Ernst Mach Grant for studying at an Austrian university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule)
Country of origin:
Afghanistan; Algeria; American Samoa; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Azerbaijan; Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bhutan; Bolivia; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Canada; Central African Republic; Chad; Chile; China; Colombia; Comoros; Congo; Congo - Democratic Republic of the; Costa Rica; Cote d'Ivoire; Cuba; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Fiji; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; Ghana; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea - Democratic People's Republic of; Korea - Republic of; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Lebanon; Lesotho; Liberia; Libya; Madagascar; Malawi; Malaysia; Maldives; Mali; Marshall Islands; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Micronesia - Federated States of; Mongolia; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nauru; Nepal; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Palestinian territories; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Sao Tome and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Suriname; Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan (Chinese Taipei); Tajikistan; Tanzania - United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkmenistan; Tuvalu; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United States; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Vanuatu; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Western Sahara; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Target country:
Austria
Area of study or research:
Natural Sciences
Technical Sciences
Human Medicine, Health Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Social Sciences
Technical Sciences
Human Medicine, Health Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Social Sciences
Type of grant:
grants
Detailed type of grant:
Semester and/or one-year grants
Funding:
National
Target group:
Undergraduates
Graduates
Graduates
Funding organisation:
Republic of Austria, Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF);
Awarding organisation: OeAD-GmbH – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation; Mobility Programmes and Cooperation
Duration:
4 to 10 months
Grant benefit paid:
Supplementary grant, own funds are required!
1. Monthly grant rate: 1,300 Euro
2. Assistance in arranging accommodation and health insurance
- It is possible for OeAD scholarship holders to book accommodation (dormitory or apartment) with the OeAD student housing. The monthly costs are:
- monthly rent: roughly 330 Euro to 800 Euro (depending on the amenities)
- monthly administrative fee: currently 24 Euro
- OeAD scholarship holders need to have health insurance that is accepted by the Austrian authorities for the duration of their stay in Austria. The OeAD can help with taking out such insurance. The monthly costs can vary, at the moment you should calculate 55 Euro to 200 Euro (depending on your age, scholarship category and state of health). Scholarship holders have to pay the costs for accommodation and insurance themselves.
- Applicants from non-EU/EEA countries who are planning a research stay of more than 6 months: If your monthly costs for accommodation in Austria exceed 300 Euro, you may need to provide proof of additional funds to the Austrian residence authority when you apply for your residence permit. This figure may vary depending on your individual costs for health insurance and other liabilities.
3. Information for applicants who would like to apply for admission to studies in Austria: Tuition fees may be waived upon request to the Rectorate of the public university or university college for teacher education for the semesters in which studies or research can be shown to have been completed elsewhere, i.e. as part of transnational EU, state or university mobility programmes. Any tuition fees at universities of applied sciences may be waived by the rectorate upon application. This does not apply to tuition fees at private universities and private colleges.
4. Scholarship holders with citizenship and travel from non-European developing countries (Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries and Lower Middle Income Countries and Territories“ according to DAC list 2022/23 + Gabon, Malaysia, Namibia, South Africa, Thailand [https://oead.at/fileadmin/Dokumente/oead.at/ICM/MPC/BMBWF_travel_allowance_dac_list_2022-2023_final.pdf]) or for their return will also receive a travel costs subsidy of up to 1.200 Euro upon submission of original travel invoices.
Closing date for applications:
01. 02. 2025
Application form:
Application at www.scholarships.at
Required documents for the application:
The following documents have to be uploaded with the online application:
- Two letters of recommendation by university lecturers. For these letters of recommendation no specific form is required; they must contain the letterhead, date and signature of the person recommending the applicant and the stamp of the university / department and must not be older than six months at the time of application.
- Confirmation of the home university that the exams passed in Austria will be recognized by the home university (e.g. a learning agreement).
- Confirmation of acceptance as an exchange student or free mover from the University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule).
- Scan of your passport (page with the name and photo).
- Scan of a current Transcript of Records.
Advice on how to apply:
Goals:
- To promote research cooperation
- To promote young academics in the early stages of their scientific career
- To establish an effective network of researchers with relations to Austria
Eligible for application are:
- students who are studying a master Programme at a university in one of the above-defined countries of origin or
- students who are studying a Bachelor Programme at a university in one of the above-defined countries of origin and have successfully completed at least 4 semesters of studies by the time of taking up the grant.
The scholarship will only be granted for study projects that can be completed within the scholarship period (max. 10 months).
Applicants have to be accepted as exchange scholars or free movers from an Austrian University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule). The confirmation of acceptance as an exchange student or free mover has to be enclosed with the application. (Therefore please contact the University of Applied Sciences of your choice ahead of time!)
For more information regarding study programmes at the Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) please access https://www.fachhochschulen.ac.at/en/. The topics of the study programmes can roughly be summarized as follows: "Economics/Business", "Tourism", "Economics and Technology", "Technology/Biotechnology", "Media and Design" as well as "Health and Social Matters".
Applicants must not have lived/studied/pursued research/pursued academic work in Austria in the last six months before taking up the grant. Applicants who are already permanently residing in Austria or who have completed their academic education mainly in Austria are not eligible to apply.
A scholarship can only be consumed once within this programme.
Proof of the successful course of your studies in Austria:
Scholarship holders have to pass exams corresponding to at least 16 ECTS credits per semester. If the scholarship has been awarded for a period that is longer than one semester, the scholarship will only continue if at least 16 ECTS credits have been gained in the first semester. Proof of this has to be provided by March 15th, 2026. If less than 16 ECTS credits are gained, the scholarship automatically ends at the end of March 2026.
Maximum age:
35 years (born on or after 1 October 1989)
Language skills:
Very good knowledge of English and/or German.
FAQs - Frequently asked questions: [https://oead.at/en/to-austria/grants-and-scholarships/ernst-mach-grant/faq-ernst-mach-grant-fachhochschule/]:
Please check our list of frequently asked questions regarding the application process and eligibility for this grant.
General information:
- Grants are only awarded for studies at universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) where the majority of the costs for the study place is borne by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF).
- The selection process for all grants is competitive, i.e. there is no legal claim to a grant even if all application requirements are fulfilled. The number of grants that will be awarded during one call depends on the quota and/or the available budget. Applicants may apply for several grants at the same time.
- Grant holders must be continuously present at their place of study in Austria to study or conduct their research project.
- Once an application has been rejected, it will not be considered any further within that call. However, it is possible to re-apply for this grant with a revised application in the future.
- Applicants must comply with the admission regulations of the respective Higher Education Institution.
Data protection:
Applicants agree that the personal data provided within their application will be processed diligently on the legal basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU)2016/679 and Austrian Data Protection regulations, in particular:
- §2g Research Organisation Act (Forschungsorganisationsgesetz - FOG), Federal Law Gazette No. 341/1981, and
- OeAD Act (OeAD-Gesetz), Federal Law Gazette I No. 99/2008, all in their current version,
for the purpose of handling their application and compiling statistics. The OeAD is responsible for processing the applicant's data. More information is available at https://oead.at/en/privacy-policy/ .
Selection procedure:
Incomplete applications and applications not complying with the application criteria will not be accepted for the further selection process.
The selection process consists of the following stages:
1. Examination of the formal requirements
2. Examination of the application's general plausibility
3. Assessment and evaluation of the application by experts
4. Final decision by the BMBWF
Further information:
The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) and the OeAD do not guarantee that a stay in Austria or at the host institution, including the journey, will be possible if a scholarship is granted. The scholarship holders have to decide themselves whether or not they want to embark on their studies or research stay. The BMBWF and the OeAD do not assume any liability – especially in case of trips to/through countries or regions for which travel warnings exist – for any complications or resulting additional costs or damages that may arise during your stay at or the journey to your destination or host institution. It is strongly recommended that you take out adequate health, accident and repatriation insurance that is valid at your destination. You, the scholarship holder, are responsible yourself for taking out insurance. The scholarship holder must observe the current conditions of the host institution regarding attendance/participation as well as the current entry conditions and the travel advice of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA).
Scholarship holders are not allowed to engage in gainful employment. Exempt is marginal employment within research/the Arts at universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions in compliance with residence laws and employment laws for foreign nationals (in 2024: 518.44 Euro per month).
Reporting commitment:
Scholarship holders are obliged to submit a final report at the end of their scholarship stay.
Grant contract:
Grant recipients will be issued a grant contract (Letter of Award and Letter of Acceptance) by the OeAD-GmbH/Mobility Programmes and Cooperation.
It defines the following:
start and end date of the grant, grant amount, payment modalities, compulsory attendance at the guest institution, performance report and final report, data protection, repayment obligations and other conditions and requirements.
Details see: www.oead.at/scholarship-conditions
Legal basis in Austria:
Federal Ministries Act 1986, in its current version Federal Law Gazette I No. 164/2017.
Ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Finance on General Framework Agreements for the Granting of Federal Funds (Allgemeine Rahmenrichtlinien – ARR), Federal Law Gazette II No. 208/2014, in its current version as subsidiarily applicable.
OeAD Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 99/2008, in its current version.
Research Financing Act (Forschungsfinanzierungsgesetz), Federal Law Gazette I No. 75/2020, in its current version.
Federal Finance Act (Bundesfinanzgesetz) as in force at the date the scholarship was awarded.
Special Guideline for the Granting of Federal Funds "Stipendienprogramme INCOMING" of the Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research
Approval of the announcement by the BMBWF Decree GZ 2024-0.531.844
Contact at the OeAD-GmbH:
Stephan Bodinger
T +43 1 53408-408
Last update:
10.10.2024
© OeAD-GmbH
This database has been financed by funds of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF). The data has been entered by the OeAD-GmbH as the processing agency, by the OeAD-GmbH on the basis of information provided by funding organisations or by the funding organisations themselves. The OeAD-GmbH does not assume any liability for the correctness, completeness and topicality of the data.