KFUPM Scholarship: Full Funding for Master's and PhD

KFUPM Scholarship

A full scholarship attached to admission as a full-time master's (thesis-based) or PhD student at KFUPM in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Covers tuition, housing, meals and medical care, plus international airfare for non-Saudi students. No separate scholarship form and no single published annual deadline.

Checked 15 Sept 2026Share

Who can apply

Distinguished applicant with a high GPA, admitted as a full-time student to an eligible MS (thesis-based) or PhD programme
Scholarships are offered for all PhD programmes and PhD Direct Entry programmes
No separate scholarship application; funding is attached automatically to qualifying full-time thesis-track admission
Direct PhD track runs five years total; the full scholarship funds only the first four

The scholarship is the admission, not a separate award you apply for

There is no standalone scholarship form to fill out here. KFUPM’s own page states plainly that “distinguished graduate applicants who demonstrate exceptional qualifications and performance with a high GPA can be admitted as Full-time MS or Ph.D. students with a full scholarship.” Apply for full-time thesis-based admission through the university’s own portal, and the funding decision is made as part of that same admissions review, not through a separate scholarship application afterward.

No single published deadline, but the portal shows the window is genuinely open

KFUPM does not publish one fixed annual closing date for this track the way many other universities do. What is confirmed directly against the live admissions portal is that MS (Thesis-Based) and PhD Admission is currently marked “Apply Now,” the same status the portal gives to several other genuinely open tracks, while a separate set of undergraduate tracks on the same page are explicitly marked “Closed.” That contrast is a reliable live signal that the graduate thesis-track window is open now, even without a fixed date attached to it. Older specific dates tied to this programme have already passed and should not be relied on; check the portal directly, or email the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies, for the current cycle’s actual cutoff.

The Direct PhD track’s funding window is shorter than the programme itself

If you’re weighing the five-year Direct PhD track specifically, note that the full scholarship covers only the first four of those five years, not the whole programme by default. Budget for how the fifth year gets funded, whether through a research assistantship, a supervisor’s grant, or another source, before committing to that specific track over the standard entry route.

Airfare is a real benefit, but only for non-Saudi students

Among the confirmed non-cash benefits, air tickets are explicitly limited to international students; Saudi nationals admitted to the same scholarship do not receive this specific perk. Housing, meals, and medical and dental care, by contrast, are described as benefits of the scholarship generally, without that same nationality restriction attached.

Self-sponsored applicants who miss the scholarship still have a published fee table

Not every admitted MS or PhD student receives the full scholarship, and KFUPM publishes a separate self-sponsored fee schedule for that case rather than leaving it undefined. Saudi self-sponsored students pay a lower semester registration fee than non-Saudi self-sponsored students (5,000 versus 7,500 Saudi riyals from first admission through the first thesis or dissertation semester, dropping to 2,500 versus 3,750 riyals per semester after that), with both groups paying the same 500 riyals per credit hour. If you are admitted but not awarded the scholarship, this fee table, not the scholarship benefits above, is what you would actually pay.