ARES Scholarships 2026 | Fully Funded

Start your academic journey in Belgium with exciting news — applications for the ARES Scholarships are now open. In this article, we provide full details about the scholarship program, its benefits, and the complete step-by-step application process.

The ARES Scholarships 2025-2026 are fully funded opportunities for international students. These awards are available for undergraduate, master’s, and training programs in Belgium, covering international travel expenses, a monthly living allowance of €1,150, an arrival allowance, tuition fees, and a €700 return allowance.

The ARES Scholarships are specifically open to students from developing countries who wish to pursue master’s-level studies in Belgium. The Academy of Research and Higher Education (ARES) is a public-interest organization funded by the Federation of Wallonie-Bruxelles, created under the “Landscape” decree of November 7, 2013. It brings together 127 higher education institutions, coordinating their activities and encouraging collaboration.

Scholarships for master’s and training programs allow students to enroll in either a one-year specialized master’s degree or a 4–6 month advanced training course at a higher education institution within the Wallonia-Brussels Federation of Belgium.

Scholarship Summary

Level of Study: Undergraduate / Masters / Training
Institution(s): ARES
Study in: Belgium
Program Period:
- 4 Years for Undergraduate Degree Program.
- 1 Year for Master’s Degree Program.
- 4 to 6 Months for the Internship / Training Program.
Deadline: The next call will be launched in 8 January 2026

Courses Offered

Bachelor’s Scholarship:

Specialized Bachelor in Business Data Analysis
Specialized bachelor in pediatrics and neonatology

Master’s Scholarship:

Master’s degree in Development, Environment and Societies.
Master of specialization in human rights.
Master of specialization in Aquatic Resources Management and Aquaculture.
Master of specialization in risk and disaster management.
Specialized Master in Integrated Risk Management in the Global South (IManHR).
Specialized Master in International and Development Economics.
Master of Specialization in Transfusion Medicine.
Specialized Master in Microfinance.
Master of specialization in integrated production and preservation of natural resources in urban and peri-urban areas.
Specialized Master in Public Health Methodology.
Master of Specialization in Public Health Sciences – Research Methods Applied to Global Health.
Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management in Developing Countries.
Master of specialization in transport and logistics.

Training courses

Internship in control and quality assurance of medicines and health products.
Research internship for health systems strengthening.
Internship in geographical information systems.
Internship in the valorization of secondary resources for sustainable construction.
Methodological internship in support of innovation in family farming.

Scholarship Coverage

ARES Scholarships provide the recipient with the following benefits:

Amounts for a Bachelor and Master’s Scholarships:

International travel costs: economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, with a maximum of one round-trip ticket per academic year.
Living allowance:1150 €/month for 12 months.
Indirect mission fees:150 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
Arrival allowance, tuition, and return fees 700 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
Registration fees at the current rate for DGD grantees.
Insurance fees are directly paid by ARES.
Travel costs that are part of inter-university training are reimbursed based on real costs incurred, with receipts provided.

Amounts for a training course grant:

International travel cost; economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, one round-trip ticket.
Living allowance; 83 €/day for stays lasting 8 to 17 days; 1400 €/month for stays lasting 18 days to 1 month (set amount); 1400 €/month for stays lasting 1 to 6 months, prorated to the number of days
Indirect mission fees are 150 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee.
Insurance fees are directly paid by ARES.
Travel expenses in the framework of inter-university training are reimbursed based on the real incurred, with receipts provided.

Eligibility Criteria for the ARES Scholarships

To be eligible for ARES Scholarships, applicants must meet the following criteria:

Required Language: English, French
Eligible Countries: Nationals of Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia (only for training courses in English), Haiti, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Peru, the Philippines, DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, and Vietnam.
Be a citizen of a developing country. To be eligible, applicants must be residing and working in their country of origin when they apply.
Be under the age of 40 for degree programs, and under 45 for training courses, at the time the training is scheduled to begin.
Have earned a diploma comparable to a graduate-level diploma from Belgian university studies. Nevertheless, for certain training courses, different requirements may be requested.
Possess relevant professional experience in a developing country of at least two years after graduate studies, or three years after their studies if the applicant has earned a post-grad degree from a university in an industrialized country.
Have a good mastery of written and spoken French. For training courses held in another language, it is essential to have a proper level in the course’s language, both written and spoken. The applicant must commit to learning French to take part in daily life in Belgium.
Apply for only one training course.

How to Apply for the ARES Scholarships?

Please below important instructions to avail of ARES Masters and Internship Scholarships:

You must first ensure that you have an active GIRAF account.
- You can create an account on the GIRAF platform via this link. This account will be validated (within a few hours to a few days, don’t create more than one account) by ARES and you will receive a confirmation mail to create a password.
- If you created a validated account last year, you can reuse that account and if necessary reset your password.
Once logged into your GIRAF account, you can access the application form via the Competitive Calls tab of your GIRAF profile. Please note that you must only click once on the “International training application 2025-2026” button. You will then find your form in the My Tasks table of the Competitive calls.
You can complete your form several times, as long as you use the “Save and edit later” option. You will find your form each time in the My Tasks table of the Competitive Calls tab in GIRAF.
As soon as you click on “Submit my application”, your application is sent to ARES and you can no longer modify it. You can still consult it in the My Submitted Files table.