Scholarship for Christians from the Middle East

The Hungarian Government invites young adults from the Middle East to apply for the Scholarship Program for Christian Young People.

The core mission of the Scholarship Program is to educate young people, helping them to gain the resources necessary to contribute to rebuilding their home countries.

The Scholarship Program for Christian Young People was born from the cooperation of the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary and church institutions in pursuit of humanitarian activities in crisis regions. The Scholarship is to provide the skills and education necessary for students to return home to reconstruct war-torn countries, and encourage the young people to take part in improving and preserving the Christian communities and its relationships.

The Scholarship Program for Christian Young People is open for applicants who are older than 18 years by the time their education starts in Hungary. Applications must be done through the www.scholarship.hu webpage. Local churches must verify that the applicant belongs to their religious community. Only those who submit the recommendation from their local church, along with the approval of the Deputy State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians will be considered for the scholarship.

The Károli Gáspár Reformed University joined the initiative this year and offers study programs in European and International Business Law, Englisch and German Studies.  

Deadline to submit online applications is the 19th March 2018. For more information, visit the website of the scholarship program. You can read more about the application process and the necessary documents in the Applicants' Guide.

The Hungarian Government launched the scholarship programme to support young people from persecuted Christian communities in the Middle East last year. The scholarship programme, which includes full board, will enable one hundred young Christians from the Middle Eastern region to follow their studies at Hungarian universities.

The goal of the scholarship programme is for young people from the Middle East to return home with the knowledge they have gained in Hungary and contribute to the reorganisation of their communities in regions that have been ravaged by armed conflict.

With the help of Hungary’s Churches, the students are also taking part in a pastoral programme to enable them to preserve their religious identities and their commitment to the lands of their birth.

Scholarship students had arrived from countries in which everyday life for Christians is fraught with disadvantage and danger. The majority of scholarship students have come so far from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Nigeria, and were studying at the Budapest University of technology and Economics, the University of Debrecen, the Liszt Ferenc University of Music, the University of Miskolc, the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the Pécs University of Science.

The Hungarian state also offers scholarships to several hundred Muslim students.

Priscilla Yang