Financial Aid

• Prospective/incoming Master students: apply for financial aid during your application for admission. The Admissions Office will notify you about the outcome of both applications.
  
  It is not possible to apply for financial aid during the late application round (1st March).
  
  Note that the evaluation process of your application for admission is “need-blind”: the academic evaluation committees do not know which applicant requested financial aid and have no access to this or any related financial information in the file. Financial aid applications are evaluated only after all the admission decisions have been made and can no longer be altered.
   
• All students who decide to attend the Institute need to confirm their admission by paying a pre-registration fee of CHF 1,000, deducted from your first tuition invoice. This guarantees your place in the programme and your financial aid package, if awarded. Please note that all students, even those awarded a maximum tuition reduction, are expected to pay the CHF 1,000 pre-registration fee. It will contribute towards financing scholarships for others, in a spirit of solidarity and unity.
   
• If you are a current student holding a scholarship and/or a tuition reduction or a continuing PhD student (whose program started before September 2022), apply for financial aid between 1st April and 30 May.
   
• If you are a PhD student with no financial aid package and whose program started on or after September 2022, you may apply for financial aid. Within the limits of the available budget, the PhD Admission and Financial Committee may, exceptionally, allocate financial assistance (in the form of a full or partial scholarship and/or a tuition reduction). This is a one-year financial assistance available to PhD researchers of two kinds: either PhD researchers who have been admitted with no funding before September 2022; or in some cases, PhD researchers with a 4- year financial aid package who seek a 5th year funding. The Committee’s decision-making  process  when  selecting  1-year scholarship holders assesses requests based on academic excellence and the potential of research projects.

Yes, all Master students who have received financial aid and who wish to renew it for the following year should submit their renewal request between 1st April and 30 May. It is in your interest to complete your file as quickly as possible. Incomplete applications will not be considered. This also applies to PhD students whose program started before September 2022.

The scholarship is generally allocated for a period of 10 months, from September to June.

If necessary, you may contact our accounting services at the start of the academic year to arrange disbursement over 12 months (from September to August). The amount will be adjusted accordingly.

If you do not have a Swiss bank account when you arrive, the first disbursement can be made in cash. Subsequent disbursements will be transferred directly to your local bank account. You will find information on opening a bank account on this link. You may also consider opening a postal account.

Be aware that when reassessing a student’s financial aid award in view of additional income, the calculation is made on the basis of CHF 2,000/month (full scholarship) or CHF 1,000/month (partial scholarship) over 10 months, regardless of your actual disbursement plan, which might be spread over 12 months.

If you are a Master student with no previous financial aid award from the Institute, you may not apply for financial assistance for your second year of studies. 

All Master students receiving financial aid are required to live and stay in Geneva or neighboring France until May 31st in order to receive their June stipend.

All beneficiaries of financial aid awarded by the Institute and who are enrolled in a Master program or a PhD program which started before September 2022 and who wish to take a remunerated job or internship, either at the Institute or elsewhere; or who accept any other form of financial aid from an external source during the academic year, are required to inform the Scholarships Office immediately. Your situation will then be re-assessed and the financial aid award might be reduced or canceled as a consequence.

Accumulating revenue from different sources is allowed only if the combined total of both the Institute’s financial aid and the additional income does not exceed CHF 32,000, as specified in the directive on financial aid. Otherwise, financial aid from the Institute will be decreased accordingly.

Be aware that when reassessing a student’s financial aid award in view of additional income, the calculation is made on the basis of CHF 2,000/month (full scholarship) or CHF 1,000/month (partial scholarship) over 10 months, regardless of your actual disbursement plan, which might spread over 12 months. If applicable, the tuition fee reduction will also be adjusted.

Any modifications in your financial situation arising between submitting your application and the end of the financial aid period must be notified immediately to the Scholarships Office.

PhD students enrolled after September 2022 with a Financial Support package are permitted to work up to a 25% annualised activity rate during their first and second years. 

During their third and fourth years, the regulations vary:
 

• If they provide a teaching assistance, they are permitted to work up to 25% annualised activity rate.   
• If they solely rely on a scholarship, they are permitted to increase their work commitment to a 50% annualized activity rate.
   
• For clarity, a 25% annualised activity rate corresponds to a maximum of 520 working hours per academic year.

Our donors do not wish to have direct contact with financial aid applicants. Doing so would jeopardize your chances of obtaining a sponsored scholarship.

If the Institute accepts your financial aid application and you are awarded a scholarship, the Financial Aid Committee will verify if you meet the criteria for one of our sponsored scholarships. If accepted by the donor, the student will be informed.

Your scholarship from the Institute will then be transformed into a scholarship form one of our donors. This procedure allows us to raise funds for our “Special/Emergency Aid”.

All students receiving a scholarship from a donor are required to send us a brief report in May. This report is then transferred to the donor.

We normally require the income declaration for the latest fiscal year for you, your spouse (if applicable) and/or your parents. However, if this document is not available in your country or due to some exceptional circumstances, you may also provide us with proof of your and your parents’/spouse’s income in other forms: for example, an employment contract indicating salary; recent salary slips; bank statements indicating available funds; savings; annuities; investments; family contributions; pensions; alimony, maintenance and child support; invalidity insurance; widower pension; etc.

If a fiscal/income declaration is unavailable, please send us a letter explaining the reasons or exceptional circumstances. If you obtain any other type of grant and/or loan, please provide us with this documentation.

“Gross wealth” includes all the assets that you and your family own: for example, material goods and real estate/land; liquidity in the form of bonds; and interests. These assets can generate a regular income or have the potential to generate future income.

Yes. Your financial aid application is valid only for the academic year for which you have been admitted.

Please visit your LLM programme’s website for this information. Note that the financial aid office at the Graduate Institute does not evaluate requests from LLM students. This includes the LLM in International Law, the Geneva Academy and the MIDS.

• For the LLM, you will find information here.
• For the MIDS, you will find information here.
• For the Geneva Academy, you will find information here.

Special/Emergency aid is not available to students enrolled in the LL.M program, the MIDS or any other program that is not a regular Master or PhD program from the Institute.

New applicants can track their status via the online follow up module linked to their application.

Current students can also check the status of their financial aid application on the follow up (available only in April-May).

Yes, and we strongly encourage you to do so.

Please remember to inform us accordingly, as your external funding must be documented. Failure to do so may result in our financial aid award being revoked.

Your scholarship stipend should cover your current living expenses during your studies.

Master students are required to reside in Switzerland or neighbouring France in order to receive their monthly stipend. Their presence will be periodically and randomly checked during the academic year.

Click here for an estimation of living costs. This will give you an idea of what to expect and how to plan your budget. Please note that this is only an estimate and it is valid for a student with no dependents.

Yes, you can explore other options of funding which may be available in your country. You may also contact private donors and foundations that welcome direct student contact (not the Graduate Institute’s donors). If you are Swiss citizen, please consult this page.

In addition, you can also seek employment by visiting our Internships and jobs page. Please note the General Rules for working in Switzerland. Our Career Services department is here to assist you.

As long as you are successfully completing your studies, you may apply as many times as necessary. Master students can apply for their second year of study (up to 4 semesters) and PhD students whose program started before September 2022 may apply for subsequent years, although they are encouraged to seek alternative funding.

Once the thesis is defended, the student has 3 months to integrate the corrections requested by the jury. Then, the legal deposit is made and the student obtains the imprimatur which signs the end of studies and grants the title of doctor. During these three months, the student's status is in "FinProvisory" but is still a registered student and may, therefore, receive the scholarship stipend.

The scholarship stops once the status changes to "FinSu".