When do You think is the best time to look for scholarships? Does a “scholarship season” – defined as a time during the year when many scholarship offers are available – even exist? Yes, but…

The most important point is to first answer the question of what kind of scholarship you are looking for. The season for sports and arts scholarships has a completely different schedule than the season for academic scholarships. Moreover, scholarships for foreigners in Poland typically have different deadlines than the scholarships for domestic students. So we already have the answer to one of the above questions – yes, there is a season for scholarships or rather several seasons. So when is the best time to search for a scholarship in Poland?

In general, you will find the largest number of scholarship offers in the spring. It is worth remembering that information on foreign scholarships is often announced well in advance. Gathering documents for applications – acquiring recommendations, creating an essay – usually takes time. Hence, it is a good idea to start the application process as early as possible.

For instance, popular offers like The Banach Scholarship Programme and Scholarship for Eastern Studies conducted by The Centre for East European Studies (University of Warsaw) have their deadline in March.

Scholarships for students and PhD candidates

The schedule of scholarships and doctoral programmes is primarily aligned with the Polish academic calendar. Therefore, the intake dates for most programmes aimed at this group usually end in May or in the summer (July, August).

For example, the Stanisław Grabski Scholarship Programme supports students of Polish origin who have decided to study in Poland and who are citizens of the former USSR countries, and the application deadline varies from year to year but usually is set around June or August.

The other popular scholarship is the gen. Anders Programme for the Polish diaspora is addressed to foreigners of Polish origin who are eligible to start their Ist (Bachelor) and IInd (Masters) cycle degree studies as well as long cycle degree studies (i.e. joint I + II cycle degree studies). The call for proposals shall be conducted till May (BA studies) and August (MA studies).

You can find more information on above-mentioned programmes in our article Student scholarships for foreigners in Poland.

Other scholarships

There are several scholarship programmes available in Poland for young researchers and young professionals – artists, journalists, experts and leaders. While the deadlines of some of the biggest programmes pass in spring or early summer, it’s a good idea to keep your eyes open all year round. Same as with scholarships for students and PhD candidates, the application takes a long time to prepare, so it’s best to start as early as possible.