Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals

What it is

The Swedish Institute Scholarship for Global Professionals (SISGP) is a fully funded award from the Swedish Institute, a Swedish public agency, for one- or two-year English-taught master's programmes at Swedish universities. It is aimed at people who already have work and leadership experience and want to contribute to the development of their home country. Fields include governance, public health, entrepreneurship and innovation, and STEM, which takes in computer science and software engineering programmes on the eligible list.

Read this first: Pakistan and India are not on the current list

For the 2026/27 call, the scholarship was open to citizens of 34 countries, and neither Pakistan nor India was among them. Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and several African and Latin American countries were. The eligible list is set each year, so check the official page when the next call opens, but do not plan around this scholarship unless your country is listed. If you hold another eligible citizenship, you can apply from anywhere; you do not need to live in that country.

We keep it in the library because Sefism readers come from many countries, and because the process is a useful model of what "global professional" scholarships look for.

What it covers

• Full tuition, paid directly to your university each semester.
• A monthly allowance of SEK 12,000 for living costs.
• A one-off travel grant of SEK 15,000 (SEK 10,000 for scholars from a few Eastern European countries).
• Membership of the SI Network for Global Professionals, then the Sweden Alumni Network.

It does not include insurance, family grants, the University Admissions application fee, programme changes or extensions.

Who it suits

You need demonstrated work experience and leadership experience. For most eligible countries, that means at least 3,000 hours of work experience from a maximum of three employers, built up before the February application window. Leadership can come from your job or from civil society, though experience from employment is prioritised.

How selection works

1. Apply for master's programmes through Swedish University Admissions. Your scholarship application can include up to four eligible programmes.
2. Submit the SI scholarship application in a short window, with SI's own templates for proof of work and leadership experience and two reference letters, all signed and officially stamped.
3. Screening: incomplete applications, wrong forms or missing stamps are disqualified.
4. Evaluation against the programme's aims: capability, an existing platform and ambition to contribute to your home country and region.
5. Final selection after university admission results. Only those admitted (not reserves) are considered, and only successful applicants are notified.

Typical timeline

In the 2026/27 cycle, university applications ran from 16 October 2025 to 15 January 2026, the SI portal was open from 9 to 25 February 2026, admission results came on 26 March and scholarship results on 23 April 2026. These dates change every year, so check the official page.

What makes a strong CS application

• Connect your software work to development outcomes. A payments system that reached unbanked users, a hospital records migration or a civic tech project fits the brief far better than a list of technologies.
• Show leadership with evidence: people you led, decisions you shaped, a team or community you built.
• Choose programmes that follow from your career, and explain how you will use the degree back home.
• Get the paperwork exactly right. Stamps, templates and a single PDF per document are where many applications fail.

Common mistakes

• Applying from a non-eligible country.
• Counting hours from more than three employers.
• Using your own reference letter format instead of SI's template.
• Changing your admissions choices after results, which removes you from the running.

Where to go next on Sefism

• Map out a realistic plan with the Masters and scholarships abroad roadmap and its cheat sheet.
• From Pakistan or India, look at Chevening, Commonwealth Scholarships and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Catalogue instead.
• Weigh the trade-off in Should I do a master's abroad or get work experience first?