At Youth Works Hub, we went through the fine print of three funded scholarships so you can see exactly what each one covers, who can actually apply, and when the deadline hits, without wading through a dozen official pages yourself. If you are an international student dreaming of a fully funded degree abroad, these three routes cover very different profiles: an automatic merit award for undergraduates heading to a top US STEM university, a government-funded Master's and Doctoral programme in Czechia for citizens of selected developing countries, and a fully funded Master's in the United States for early-career professionals from Asia and the Pacific. One is open right now on a rolling basis, and the other two close in the coming months, so it is worth knowing which one fits you before the window shuts.
These are not vague "apply and hope" listings. Each comes with concrete numbers, clear eligibility and a defined set of benefits, and the differences between them are large. According to Youth Works Hub's review, only one of the three covers your international flights and housing in full, while another pays a monthly stipend but leaves travel to you, and the third is a tuition-side merit award rather than an all-in package. Read the breakdown, check the eligibility carefully (two of the three are restricted to specific countries), and apply to whichever matches your situation.
What's in this batch:
3 Funded Scholarships ยท Undergraduate, Master's & Doctoral ยท 2 Study Countries
- ๐บ๐ธ United States โ WPI Merit Scholarships, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (rolling)
- ๐จ๐ฟ Czechia โ Government Scholarships for Developing Countries 2027/2028 (closes 30 Sep)
- ๐บ๐ธ United States โ ADB-Japan Scholarship Program (ADB-JSP) 2026 (closes 1 Dec)
How they compare at a glance
๐ The WPI Merit Scholarships are for undergraduates, mostly awarded automatically on admission, and act as a tuition-side merit discount rather than an all-in package.
๐ถ The Czechia Government Scholarships are for Master's and Doctoral students from 13 specific developing countries, paying a monthly stipend plus tuition and health, but leaving your travel uncovered.
โ๏ธ The ADB-JSP is the only fully all-in option here, covering tuition, flights, housing, stipend, textbooks and insurance for a Master's, but it is limited to ADB developing-country citizens aged 35 or under.
๐ Scholarships
1. ๐บ๐ธ WPI Merit Scholarships: Automatic Awards for First-Year and Transfer Students, United States
๐ Deadline: As soon as possible!
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a private STEM-focused university in Worcester, Massachusetts, rewards strong students with a range of merit scholarships, and the best part is that most require no separate application at all: when you apply for admission, you are automatically considered. The awards recognise strong academic records and specific talents, from the sciences to robotics.
At the core is the Presidential Scholarship, WPI's flagship merit award. The amount is variable and set during the admissions review, and it is renewable for up to four years. Applicants holding an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma with a score of 40 or above are guaranteed a minimum of $25,000. Transfer students are covered too, through the automatic Transfer Academic Merit Scholarship, awarded on the basis of academic record with no extra step. Beyond these, WPI offers specialty scholarships tied to particular fields, including Biology and Biotechnology, Chemical Engineering (CHESP), Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Robotics.
A couple of important notes. WPI's robotics scholarships do require a separate application: the flagship FIRST Robotics Scholarship has offered full tuition (roughly $220,000 over four years) plus three additional $40,000 awards, but its Fall 2026 deadline of 23 February 2026 has already passed and the next cycle's dates are not yet released; a separate VEX Robotics award also exists. Eligibility for individual merit awards can vary for international students, so confirm directly with WPI which specific awards you qualify for, and note that the Great Minds Scholars Program is reserved for US students who are Pell-eligible and first-generation.
2. ๐จ๐ฟ Government of Czechia Scholarships for Developing Countries 2027/2028: Funded Master's and Doctoral Study
๐ Deadline: 30.09.2026
The Government of Czechia offers development-cooperation scholarships for citizens of selected developing countries to study follow-up Master's and Doctoral programmes at public universities for the 2027/2028 academic year. It is a long-standing programme: since the late 1950s, over 20,000 foreign nationals have completed their studies at Czech universities on a Government of Czechia scholarship. The application period runs from 21 August to 30 September 2026.
Eligibility is strictly by nationality. The scholarships are offered only to citizens of: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus (democratic forces), Ethiopia, Gabon, Mauritania, Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Palestine, Guatemala and Honduras. Citizens of Czechia or the EU, and anyone with a permanent residence permit in Czechia, cannot apply. Programmes taught in Czech (for applicants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus) include a one-year preparatory Czech course at Charles University before a two-year Master's; programmes taught in English (open to all eligible countries) cover selected two-year Master's and three-to-four-year Doctoral degrees. A Master's scholarship requires a completed Bachelor's; a Doctoral scholarship requires a completed Master's.
On the money side, the scholarship provides a monthly stipend of CZK 16,000 for Master's students and CZK 24,960 for Doctoral students, health services reimbursed by the Ministry of Health, and study at a public university under the same conditions as Czech students. Be aware of the gaps: travel to Czechia and back home is not covered, accommodation, food and transport come out of your stipend, and you should budget roughly CZK 5,000 to 8,000 in initial costs on arrival.
3. ๐บ๐ธ ADB-Japan Scholarship Program (ADB-JSP) 2026: Fully Funded Master's at the University of Hawai'i
๐ Deadline: 01.12.2026
The Asian Development Bank-Japan Scholarship Program (ADB-JSP) offers a genuinely fully funded Master's degree at the University of Hawai'i at Mฤnoa, combined with the leadership and residential programmes of the East-West Center in Honolulu. Funded by the Government of Japan through the ADB and established back in April 1988, it exists to strengthen human-resource capacity across the Bank's developing member countries. Applications for the Fall 2027 intake are open from August to December 2026, with a deadline of 1 December 2026.
The coverage is comprehensive: full tuition and fees, roundtrip travel to Honolulu, housing in East-West Center residences, a monthly stipend, textbook funds, health insurance, and US visa sponsorship (J-1 Exchange Visitor). Funded Master's programmes include Business Administration (Global MBA), Economics, Geography, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Ocean and Resources Engineering, Oceanography, Pacific Islands Studies, Public Administration, Sociology, Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, and Urban and Regional Planning, each with its own required standardized tests (TOEFL, IELTS or DUOLINGO, and GRE or GMAT for some).
To be eligible you must be a citizen and current resident of an ADB developing member country, no older than 35 at the time of application, hold a four-year Bachelor's degree or equivalent, have at least two years of full-time professional work experience after your degree, and take an accepted English proficiency test. In return, scholars are expected to go home after their studies to apply what they have learned to their country's development.
Before You Apply
Three scholarships, three very different profiles, so the first step is honest self-matching: WPI is for undergraduates heading to a US STEM campus, Czechia's programme is for Master's and Doctoral candidates from thirteen specific countries, and ADB-JSP is for working professionals from ADB member states. Once you know which fits, a strong application is what separates a shortlist from a rejection: prepare a clean Europass CV and, where a statement is required, a specific motivation letter that ties your goals to what the programme funds. If a fully funded Master's is your real target, it is also worth comparing these with the Erasmus Mundus joint master's route in Europe. Find more funded study and scholarship guides, explained in plain language, on Youth Works Hub.
