Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Graduate Scholarships

Who can apply

Admission to an HBKU graduate programme; scholarships are considered automatically during the admissions process itself, with no separate scholarship application
Tuition waivers and stipends are awarded on a merit or need basis and depend on fund availability; HBKU's own FAQ states plainly that scholarships are not automatically awarded to every admitted student
Full-time working professionals, and part-time workers exceeding 40% of full-time hours, are not eligible for a stipend, though a discounted tuition rate may still be available based on need
Stipends funded from external sources, such as research grants, are excluded from the standard rates and follow the sponsor's own terms

No separate scholarship form, and no guarantee either

Hamad Bin Khalifa University is spelled with one “m” (it is often searched as HBKU, or misspelled “Hammad Bin Khalifa”), and it is part of Qatar Foundation in Doha. If you are applying from outside Qatar, for example from Pakistan or any other country, you are an international applicant, and the international rates and the 1 February 2027 deadline below are the ones that apply to you.

There’s no separate scholarship form here, which is easy to miss if you’re used to applying for funding as its own step. HBKU folds the scholarship decision into the regular admissions process: you apply for the degree programme, and if you’re admitted, a tuition waiver and possibly a stipend are considered automatically. That said, HBKU’s own FAQ is blunt that this isn’t a guarantee: scholarships depend on merit, financial need, and the funds actually available that year, not on admission alone. Students who don’t receive a scholarship at all aren’t left with the full sticker price either: a self-sponsored discounted rate of 2,000 QAR per credit hour is available based on financial need.

The tuition-waiver rate depends entirely on your programme

Read the tuition-waiver table before you assume “graduate scholarship” means a fully funded degree. The rate depends entirely on which college and programme you’re applying to. PhD students in STEM or in SHAPE/S.J.D. fields get a full 100% waiver, but Master’s-level SHAPE and MA programmes only get 60%, and LL.M., MS Economics, and certificate programmes get no waiver at all. Two applicants admitted to HBKU in the same year, one to a PhD in Computing and one to an LL.M., could end up with completely different funding realities.

Three stipend tiers, not two

The stipend structure has a tier the “international vs. domestic” framing misses: HBKU actually runs three tiers, Qatari, International, and a separate, lower “Local” tier for resident non-Qatari students. A Local PhD student receives 5,000 QAR a month, well below both the International rate (9,000 QAR) and the Qatari rate (11,000 QAR), and the same three-tier gap applies at Master’s level too. Check which tier actually applies to you rather than assuming “not Qatari” automatically means the International rate.

Housing is the detail most likely to catch a stipend recipient off guard

Housing is the detail most likely to catch a stipend recipient off guard. HBKU pays a real monthly stipend but does not cover accommodation at all, in university dormitories or otherwise, and says so explicitly; the amount is unaffected by marital status or number of dependents. Doha housing costs are not trivial, so factor rent out of that stipend before you calculate what you’ll actually have to live on.

Applying from outside Qatar, step by step

HBKU describes five steps. You click “Apply Now” to create a user account, then submit your application by choosing your college and programme, and you can submit up to two applications per academic year. After you submit, a confirmation email tells you how to log back in to upload supplementary documents and give contact details for your references. The admissions team checks your application for completion and eligibility before forwarding it to the relevant college, and if the college accepts you, you receive an offer letter. Online applications open on 1 October 2026, and the deadline for international graduate applicants is 1 February 2027.

The later dates, 15 March 2027 for Qatari and resident applicants who want funding and 2 May 2027 for late applications, are for Qatari and resident applicants only, so do not plan around them if you are applying from abroad. HBKU’s colleges include Islamic Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, Law, Health and Life Sciences, Public Policy, and the School of Economics and Management, which is where your programme choice will sit.

Keeping the scholarship once you have it

An award is not permanent. HBKU says scholarships are reviewed annually and depend on academic progress and available funds, and you must maintain good academic standing as set out in your scholarship agreement. External funding may affect your eligibility, so read the agreement before accepting a second award, and deferring your admission may also affect eligibility, so ask your college first. You are notified of an award by email, and the stipend is a fixed amount meant to cover general living expenses including meals, since meal plans are not separately included.

A stipend comes with a work obligation, capped at a firm total

If you do receive a stipend, know that it comes with a work obligation, not just a payment: 10 hours a week as a Research Assistant for your supervisor. You’re also capped at 10 further hours a week of paid work on top of that, whether as a Teaching Assistant or through the university’s Student Employment Program, for a firm maximum of 20 hours a week combined, so this isn’t a stipend you can supplement with unlimited part-time work on the side. Exceptions to the standard stipend terms can be considered case by case, but only with sign-off from both the dean and the provost. If you’re weighing Gulf-region options more broadly, the Tamim Scholarship at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies is another Qatar-based route, and the KAUST Fellowship in Saudi Arabia is a comparable STEM-focused programme worth checking alongside this one.