Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global

Professionals
Do you have the ambition to become a future leader within the sustainable
development on a global platform? Then you might be who we are looking for.
Global Professionals is a highly sought after, fully-funded international
scholarship programme for master's studies in Sweden.

Kick off 2019 Foto: Melker Dahlstrand

Opens for applications 8 February

The call for SI scholarships for master’s studies in Sweden, starting in the autumn of 2021
has been now published. The Visby programme and the scholarships for Turkey is as of this
call part of the Global Professionals.
Overview

What is Global Professionals?

The SI Scholarship for Global Professionals aims to develop future global leaders that will
contribute to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and contribute
to a positive and sustainable development in their home countries and region.

The programme is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It offers you a unique
opportunity to develop both professionally and academically, experience Swedish society
and culture, and build a long-lasting relationship with Sweden and other scholarship
holders. Usually 4-6% of the applicants are awarded a Global Professionals scholarship.

Important information
• The scholarship is available for citizens from 42 countries.
• Applications for Global Professionals 2021 opens up from 8 February 00:01 to 18
February 2021 14:59 CET
• Only available for programmes starting in the autumn semester.
• We recommend that you also look for other scholarship opportunities at
www.studyinsweden.se.

What's included

The scholarship is intended for full-time one-year or two-year master’s programmes. The
scholarship period cannot be changed or extended beyond the awarded scholarship period,
nor can it be transferred to a study programme other than the awarded master’s
programme.

What you get as a recipient of Global Professionals

• SI fully covers your tuition fees to the Swedish university you are attending. This is paid
directly by SI at the beginning of each semester.
• You will receive a regular payment of SEK 10,000 to cover your living expenses throughout
the scholarship. This payment is given monthly throughout the scholarship period.
• Insurance against illness and accident.
• Membership of the SI Network for Future Global Leaders(NFGL) – a platform to help you
grow professionally and build your network while in Sweden.
• After your scholarship period has ended, you gain membership to the SI Alumni Network.
As a member, you get a unique opportunity for continued networking and to further
develop yourself professionally. The local networks exist worldwide and currently consist
of over 15,000 talented alumni from over 140 countries.
 • For Bangladesh; Bolivia; Brazil; Cambodia; Cameroon; Colombia; Ecuador; Egypt; Ethiopia;
Gambia; Ghana; Guatemala; Honduras; Indonesia; Jordan; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Morocco;
Myanmar (Burma); Nepal; Nigeria; Pakistan; Peru; Philippines; Rwanda; Sri Lanka; Sudan;
Tanzania; Tunisia; Uganda; Vietnam; Zambia; Zimbabwe the scholarship also includes a
travel grant of SEK 15,000 for the entire study period. This is a one-time payment and
does not apply for students already living in Sweden.
• For Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey or
Ukraine. The scholarship also includes a travel grant of SEK 10,000 for the entire
study period.
This is a one-time payment and does not apply for students already living in Sweden.

The scholarship does not cover:

• Additional grants for family members.
• Application fee to University Admissions.
Note: Depending on the country where you have citizenship, the content of the scholarship
will differ in certain areas.

Criteria
Country of citizenship
You must be a citizen of a country that is eligible for the scholarship programme. Read more about
country of citizenship.

Read more about country of citizenship

University admissions
You must be liable to pay tuition fees to Swedish universities, have followed the steps of university
admission, and be admitted to one of the eligible master's programmes by the 9th of April 2021.

Read more about our criteria regarding University Admissions.

Other eligibility criteria
There are also other conditions regarding dual citizenship, previous residence and studies in Sweden,
and more.

Note: Some criteria for priority SI scholarships differ depending on the home region of the applicant.

Read more about other eligibility criteria.

Work experience
You must have a minimum of 3,000 hours of demonstrated work experience.
Read more about the criteria for work experience.
Leadership experience
You must have demonstrated leadership experience from your current or previous employment or civil
society.

Read more about the leadership experience criteria.

Master's programmes
The master's studies must be eligible for SI scholarships. We give the highest priority to specific subject
areas.

Read more about the eligible master's programmes.

Who can apply for Global Professionals?
We are looking for ambitious professionals who want to make a difference by working with
issues that contribute to a just and sustainable development in their home country and
region; and also have a clear idea of how a study programme in Sweden would benefit their
country and region. Priority will be given to applicants with a strong and relevant
professional background and demonstrated leadership experience.

Required documents
You should only submit the required documents listed below in your online scholarship
application. We will not consider any other documents than the required ones. You must
complete your application in English. Use our forms and templates provided below and
complete them according to the instructions both below and in the forms, or else your
applications will be disqualified. Kindly note the length limitation for your answers and the
documents.

Documents for the scholarship application (2021/2022):

Motivation Letter Form SISGP_SISSA 2021-2022
CV form SISGP_SISSA 2021-2022
Letter of Reference Form Global Professionals 2021-2022
Proof of Work and Leadership Experience Form Global Professionals 2021-2022

A complete application consists of:

• Motivation letter
• CV
• Letters of reference
 • Valid and completed proof of work and leadership experience
• Copy of your valid passport
Note: Your application will be disqualified if any of the required documents above is missing.

Motivation letter

You must use the Global Professionals form for the motivation letter 2021/2022. You need
to fill in and upload the motivation letter as a PDF-file on the application portal within the
application period.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

You must use the Global Professionals form for CV 2021/2022 and the CV should not
exceed three pages. It’s up to you to decide which parts are relevant for your application.
Additional pages will not be considered during the evaluation.

Letters of reference

You must use the Global Professionals form for the letter of reference 2021/2022. One
letter of reference based on work experience is mandatory. All letters of reference must be
signed by the referee and stamped with an official stamp of the referred organisation or
notary office. The letters should be typed, then printed, signed, stamped, and uploaded as a
single PDF-file. You can find more information in the instruction in the form and our FAQ.
• Two different letters of reference are mandatory as part of the application. It is also a
merit if the second letter of reference is based on your involvement in networks or civil
society organisations outside of your regular work.

Proof of work and leadership experience

You must use the Global Professionals form for proof of work and leadership experience
2021/2022. The work and leadership form should be signed by the referee and stamped
with an official stamp of the referred organisation or a notary office. The form(s) should be
typed, then printed, signed, stamped, and uploaded as a single PDF-file. You can find more
information in the instruction in the form and our FAQ.
Copy of your valid passport

You must submit a copy of your valid passport in the application. It must clearly show your
personal data, including name, citizenship, and the photograph. A copy of your passport
should be included in your CV as a last fourth page. It is your responsibility to ensure that
you have a copy of your passport that can be used as part of the application.

If you have applied to several master’s programmes

You should only submit one scholarship application, regardless of how many master’s
programmes that you applied for through universityadmissions.se. You can apply for SI
scholarships for up to four eligible master’s programmes.
Note: If you have applied for master’s programme(s) at Stockholm School of Economics
(SSE), you should create and submit an additional scholarship application separately. Each
scholarship application should have only one of the attached, no matter how many
master’s programmes you applied for.

If you are only applying for SI scholarships at SSE, you only need to submit one scholarship
application for all the master’s programmes at SSE that you applied for. If you have applied
at both universityadmissions.se and SSE, you should attach all the required documents in
both the scholarship applications.
Kick off 2019 Foto: Melker Dahlstrand

The evaluation and selection process:

1. Screening. Disqualifying all applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria or that failed
to submit a correct application.
2. Evaluation before admissions. Evaluation and grading of all eligible applications.
3. Evaluation after admissions. Final evaluation of applications that has been admitted to an
eligible master’s programme.
4. Compiling a shortlist of the best and most qualified candidates.
5. Final selection. Scholarship recipients are selected, thus concluding the evaluation and
selection process.

Screening
After the application deadline, we carry out a screening of all applications and disqualify
those that do not meet the eligibility criteria for Global Professionals. If you have failed to
follow the instructions for the required documents, such as incomplete application, wrong
form, missing valid stamp, etc., then your application will also be disqualified. Reasons are
given in the instructions in the forms and here on the website. Therefore, you should read
through all available information carefully.

Evaluation before admissions

We will then go through all the eligible applications and evaluate all of the information
provided in your applications. We then grade them with particular consideration for the
aim and purpose of the scholarship programme. The quality of the application is crucial in
our selection. We are looking for talented and active professionals with capability, a
platform, and ambition to contribute to international development.

Evaluation after admissions

When the admission results for master’s studies are announced
at universityadmissions.se on 9 April 2021 we will make a final evaluation of the
applications that are still eligible for the scholarship.

Shortlist
Through the evaluation process described above, we then compile a shortlist of the best
candidates. We will give priority to certain factors which you can read more about in the
eligibility criteria section. However, we aim at having all genders represented as equally as
possible in the final list of scholarship recipients. We also want to include as many of the
eligible countries, and Swedish universities as possible, provided there is a sufficient
number of quality applications. We also need to stay within our budget. We may make
additional adjustments in the final selection to achieve the distribution we are aiming for.
However, we do not have any quotas for specific countries, fields of study, Swedish
universities, etc. and select the scholarship recipients.

Final selection
When all of the above factors have been taken into consideration, the final selection of
scholarship recipients will be completed.
Data protection and integrity
The Swedish Institute (SI) is a public agency. As such, all applications received by SI are in
the public domain. We use the personal information you give us to process your
application. If you are granted a scholarship, we will continue to use this personal
information to manage it. We deal with this information following the Swedish Principle of
Public Access to Information and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your
personal information is handled by SI employees and outside experts who have signed a
contract of compliance. For more information, please read SI’s privacy policy.