The ARES Scholarship is an excellent opportunity for international students who want to study in Belgium. This scholarship is available for undergraduate, master’s, and training programmes. The application process for this scholarship is easy. You can follow the step-by-step instructions presented in this article to apply for this fully funded scholarship. The ARES Scholarship 2027 covers international travel costs, a living allowance of €1,150 per month, an arrival allowance, tuition, and return fees of €700.
ARES Scholarships are open to international students from developing countries who wish to undertake master’s studies in Belgium. The Academy of Research and Higher Education (ARES) is a public-interest organisation funded by the Federation of Wallonie-Bruxelles and established by the “Landscape” decree of November 7, 2013. It brings together 127 higher education institutions, ensuring their overall coordination and fostering collaboration.
Scholarships for master’s and training courses provide an opportunity to pursue a one-year specialised master’s degree programme or a 4-to-6-month advanced training course at a higher education institution within the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Belgium.
ARES Scholarship Highlights
| Degree Programmes | Undergraduate / Master’s / Training |
| Scholarship Provider | ARES |
| Study Destination | Belgium |
| Fields of Study | See the list below to find all the available degree programmes |
| Programme Duration | Undergraduate and specialised master’s degrees: 12 months maximum; Continuing training: 2 to 6 months maximum |
| Funding | Fully Funded |
- Degree Programmes: Master’s / Undergraduate / Training
- Scholarship Provider: ARES
- Study Destinations: Belgium
- Fields of Study: See list below
- Programme Duration:
- Bachelor’s and specialised master’s degrees: 12 months maximum
- Continuing training: 2 to 6 months maximum
- Application Deadline: September 19, 2025
Available Degree Programmes
Bachelor’s Scholarship:
- Specialised Bachelor’s in Business Data Analysis
- Specialised Bachelor’s in Pediatrics and Neonatology
Master’s Scholarship:
- Master’s Degree in Development, Environment and Societies.
- Master of Specialisation in Human Rights.
- Master of Specialisation in Aquatic Resources Management and Aquaculture.
- Master of Specialisation in Risk and Disaster Management.
- Specialised Master’s in Integrated Risk Management in the Global South (IManHR).
- Specialised Master’s in International and Development Economics.
- Master of Specialisation in Transfusion Medicine.
- Specialised Master’s in Microfinance.
- Master of specialisation in integrated production and preservation of natural resources in urban and peri-urban areas.
- Specialised Master’s in Public Health Methodology.
- Master of Specialisation in Public Health Sciences – Research Methods Applied to Global Health.
- Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management in Developing Countries.
- Master of specialisation in transport and logistics.
Training courses
- Internship in control and quality assurance of medicines and health products.
- Research internship for health systems strengthening.
- Internship in geographical information systems.
- Internship in the valorisation of secondary resources for sustainable construction.
- Methodological internship in support of innovation in family farming.
ARES Scholarship Benefits
The ARES Scholarship will provide the recipients with the following benefits:
Amounts for a Bachelor’s and Master’s Scholarship:
- International travel costs: economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, with a maximum of one round-trip ticket per academic year.
- Living allowance: €1150/month for 12 months.
- Indirect mission fees: 150. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
- Arrival allowance, tuition, and return fees: €700. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
- Registration fees at the current rate for DGD grantees.
- Insurance fees are directly paid by ARES.
- Travel costs that are part of inter-university training are reimbursed based on real costs incurred, with receipts provided.
Amounts for a training course grant:
- International travel cost: economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, one round-trip ticket.
- Living allowance: €83/day for stays lasting 8 to 17 days; €1400/month for stays lasting 18 days to 1 month (set amount); €1400/month for stays lasting 1 to 6 months, prorated to the number of days
- Indirect mission fees are €150. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
- Insurance fees are directly paid by ARES.
- Travel expenses in the framework of inter-university training are reimbursed based on the real expenses incurred, with receipts provided.
Eligibility Requirements for the ARES Scholarship 2027
The following are the minimum eligibility requirements for the ARES Scholarship:
- Nationals of Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia (only for training courses in English), Haiti, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Peru, the Philippines, DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, and Vietnam.
- Be a citizen of a developing country. To be eligible, applicants must be residing and working in their country of origin when they apply.
- Be under the age of 40 for degree programmes and under 45 for training courses at the time the training is scheduled to begin.
- Have earned a diploma comparable to a graduate-level diploma from a Belgian university. Nevertheless, for certain training courses, different requirements may be requested.
- Possess relevant professional experience in a developing country of at least two years after graduate studies, or three years after their studies if the applicant has earned a post-grad degree from a university in an industrialised country.
- Have a good mastery of written and spoken French. For training courses held in another language, it is essential to have a proper level in the course’s language, both written and spoken. The applicant must commit to learning French to take part in daily life in Belgium.
- Apply for only one training course.
Step-by-Step Application Process for the ARES Scholarship 2027
The following simple and easy application process will help you to apply for this scholarship:
Step 1: You must first ensure that you have an active GIRAF account.
- You can create an account on the GIRAF platform. This account will be validated (within a few hours to a few days; don’t create more than one account) by ARES, and you will receive a confirmation email to create a password.
- If you created a validated account last year, you can reuse that account and, if necessary, reset your password.
Step 2: Once logged into your GIRAF account, you can access the application form via the Competitive Calls tab of your GIRAF profile. Please note that you must only click once on the “International training application 2025-2026” button. You will then find your form in the My Tasks table of the competitive calls.
Step 3: You can complete your form several times, as long as you use the “Save and edit later” option. You will find your form each time in the My Tasks table of the Competitive Calls tab in GIRAF.
Step 4: As soon as you click on “Submit my application”, your application is sent to ARES, and you can no longer modify it. You can still consult it in the My Submitted Files table.
ARES Scholarship Application Deadline
The application deadline for the ARES Scholarship 2027 is in September 2026.
For further information about the ARES Scholarship and the application process, please visit the official websites: