The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are awarded by the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS) to early-career researchers who already hold a master’s degree and want to do a PhD or a research stay at a Swiss university, at ETH Zurich or EPFL, or at an ETH Domain research institute. The 2027/28 round opened on 20 August 2026 and the scholarship starts on 1 September 2027.
What you get: CHF 2,450 per month. Applicants from non-EU/EFTA countries also receive health insurance and a return flight allowance. A research fellowship lasts between 6 and 12 months; a PhD scholarship runs for 12 months and can be renewed twice, up to 36 months. The scholarship does not pay tuition: the official overview states that PhD fees are not waived, so budget for the fees of the host university.
Who can apply: you must have been born after 31 December 1991 and have completed a master’s degree or equivalent by 31 July 2027 (30 June 2027 for ETH Zurich). Every application needs the support of a professor in Switzerland who agrees to supervise you, so the first step is finding a host, not filling in the form. The FCS assesses the candidate’s profile, the quality of the research project and the potential for research cooperation.
Which countries: the FCS publishes a country list each year. For 2027/28 the Research Fellowship and PhD categories are open to applicants from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The Master’s in Arts category is not offered to these countries.
Deadlines by country (submission to the Swiss embassy responsible for you):
– Tunisia: 13 October 2026
– Egypt, Morocco, UAE, Sudan, Libya, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain: 10 November 2026
– Algeria: 13 November 2026
– Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Oman: 27 November 2026
– Lebanon, Syria: 30 November 2026
Some countries are served by an embassy elsewhere: Sudan through Cairo, Libya through Tunis, Syria through Beirut, Yemen through Muscat, Bahrain through Abu Dhabi.
How to apply: complete the eligibility check and the online application on the GO ESKAS portal, then submit the file to the embassy by your country’s date. Decisions are announced by the end of May 2027 at the latest.
The application is free. The FCS warns applicants about phishing messages that ask for payment: no fee is ever requested.