Quick Answer: Malta scholarships for Indian students in 2026 fall into three real categories — the government-funded Endeavour II Scholarship Scheme (Master’s/PhD, ESF co-funded, the 5th Call for 2026 closed on 5 June), university tuition waivers (University of Malta offers 40–100% off postgraduate fees; AUM and GBS Malta offer 50–90% merit awards), and EU-funded joint programmes like Erasmus Mundus. None of them are automatic, most Indian applicants miss the application window entirely, and almost no agent tells you the next Endeavour call typically doesn’t open until spring the following year — which is exactly why you need to start preparing documents now, not after you’ve already been rejected once.
Table of Contents
- Malta Scholarships for Indian Students: The 2026 Reality Check
- The 9 Real Scholarship Routes, Compared
- Malta Government Endeavour Scholarship Scheme
- University of Malta International Postgraduate Scholarships
- American University of Malta (AUM) Scholarships
- GBS Malta MBA Scholarships
- Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees
- MCAST International Fee Reductions
- Private-Institution Merit Scholarships
- Malta’s Get Qualified Tax-Credit Scheme
- The Education-Loan Fallback Route
- Eligibility, Deadlines & Coverage at a Glance
- Scholarship Route vs Self-Funded Route: Pros and Cons
- How to Actually Apply — Step by Step
- Common Mistakes Indian Students Make
- Expert Tips From 15 Years of Counselling
- Real Student Success Stories
- FAQs
Malta Scholarships for Indian Students: The 2026 Reality Check
Every Malta consultant’s pitch deck has a slide that says “scholarships available.” Almost none of them tell you which scholarship, who actually qualifies, or that the biggest one on the list closed its application window months before you started Googling this.
We’ve walked Indian families through Malta admissions long enough to know the pattern: a student shortlists a university, gets excited about a scholarship mentioned on a blog, applies for the course anyway, and only finds out at the visa stage that the scholarship deadline passed while they were still finalising their IELTS score. That’s not bad luck. That’s a planning gap, and it’s fixable if you know the real calendar.
This guide covers every legitimate funding route open to Indian students in Malta right now — what each one actually pays for, who is realistically eligible, and when to apply so you’re not fifteen days late to a scholarship that runs once a year.
The 9 Real Scholarship Routes for Indian Students in Malta
Here’s the honest list. Some of these are competitive fully-funded awards; others are automatic tuition discounts you get simply by applying with a strong profile. Both matter — most students end up combining two or three of these rather than winning one big scholarship.
| Scholarship | Level | Typical Coverage | Competitiveness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endeavour II (Government of Malta) | Master’s, PhD | Tuition + stipend + travel | High |
| University of Malta Postgraduate Waiver | Master by Research, PhD | 40–100% tuition | Moderate–High |
| American University of Malta (AUM) Merit | Bachelor’s, Master’s | Up to 50% tuition | Moderate |
| GBS Malta MBA Scholarships | MBA | 50–90% tuition | Moderate |
| Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s | Master’s | Full tuition + €1,400/month + travel | Very High |
| MCAST International Fee Reduction | Diploma, Degree | Partial fee reduction | Low–Moderate |
| Private-institution merit awards | Varies | 10–30% (institution-specific) | Low–Moderate |
| Get Qualified Scheme (tax credit) | Postgraduate | Up to 70% as a tax credit, post-study | Not competitive — eligibility-based |
| Education loan + partial scholarship combo | Any | Loan covers the gap after a partial award | N/A |
1. Malta Government Endeavour Scholarship Scheme
Endeavour II is Malta’s flagship, government-run, EU-co-funded scholarship for Master’s (MQF Level 7) and PhD (MQF Level 8) study, run through myscholarship.gov.mt. It’s open to international applicants, including Indian students, and covers tuition fees plus a study allowance.
The part nobody tells you: Endeavour II runs in numbered “Calls,” not on a fixed annual date. The 5th Call for 2026 opened 27 April and closed 5 June 2026, for study starting between 27 April 2026 and 26 April 2027. If you’re reading this after that window, the honest answer is that this specific call is shut — the next one typically opens the following spring. That’s a full academic year of lead time you can use productively: finalise your Master’s shortlist, get your IELTS/English proof sorted, and have your statement of purpose ready so you’re not scrambling in a six-week window next time.
You cannot apply for a second Master’s or a lower postgraduate qualification if you already hold one — the scheme is explicit about that. If you already have a Master’s, you’re eligible for the PhD track only.
2. University of Malta International Postgraduate Scholarships
The University of Malta — the country’s only public university — runs its own tuition-fee waiver for non-EU/EEA Master by Research and PhD candidates, ranging from 40% to 100% depending on academic merit and the outcome of the selection process. This waiver covers tuition only; it does not cover living costs or travel, so you still need to budget for the year using the figures in our real cost breakdown for studying in Malta. The application window generally closes around the end of April each year — build that into your intake planning alongside the dates in our Malta intakes guide.
3. American University of Malta (AUM) Scholarships
AUM offers merit-based scholarships of up to 50% tuition waiver, assessed on a published scholarship policy that weighs GPA, English proficiency (broadly IELTS 7+ or TOEFL iBT 93+), community involvement, and financial need. Unlike Endeavour, this isn’t a separate application — it’s assessed automatically alongside your admission file, which makes it one of the more realistic wins for a strong undergraduate applicant who doesn’t want to gamble everything on one government scheme.
4. GBS Malta MBA Scholarships
Global Business School (GBS) Malta runs a tiered scholarship structure for its MBA: a standard Merit-Based Scholarship around 50% off tuition, and an Excellence Scholarship offering up to 90% for applicants with a GPA in the 3.8–4.0 range. There’s also an Extracurricular Achievement Scholarship for candidates with a strong non-academic track record — useful if your grades are solid but not top-of-class and you’ve led something outside the classroom worth writing about.
5. Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees
This is the highest-value award on this list, and the least talked about by Malta-specific consultants because it’s an EU-wide programme, not a Malta-only one. Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees (EMJMDs) are consortium programmes — sometimes including a Malta-based institution as one of two or three teaching campuses — and Indian applicants are classed as “Partner Country” candidates, which puts them in the highest funding tier: full tuition, a living allowance of roughly €1,400/month, travel costs, and insurance, worth an estimated €40,000–€50,000 over the programme. Application windows typically run October to January for the following autumn intake, and you apply directly through the consortium’s own portal, not through Malta’s government scheme.
6. MCAST International Fee Reductions
MCAST, Malta’s largest vocational and applied-degree institution, offers narrower but real fee reductions for international students on select diploma and degree programmes. These aren’t headline-grabbing awards, but for students choosing a hands-on, career-focused route over a traditional university degree, they meaningfully lower the entry cost — worth asking your admissions contact about directly, since availability shifts by intake and programme.
7. Private-Institution Merit Scholarships
Global College Malta, St Martin’s Institute of Higher Education, and similar MFHEA-licensed private colleges each publish their own merit-scholarship policies, typically in the 10–30% tuition-reduction range for strong academic profiles. These change more often than government schemes, so treat any percentage you read online — including in this guide — as a starting point, and request the current scholarship policy document directly from the institution before you budget around it.
8. Malta’s Get Qualified Scheme (Tax-Credit Route)
This one is genuinely misunderstood. Get Qualified isn’t a scholarship you apply for before you start studying — it’s a Malta tax credit that can refund up to 70% of course fees (capped around €10,000) against tax paid in Malta, on approved postgraduate courses. It’s only useful once you’re working and paying tax in Malta, so it matters more for students planning to stay on for a graduate job than for someone funding a single Master’s year from India. Worth knowing about, not worth over-promising to a first-year applicant.
9. The Education-Loan Fallback Route
Here’s the practical truth: most Indian students applying to Malta won’t win a full scholarship on the first try, and that’s normal — Endeavour and Erasmus Mundus are genuinely competitive against a global applicant pool. The realistic combination for most families is a partial merit award (AUM, GBS, or a private-institution waiver) plus an education loan from an Indian bank or NBFC covering the balance. Budgeting for that combination from day one, rather than assuming a full scholarship will come through, is what actually gets students to Malta on schedule.
Eligibility, Deadlines & Coverage at a Glance
| Scholarship | Minimum Eligibility | Typical Application Window | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endeavour II | Bachelor’s for Master’s track; Master’s for PhD track | Spring, ~6-week call | Tuition, stipend, travel |
| University of Malta Waiver | Strong academic record, Master by Research/PhD applicant | Closes ~end of April | 40–100% tuition only |
| AUM Merit Scholarship | GPA ~3.5+, IELTS 7+ or equivalent | Assessed with admission | Up to 50% tuition |
| GBS Malta MBA | GPA 3.8–4.0 for Excellence tier | Assessed with MBA application | 50–90% tuition |
| Erasmus Mundus | Bachelor’s, competitive academic profile | October–January | Full tuition + living costs |
| MCAST Fee Reduction | Programme-dependent | Aligned with intake dates | Partial fee reduction |
Scholarship Route vs Self-Funded Route: Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons | |
|---|---|---|
| Chasing a full scholarship (Endeavour/Erasmus Mundus) | Removes tuition and often living-cost pressure entirely; strengthens your CV significantly | Narrow application windows, high competition, no guarantee — risky if it’s your only plan |
| Partial merit award + loan/self-funding | Realistic timeline, doesn’t depend on beating a global applicant pool, still cuts costs meaningfully | You still carry real financial responsibility and loan interest |
| Fully self-funded, no scholarship applied | Simplest paperwork, no risk of a rejected scholarship delaying your visa file | You pay full tuition — often €9,000–€18,000/year — when a 40–90% reduction might have been available for the cost of one extra application |
How to Actually Apply — Step by Step
Most scholarship applications fail on process, not merit. Here’s the sequence that actually works.
- Shortlist your programme first, scholarship second. Endeavour II, university waivers, and AUM/GBS awards all require you to already have a target programme — you can’t apply to a scholarship in isolation.
- Check the current call dates before you plan your intake. Cross-reference the scholarship’s live application window against Malta’s 2026 intake calendar — a mismatch here is the single biggest reason students miss a scholarship entirely.
- Get your English proficiency score sorted early. AUM’s merit tier and most private-institution awards use IELTS/TOEFL bands as a hard cutoff — a low score doesn’t just affect admission, it silently disqualifies you from the higher scholarship tier.
- Request the current scholarship policy document directly from the institution. Percentages and caps change yearly; don’t rely on a blog post — including this one — as your final source. Go to the university’s own financial-aid office.
- Apply to more than one route. There’s no rule against applying for a university tuition waiver and a private scholarship in parallel — students who do this end up with real leverage to compare offers.
- Once admitted, move fast on the visa file. Scholarship or not, Malta’s student visa process has its own document and financial-proof requirements — see our full Malta student visa application walkthrough so a scholarship win doesn’t get undone by a rushed visa file.
Common Mistakes Indian Students Make
Applying for Endeavour II without a confirmed university offer. The scheme expects your academic pathway to be settled — a vague “I want to do a Master’s in Malta” application gets deprioritised against candidates with a specific, confirmed programme.
Assuming a scholarship also covers the visa financial-proof requirement. It doesn’t, automatically. Malta’s e-residence permit still asks for proof of funds independent of any tuition waiver — plan around the figures in our Malta cost-of-studying guide even if you’re expecting a scholarship outcome.
Treating “best university in Malta” and “most scholarship-friendly university in Malta” as the same question. They’re not always the same institution — compare both angles using our university comparison guide before committing.
Missing the six-week Endeavour window because IELTS retakes take longer than expected. Book your English test at least ten weeks before any scholarship deadline, not two.
Not asking whether a part-time job can supplement a partial scholarship. It often can — international students in Malta have defined part-time work rights that meaningfully offset a partial award; check our Malta work rights guide for the current hour limits and eligible sectors.
Expert Tips From 15 Years of Counselling Families
Students who actually win scholarships in Malta tend to do three things differently. First, they apply to the tuition-waiver route (university-administered) and the government scheme (Endeavour) in the same admissions cycle, rather than picking one and waiting to see. Second, they write a statement of purpose that names a specific research interest or career outcome tied to Malta — generic “I want to study in Europe” essays lose out every time against candidates who clearly did their homework on the programme. Third, they treat the scholarship policy document as the actual source of truth, not a consultant’s summary of it — policies get revised, and the version you read in January isn’t guaranteed to match June.
One more thing worth saying plainly: a partial scholarship is still a win. Families sometimes hold out for a 100% Endeavour award and let a genuine 50% AUM or GBS offer expire while waiting. Half your tuition covered, secured today, is worth more than a fully-funded maybe.
Real Student Success Stories
The following are illustrative, composite scenarios based on common situations Indian students face when applying for Malta scholarships — not verified individual case studies.
Ananya, Pune — Scored a solid 7.5 IELTS but had an average undergraduate GPA and assumed she had no scholarship shot. She applied to AUM’s Business Administration Master’s anyway; the merit assessment came back with a 40% tuition waiver based on her IELTS band and extracurricular record. Combined with a modest education loan, she started her programme in Malta without the financial stress she’d been dreading.
Rohan, Ahmedabad — Missed the Endeavour II 5th Call deadline by three weeks because his transcript attestation took longer than planned. Instead of waiting a full year, he pivoted to a University of Malta Master by Research seat with a 60% tuition waiver, secured his visa on schedule, and used the intervening months to prepare a stronger Endeavour application for the following cycle as a backup PhD plan.
Meera, Kochi — Held a strong CGPA and a genuine research interest in marine biology, matched to a Malta-hosted Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s in island and coastal studies. The fully-funded award covered tuition, a monthly stipend, and travel — but the application required a research statement drafted six months ahead of the October opening, which she only managed because she started preparing the summer before.
Arjun, Delhi — Applied for the GBS Malta MBA Excellence Scholarship with a 3.9 GPA and got the 90% tier, then discovered the remaining 10% plus living costs still needed the visa-stage proof of funds. He budgeted using the real monthly figures rather than assuming the scholarship alone would satisfy the immigration requirement, and avoided a last-minute scramble at the visa interview stage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a scholarship specifically for Indian students in Malta?
Not exclusively — Malta’s scholarships (Endeavour II, university waivers, Erasmus Mundus) are open to international applicants generally, and Indian students are eligible on the same terms as other non-EU/EEA candidates. There’s no India-only quota, but Indian applicants regularly win these awards on merit.
What is the Malta Government Endeavour Scholarship?
Endeavour II is an EU-co-funded scholarship scheme covering tuition, a study allowance, and travel costs for Master’s and PhD study in Malta, administered through myscholarship.gov.mt. It runs in numbered application “Calls” rather than a fixed yearly date.
Can I get a fully funded scholarship to study in Malta?
Yes — Endeavour II and Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees are both genuinely fully funded (tuition, stipend, and travel), but both are competitive against a global or EU-wide applicant pool, so treat them as a strong possibility, not a guaranteed Plan A.
Do I need IELTS to apply for Malta scholarships?
Most scholarships require proof of English proficiency, typically IELTS 6.5–7.0 or equivalent, though the exact threshold varies by institution and scholarship tier. AUM’s merit scholarship, for example, uses roughly IELTS 7+ as a benchmark for its top tier.
How much can a Malta university scholarship actually reduce my costs?
University of Malta postgraduate waivers run 40–100% of tuition; AUM and GBS Malta merit awards run up to 50–90%. None of these cover living costs, so pair your scholarship math with a realistic monthly budget rather than assuming tuition is your only expense.
What happens if I miss the Endeavour II application deadline?
You wait for the next Call, which typically opens the following spring — there’s no rolling admission for this specific scheme. Use the gap year productively: confirm your university offer, retake IELTS if needed, and draft your statement of purpose so you’re ready the moment the next Call opens.
Are private Malta institutions’ scholarships worth applying for?
Yes, especially because they’re less competitive than government or EU-wide schemes and are usually assessed automatically alongside your admission application rather than requiring a separate process. Always confirm the current percentage directly with the institution before budgeting around it.
Can I combine a scholarship with an education loan?
Yes, and for most Indian students this is the realistic path — a partial merit scholarship covering 40–90% of tuition, combined with an education loan for the remainder plus living costs, gets more students to Malta on schedule than waiting for a single full scholarship.
Making the Decision
Malta’s scholarship landscape rewards students who plan a full admissions cycle ahead, not the ones scrambling six weeks before a deadline. Start with your programme shortlist, check every relevant scholarship’s live window against your intended intake, and apply to more than one route in parallel — a university tuition waiver and a government scheme aren’t mutually exclusive.
If you want a second pair of eyes on which of these nine routes actually fits your academic profile, budget, and timeline, RiseUpEdu’s counselling team reviews Malta applications for Indian students year-round — not to sell you a package, but to make sure you’re not one missed deadline away from paying full tuition you didn’t need to.
Follow RiseUpEdu for real-time scholarship deadline updates and Malta admissions guidance: Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.
About the Author – M Fazeel
M Fazeel is a highly experienced admission counsellor with over 15 years of expertise in guiding students across India and abroad. Recognised among the top education counsellors in India, he has successfully mentored thousands of students who are now pursuing or have completed their education in leading institutions in India and overseas.
He is a well-educated researcher and author, known for providing practical, result-oriented guidance in career and admission planning. M Fazeel also holds professional certifications from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, further strengthening his credibility and expertise in the education domain.
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