Austrian Fulbright Student Program 2025/26

Obtain a Fulbright grant to pursue a master's degree and study in the US.

Selection Criteria

• Excellent study record (US institutions consider each applicant's cumulative grade point average (GPA))
• Qualifications relevant to the study program for which the applicant would like to apply
• Scholarly, artistic, social, and political commitment and work (also on a volunteer basis)
• Career objectives
• Study proposal
• English skills and communication skills
• Test results of the mandatory standardized tests required for the admission to a US institution
• All candidates must pass the GRE with a good score after admission to the Fulbright Program (i.e., not before 1 May 2024).  Applicants for law programs are exempt from this rule.
• All candidates must pass the TOEFL with a good score after admission to the Fulbright Program (i.e., not before 1 May 2024) to evaluate the candidates' language skills. 
• Test facilities need to forward the test results directly to Fulbright Austria (TOEFL code: 7517; GRE code: 4800) AND to the Institute of International Education in New York City (code for TOEFL and GRE: 2326)

Program Requirements

• Austrian citizenship (dual citizens of Austria and the US are not eligible due to program regulations).
• Candidates must already have a degree from an accredited university or university of applied sciences or be close to completing their degree.
  • Bachelor's programs: degree must be completed by 1 October 2024 at the latest (degrees completed by 30 October 2024 will be considered on a case-by-case basis).
  • Master's programs: degree must be completed by 1 May 2025 at the latest.
• The Austrian Fulbright Student Program funds master's programs at all accredited US institutions. So-called “professional degrees” cannot be funded. This includes, for instance:
• MBAs and similar programs in business, management, marketing, and finance (with the exception of not-for-profit management and social entrepreneurship, public management and administration, public affairs, and/or public policy (MPA/MPP)
• LLM programs (with the exception of constitutional law, human rights law, international public law, legal theory and philosophy, comparative law, and/or legal history)
• Medical programs, veterinarian medicine, and/or pharmacy (with the exception of public health) 
• Funding cannot be awarded for study programs to which candidates have already been admitted or for which they have already applied outside of the Fulbright Program.
• Candidates who meet the qualifications to apply for the Austrian Fulbright Scholar Program (postdocs and professionals) cannot apply for an Austrian Fulbright student grant.
• Candidates who have already received a Fulbright student grant, a postgraduate grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (with the exception of internships), or a grant from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) or the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) are also not eligible to apply.
• It is also not possible to receive funding through Fulbright if you also receive a grant from any of the institutions noted above.
• As Fulbright students are funded through the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), Fulbright grantees are not eligible to apply for other grants offered by the BMBWF.
• Nominations for a Fulbright grant are contingent upon approval from the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board (FSB). According to the FSB’s rules and regulations, candidates who are already in the US at the time of their application are not eligible to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to candidates who do not have extensive and/or recent experience living and studying in the US.

Benefits

• Tuition and maintenance grant of up to $25,000 for one-year programs or up to $35,000 for multi-year programs
• Travel and relocation allowance of up €2,000
• Enrollement in the Department of State's Accident and Sickness Program for Exchanges (ASPE)
• Negotiation of (partial) tuition waivers or additional financial support conducted with the relevant US institution by IIE
• Coaching and administrative support during the application phase, which increases the probability of acceptance to a US institution
• Vouchers for GRE and TOEFL examinations after admission to the Fulbright Program
• Application submission to four US institutions as a "Fulbright candidate" and coverage of associated application fees by IIE
• Visa sponsorship: J1 visa (exchange visitor) requires grantees to return to their home country for at least two years after the completion of their studies before they can apply for a residence or work permit (you can, however, re-enter on a tourist or student visa at any time)
• Pre-academic training in the US (occasionally) and/or participation in "enrichment seminars" in the course of one's stay