Ireland-Palestine Scholarship Programme

The Ireland- Palestine Scholarship Programme (IPSP) for the 2027- 2028 academic year is now closed to applications. 30 full scholarships are being offered for one- year Master’s- level programmes in Ireland.

The Ireland-Palestine Scholarship Prgoramme enables early to mid-career professionals from Palestine, with leadership potential, to benefit from a prestigious, world-class, quality education contributing to capacity building. It offers selected students the opportunity to undertake a fully funded one-year master’s level programme at a higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland.

Information on the IPSP, including the application process and the Ireland-Palestine Directory of Suitable Postgraduate Courses, is available on this page and the website of Amideast. General information on studying in Ireland is available at www.educationinireland.ie

Ireland Fellows Programme awards are fully funded. The award includes the payment of academic fees; visa application fees; medical and travel insurance; economy flights to and from Ireland; and the Irish residence permit fee. Allowances include the following:

• A settling-in allowance towards items needed on arrival in Ireland;
• A completion and departure allowance at the end of the study period;
• A monthly living stipend of €700 (subject to review);
• Student accommodation arranged and paid for trimesters 1 and 2 (normally September to May), and in trimester 3 a monthly accommodation stipend of €800- €1000 depending on location in Ireland (subject to review).

In addition, the Ireland Fellows Programme features many extracurricular, training and volunteering opportunities to help you make the most of your experience in Ireland.

Note: Under the terms of the Ireland - Palestine Scholarship Programme, practical, visa or residency support for family members is not included within the scope of the programme. Therefore students coming to Ireland under this programme have no right to bring their family with them, and family members, including children, are not eligible to apply for a visa on the basis of their relationship to the student (Immigration rules for full-time non-EEA students).

To be eligible for the IPSP, applicants must:

• be a Palestinian currently resident in Palestine, holding a Palestinian or Jerusalem ID;
• have identified and selected three relevant courses from the Directory of Eligible Postgraduate Courses;
• hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution with a minimum grade point average of 80% or 3.0 (or equivalent standard);
• have achieved the necessary academic standard to be accepted onto their chosen Master’s degree course in a higher education institution in Ireland (refer to the rough table of equivalency in the Selection of Course Choices section of the Guidance Note at the start of the online application);
• be applying to commence a new qualification and not be seeking funding for a course they have already commenced, or which will begin before scholarship awards have been notified;
• not already hold a qualification at Master’s degree level or higher;
• be able to take up the scholarship in the academic year 2027/2028;
• submit with their application a valid English-language proficiency score report (dated September 2025 or later) with a minimum score of 6.5 on IELTS, or 550 on Institutional Testing Program (ITP), or 80 on Internet-based TOEFL (iBT), or 120 overall score on Duolingo (and at least 105 in each sub-score on Duolingo).
• must not have applied to the Ireland Fellows Programme on more than one previous occasion.

The scholarship program is committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants, irrespective of sex, religious beliefs, race and ethnicity, age, disability status, gender identity and expression, geographic location, income, socio-economic status, or any other dimension of diversity.

The Government of Ireland supports equality of opportunity and welcomes diversity. It is important that you let us know if you have any accessibility requirements for completing your English language test, or any other aspects of the application, or for during your time in Ireland, should you be shortlisted following your application. These may include for specific learning difficulties, hearing difficulties and visual difficulties, or medical conditions. Accommodations may include braille papers, a lip-reading version of the listening test, or enlarged print. Information shared will be treated as confidential. Requesting reasonable accommodations will not impact the status of your application.

An applicant will not be considered further in either of the following circumstances:

• They are currently working, or it is anticipated that they will work in the future, at the Irish Representative Office or for the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ireland. Personnel who have worked with any Irish diplomatic mission in the past must allow a full year before becoming eligible to apply.
• They, or their immediate family members, are currently working at Amideast (staff members and/or consultants). Those are not eligible to apply during the period of their employment and until one year following the termination of employment.
• All successful applicants will be required to sign a commitment to return to their home country within 14 days of completing their studies in Ireland.

Submit an online application. Make sure to upload CLEAR scanned copies of ALL supporting documents into their designated fields.

Please retain the original copies of the supporting documents, as you will need to submit all original documents by hand at to the Amideast office(s) if you are selected after Round-One (Interviews). Recognizing the extreme challenges candidates might face in submitting documents, Amideast will do its utmost to facilitate submission options for candidates selected for Round-One interviews and will contact students directly at that stage to appraise options.

You need to submit CLEAR scanned copies of the following documents. However, please retain the original copies, as you will need to submit all original documents to the Amideast office(s) if you are selected after Round-One (Interviews). Recognizing the extreme challenges candidates might face in submitting documents, Amideast will do its utmost to facilitate submission options for candidates selected for Round-One interviews and will contact students directly at that stage to appraise options.

• One recent passport-sized photograph.
• An official copy of the graduation certificate for all higher education qualifications you have completed (in English). Do not include copies of certificates from short programmes or for non-degree level programmes. Temporary certificates are only accepted if studies were completed within the preceding 12 months – if you are shortlisted, the final graduation certificate should be provided before the interview.
• An official copy of the academic transcripts for all higher education qualifications you have completed (in English). Please also include the explanation of the grading system, where provided with your transcript or otherwise available.
• Letters from two academic referees on official letterhead with original signatures. The letter should be in English, on headed paper, and should include the full contact details and the title and position of the referee. These references must be from academics who have taught you personally. These references should indicate both why you are a suitable candidate for the IPSP scholarship and why the programmes you have chosen are relevant to you. If you are shortlisted for the interview process, these reference letters will be used when applying to HEIs in Ireland.
• A copy of the identity page of your passport and a copy of your Palestinian ID document. Passports must be valid for at least 6 months after the expected completion of your study in Ireland. If your existing passport expires before December 2028, you will be asked to provide a new passport if you are shortlisted after Round II.
• A copy of your national ID card (Palestinian or Jerusalem ID)
• Your current C.V. If you are shortlisted following the interview process, your C.V. will be used when applying to HEIs in Ireland.
• Your original English language proficiency (IELTS or ITP or iBT or Duolingo) score report (dated September 2025 or later) with a minimum score of 6.5 on IELTS, or 550 on Institutional Testing Program (ITP), or 80 on Internet-based TOEFL (iBT) or 120 overall score on Duolingo (and at least 105 in each sub-score on Duolingo).

Yes. Please retain the original copies, as you will need to submit all original documents to the Amideast office(s) if you are selected after Round-One (Interviews). Recognizing the extreme challenges candidates might face in submitting documents, Amideast will do its utmost to facilitate submission options for candidates selected for Round-One interviews and will contact students directly at that stage to appraise options.

The deadline to submit those in hard copies would be 18 January, 2027.

In your IPSP application and using the Ireland Fellows Programme Directory of Eligible Programmes, you are asked to list details of the three master’s programmes you would like to pursue in Ireland, ranked in order of choice (1, 2, 3). To maximise your chances of receiving a course place offer should you be selected to go forward as a Candidate, it is strongly recommended that the three programmes are in three different Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), where available.

You should ensure that you hold the specified qualifications and academic grades required for the academic courses you intend applying for. These can be found in the Ireland-Palestine Scholarship Programme Directory of Eligible Postgraduate Courses and on the relevant college website. It is your responsibility to ensure that your academic qualifications are of sufficient standard for your chosen course.

No. Applicants are advised NOT to apply for any courses in Ireland until after they have been shortlisted for a fellowship award following interview. The shortlisted applicants will be contacted by Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) with information on applying for their chosen courses.

Yes. There are 19 participating higher education institutions in Ireland for the IPSP program. You can find the full list of those institutions and the courses they offer under the Directory of Courses.

Applicants must be able to take up the scholarship in the academic year 2027/2028.

Yes, they should be in English. If an applicant can’t provide a document in English, they need to submit a copy certified (original stamped and signed) by the Palestinian Ministry of Education, and to also provide a certified English translation of it by a licensed translator.

Transcripts must cover every subject or module of undergraduate studies for which you received credits. Accordingly, if the transcript of the original university from which you graduated does not specify the actual results for subjects studied at another institution, then you must provide a transcript from the other institution detailing your results in those courses.

No. You are required to submit two academic letters on official letterhead with original signatures. These references must be from academics who have taught you personally. These references should indicate both why you are a suitable candidate for the IPSP scholarship and why the programmes you have chosen are relevant to you. If you are shortlisted for the interview process, these reference letters will be used when applying to HEIs in Ireland.

Yes, in order to be eligible and for your application to be complete, you must submit with your IPSP application an original English language proficiency (IELTS or ITP or iBT or Duolingo) score report (dated September 2025 or later) with a minimum score of 6.5 on IELTS, or 550 on Institutional Testing Program (ITP), or 80 on Internet-based TOEFL (iBT), or 120 on Duolingo (and at least 105 in each sub-score on Duolingo).

Yes, if you are shortlisted after the interviews, and the English language proficiency certificate you submitted with your IPSP application was not IELTS, then you may need to sit for an IELTS test and achieve a minimum score of 6.5 (because even if you fulfilled the IPSP scholarship requirement, you still need to fulfil the study requirements of higher education institutions in Ireland which may require an IELTS certificate with a minimum overall score of 6.5). However, the test will be arranged and covered by the Representative Office of Ireland in Palestine, and it will be administered in January/February 2027.

No. If you are shortlisted after the interviews, and you already hold a valid IELTS score of 6.5 or higher, then you will be given the choice to retake the IELTS test or not. In that case, if you feel that you can achieve a better score on the IELTS test, we do encourage you to retake it since it will increase your chances of admission to your selected courses at higher education institutions in Ireland. The test will be arranged and covered by the Representative Office of Ireland in Palestine, and it will be administered in January/February 2027.

Yes. This is a scholarship requirement. Accordingly, applicants who studied in English-speaking countries are still required to submit an English proficiency score report (IELTS, iBT, ITP, or Duolingo) with their application dated no later than September 2025.

Yes. You should ensure that you hold the specified qualifications and academic grades required for the academic courses you intend to apply for. These can be found in the Ireland Fellows Programme Directory of Eligible Programmes and on the relevant college website. It is your responsibility to ensure that your academic qualifications are of sufficient standard for your chosen course.

Applicants should always follow the website of the institution; institutions may update the course web pages after the directory goes to print and applicants should always go by what is on the course’s webpage.

No, only the scholars are covered through the IPSP award. Under the terms of the Ireland - Palestine Scholarship Programme, practical, visa or residency support for family members is not included within the scope of the programme. Therefore students coming to Ireland under this programme have no right to bring their family with them, and family members, including children, are not eligible to apply for a visa on the basis of their relationship to the student (Immigration rules for full-time non-EEA students).

No. Applicants must not already hold a qualification at master’s degree level or higher in order to be eligible.

Yes, provided you have applied only once before. If you have applied to the IPSP on more than one previous occasion, you are not eligible to apply again.

No, there is no age limit to the IPSP scholarship.

Yes, siblings can apply, and each is evaluated on his/her own merits.

Approximately 30 awards will be granted to Palestinian scholars from West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza.