What KU Leuven Global Minds Doctoral Scholarship Programme actually covers.
The KU Leuven Global Minds Doctoral Scholarship Programme is a flagship initiative designed to enable talented PhD candidates from developing countries — with a strong focus on Africa — to conduct doctoral research at one of Europe's premier research universities in partnership with their home institution. KU Leuven is ranked consistently in the global top 50 and is the most cited university in Belgium. The sandwich model at the heart of this programme means that 50% of doctoral research is conducted at KU Leuven in Belgium and 50% takes place at the scholar's home institution, ensuring knowledge transfer and genuine capacity building in the scholar's home country. The scholarship covers tuition fees at KU Leuven, round-trip travel, health and civil liability insurance, and a monthly living allowance (supervision allowance of €300 plus a living grant) for the two years spent in Belgium. The PhD degree is awarded by KU Leuven. Eligible African countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Application requires first obtaining KU Leuven doctoral programme admission (recommended at least 2.5 months before the scholarship deadline), then submitting the Global Minds scholarship application through the official portal. The deadline typically falls in late February each year.
Who can apply.
Open to phd applicants seeking to study in Belgium. Eligible nationalities are listed below.
46 more eligible countries — full list available on the official application page.
Every academic discipline is accepted.
This programme does not restrict by field. Research proposals across humanities, sciences, engineering, agriculture, and medicine are all accepted.
Four steps to a complete application.
Scholar Africa is a discovery and tracking platform — the application itself is submitted directly through the official provider site. The steps below mirror our HowTo schema.
Check eligibility
Confirm your nationality, academic level, and field of study match the criteria above.
Eligibility checklist
Prepare documents
Transcripts, recommendation letters, personal statement, and a valid passport.
Document checklist
Submit the application
Submit before February 27, 2027 via the official portal.
Submission checklist
Track your application
Use your Scholar Africa dashboard to monitor status and deadline reminders.
Post-submission checklist
What we checked, when we checked it.
Every scholarship on Scholar Africa goes through six checks (link, contact, organisation, winners, third-party, manual review). KU Leuven Global Minds Doctoral Scholarship Programme currently scores 0.0/10.
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Other scholarships worth a parallel application.
Same eligibility window or destination. Many strong applicants apply to three or four programmes per cycle.