian applicants time. Scholarships you may have seen advertised for study “in Ireland” at Queen’s University Belfast or Ulster University are British awards, because Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. They run on UK fees and UK visas and have nothing to do with the schemes on this page.
How do scholarship dates fit an Irish offer and visa timeline?
The dates fit poorly, and that is worth planning around. The Government of Ireland results land in early June for a course starting in September or October, which leaves roughly three months to accept, pay whatever is left, apply for an Irish study visa and find somewhere to live in a city with a serious accommodation shortage.
The HEA knows this and says so in the guidance it sends successful candidates.
“The cost of living in Ireland can be considerably higher than in other countries. The €10,000 stipend will assist with living costs, but it is unlikely to cover them completely.” Higher Education Authority, 2026 GOI-IES call document, Appendix 4
The same appendix tells awardees to apply for a visa as soon as the award letter arrives, warns that many institutions will not accept late arrivals, and notes that a scholar who arrives late “might lose your scholarship”. It also warns that visas for accompanying family members may not be approved.
Working backwards from that, the sequence that actually fits is to apply for admission from October or November, hold an offer by February, submit the scholarship application before the March deadline, and keep enough of your own funding ready that a June rejection doesn’t end your year. Most Indian students in Ireland are paying their own way or servicing an education loan, and building the plan around a scholarship you have not yet won is how a September start becomes a January one.
One institution has made this easier. University of Limerick states that GOI-IES applicants “are not required to pay an acceptance deposit upon receipt of an offer” and may wait for the scholarship outcome before accepting. No other institution publishes that concession, and UL’s €50 application fee is never waived either way.
- Ireland funds 60 fully paid scholarships a year, all at NFQ level 9 or 10, worth a €10,000 stipend plus a full tuition and registration waiver from the host university.
- No institution may take more than five of those 60, and the top 12 scoring applications are funded automatically, so the real competition is for about 48 discretionary places across 23 institutions.
- You need an admission offer in hand before you can submit a Government of Ireland application, which pushes your admission timeline back to around February.
- Every other Irish award is a tuition fee reduction, typically €2,000 to €5,000, awarded automatically with your offer and almost never combinable with a second award.
- Universities shortlist Government of Ireland files against their own international strategy, and the call document names country of origin as one of the things they weigh.
- Accepting a fee reduction at UCD or Maynooth commits you in writing to promotional work for the university, including testimonials, open events and social media.
- India is not on any strand of the Ireland Fellows Programme, and the Naughton, Claddagh and Choctaw-Ireland awards are closed to Indian applicants by design.
- Research Ireland’s postgraduate scholarship pays up to €34,000 a year for research degrees, and even with its €4,000 non-EU addition the fee support falls short of most non-EU doctoral fees.
- University of Galway alone made more than 280 Global Scholarship awards to non-EU students last year, so partial money is far more winnable than full funding.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a full scholarship in Ireland for a master’s degree?
Yes, but only through one scheme. The Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship funds 60 students a year with a €10,000 stipend and a full tuition and registration waiver. It covers taught master’s, postgraduate diplomas and PhDs, and you must already hold an offer from an eligible Irish institution before applying.
Are there scholarships in Ireland for Indian students at undergraduate level?
There are very few, because the Government of Ireland scholarship excludes undergraduates entirely. Two India-specific undergraduate awards exist, University of Limerick’s Jim Kemmy India Scholarship at €4,000 for Kemmy Business School courses, and UCD’s Aryabhata Science Scholarship offering a 50% to 100% tuition waiver for undergraduate Science.
Do I apply for Irish university scholarships separately or automatically?
It depends on the university. UCC, DCU, University of Limerick and MTU assess you automatically when you apply for the course and tell you the outcome with your offer. UCD, Trinity and Maynooth need a separate scholarship application after you hold an offer, each with its own deadline.
When does the Government of Ireland scholarship 2027 call open?
It has not been announced. As at 27 July 2026 the Higher Education Authority has published no 2027 call, and the 2026 round is marked closed. That round ran from 29 January to 12 March, so an application window early in the calendar year is the pattern to plan around.
Can I combine two scholarships in Ireland?
Usually not within the same university. UCD, UCC and Maynooth all state in writing that their awards cannot be combined with another award from that institution, and DCU says a student who receives one DCU international scholarship will not be considered for a second. A Government of Ireland award is separate and comes with its own fee waiver.
Does an Irish scholarship reduce the funds I must show for the visa?
A scholarship reduces what you owe in tuition, and a full fee waiver removes the tuition payment entirely, but you still have to evidence living costs for your Irish study visa. Even a funded scholar has to show money for rent, and the Government of Ireland stipend arrives in two instalments after your course starts.
Is the Ireland Fellows Programme open to Indian applicants?
No. The Department of Foreign Affairs runs it as development assistance for a defined list of partner countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, small island developing states and Palestine. India appears on no strand of the programme at any level, so an Indian citizen cannot apply for it however strong the application.
What is the largest scholarship an Indian student can hold in Ireland?
Research Ireland’s Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, worth up to €34,000 a year for up to four years. It funds research degrees only, so a taught master’s cannot draw on it. Non-EU nationals may request an extra €4,000 a year towards fees, which still leaves a shortfall at most Irish universities.
More questions students ask
Each one is a short answer on its own page.
Sources
- Higher Education Authority, Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship and the 2026 GOI-IES call document (the 60 awards, the €10,000 stipend and full fee waiver, NFQ levels 9 and 10, the five-per-institution cap, the top 12 automatic awards, the 60 mark threshold, the 40/45/15 marking scheme, the AI prohibition, the 12 March 2026 deadline, the early June results, the two €5,000 instalments and the Appendix 4 guidance quoted above), plus the Appendix 1 list of 23 eligible institutions and the 2026 GOI-IES FAQs (no age limit, no English certificate for the scholarship application)
- Research Ireland, Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme (the €34,000 maximum, its €25,000 stipend, €5,750 fee contribution and €3,250 expense components, the €4,000 non-EU addition, and the October 2025 call dates)
- Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland Fellows Programme strands by location (the full eligible-country list for every strand)
- UCD Global Excellence Scholarships and its 2026/27 terms and conditions (the 100% and 50% awards, the South Asia graduate-only rule and 28 February deadline, the excluded programme types, the no-combination clause and the promotional obligation), and UCD’s 2025-26 scholarships event report for the Aryabhata Science Scholarship
- Trinity College Dublin, Global Excellence Postgraduate Scholarships (the €2,000 to €5,000 range, the one-time reduction and the business, engineering, natural sciences and computer science exemptions)
- University College Cork, international scholarships index, including the College of Business and Law merit scholarship, the School of Nursing and Midwifery scholarships, the Claddagh Scholarship Program and the Choctaw-Ireland Scholarship
- DCU international faculty scholarships and bursaries, University of Limerick scholarships for international students (faculty awards, the Jim Kemmy India Scholarship and the GOI-IES deposit position), Maynooth University international scholarships terms and University of Galway Global Scholarships
- Munster Technological University international non-EU fees and scholarships, TU Dublin scholarships, TU Dublin international fees and Dublin Business School scholarships and discounts
- The Naughton Scholarships, terms and conditions 2025 (the two-year Irish school requirement and the €6,000 annual award)
- European Central Bank, euro reference exchange rate for the Indian rupee (EUR 1 equals INR 109.8650 on 24 July 2026)
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