Schwarzman Scholars 2027-28: fully funded master's, last date 9 September
A one-year master's at Tsinghua University in Beijing, with tuition, fees, room and board, flights, books, a laptop, health insurance and a stipend all paid. Open to Indian graduates aged 18 to 28 who hold an undergraduate degree, with no income criterion and no application fee. This is an elite, heavily contested fellowship rather than a fees scheme, so read the eligibility before you commit an afternoon to it. Applications close 9 September 2026 at 3pm EDT.
Start with who this is not for, because it is unlike almost everything else on this site.
This is not a fees-and-maintenance scholarship. It is a one-year master's degree and leadership programme at Tsinghua University in Beijing, selecting a small international cohort, and it is heavily contested. If you are looking for help with college fees in India, the NSP and state schemes on this site are where your time is better spent.
If you are an Indian graduate under 28 with a strong record and you have been wondering what a fully funded master's abroad actually looks like, read on. It costs nothing to apply.
The deadline, precisely
9 September 2026 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. That is a US Eastern time cut-off, so in India it falls late on the evening of 9 September. Do not plan to submit on the day.
There are two separate application tracks. Applicants with Chinese citizenship — mainland, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan — have their own application and their own deadline in May. Everyone else, India included, applies on the U.S. and Global track with the 9 September date.
Who can apply
- You must have an undergraduate degree, completed by 1 August of the enrolment year
- You must be between 18 and 28 years of age, again measured as of 1 August of the enrolment year
- You must be able to show strong English, because all teaching is in English
There is no nationality restriction. The programme states it does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or national or ethnic origin, and India has no separate procedure — which is precisely why Indian applicants use the Global track.
The English requirement, and when it is waived
Official test scores are required unless your undergraduate or higher education was conducted in English for at least two years. If you studied your degree in English in India, that exemption is likely to apply to you, and it is worth checking before you pay for a test.
Where a test is needed, the stated thresholds are TOEFL 100 out of a 120-point scale, or IELTS 7.
There is no income criterion
Nothing in the eligibility rules refers to family income, and no income document is asked for. This is a merit and leadership selection.
What is actually covered
The programme's own list, and it is unusually complete:
- Tuition and fees
- Room and board
- Travel to and from Beijing at the beginning and end of the academic year
- In-country study tours
- Required course books and supplies
- A Lenovo laptop
- Health insurance
- A personal stipend
One honest gap: the amount of the personal stipend is not published anywhere in the admissions material. It is named as a stipend and never quantified, so we are not going to put a number on it. Ask the programme directly if the figure matters to your planning.
There is no application fee
Stated plainly: there is no fee associated with applying to the programme. If anyone asks you to pay to apply, or offers to submit it for you for a fee, that is not the programme.
Interviews are paid for too
If you reach the interview stage, interview expenses are arranged and covered — economy class air or train travel, group meals, and one night in a hotel if needed. For an applicant travelling from India, that removes the cost that usually decides whether a shortlisted candidate can attend at all.
The timeline
- Applications close 9 September 2026, 3:00 p.m. EDT
- Selection runs October to November 2026
- The programme itself begins August 2027
So this is a decision you make roughly a year before you would travel. Plan your degree completion around the 1 August 2027 requirement.
How to apply
Everything goes through the programme's own admissions pages at schwarzmanscholars.org. Start early: the requirements include essays and references, and a September deadline with an EDT cut-off is less forgiving than it looks from India.
Dates checked on 16 August 2026. Deadlines in India move without notice, so confirm on the official portal linked above before you apply.
We re-check every deadline on its official source. If this one moves, this page moves with it. How we check every date.
Published 16 Aug 2026. Dates change without warning, so check the official site before you apply. We never take your application, your documents or your money. You apply directly, always.