Government of Ireland Scholarship: €10,000 and Fees Paid

Who can apply

Domicile of origin outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; Russian and Belarusian nationals are not eligible
A conditional or final offer of admission to an eligible Irish higher education institution at the time of applying, for a master's, postgraduate diploma, or PhD programme (NFQ level 9 or 10)
Applicants who have previously held a GOI-IES scholarship are not eligible to reapply
Two references must be uploaded through the online application portal; maximum one application per candidate per cycle
Selection considers outstanding academic achievement, communication skills, extracurricular activities, and a stated rationale for studying in Ireland specifically

Only 60 nationwide, every year

Only 60 of these are awarded across the entire country each year, covering every field, every host institution, and every eligible nationality combined. That scarcity is worth sitting with before you build a funding plan around it: treat GOI-IES as a genuine long shot worth applying to, not a fallback you can count on if other options fall through.

A genuine funding partnership, not one funder covering everything

The award itself is real but narrower than “fully funded” implies. The HEA’s own page describes GOI-IES as funded by the Government of Ireland in partnership with the host higher education institutions themselves, not the government alone: the government covers the €10,000 stipend, while the specific university is separately required to provide the tuition waiver for that year. The HEA’s own page says nothing about travel, so budget your flights and initial relocation costs as if you were paying for them entirely yourself, then treat any help from your specific university as a bonus rather than something to plan around. For the wider cost picture of studying in Ireland beyond this one scholarship, see the guide to studying in Ireland.

One eligibility detail worth flagging precisely because it’s easy to misread

One eligibility detail is worth flagging precisely because it is easy to misread: the domicile rule excludes the EU/EEA, Switzerland, and the UK, and separately excludes Russian and Belarusian nationals specifically, regardless of where they are domiciled. If either of those describes you, this scholarship is not available no matter how strong your application would otherwise be.

Check with your target institution before assuming your course qualifies

Because eligibility for a specific course is decided partly by the individual host institution, don’t wait until you have a GOI-IES application ready to ask whether your target programme actually qualifies. Contact the institution directly once you have a course in mind, since the HEA explicitly directs applicants to do this rather than assume every postgraduate programme in the country is eligible.

Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship (GOI-IES)