The Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP) is a fully funded master's scholarship: it pays your tuition, adds a monthly living allowance, covers health insurance, and gives a one time travel grant. For an AI or machine learning master's, that means you could study at a school like KTH or Chalmers without paying the tuition that international students are normally charged. The catch sits in the fine print. It is open only to applicants from a fixed list of countries, it weighs leadership experience heavily, and you have to win a place in a master's programme before the scholarship will even look at you.
This post is informational, not legal, immigration, tax, or financial advice. Verify every date and figure against the official pages before you act, because Sweden shifts the country list and the deadlines a little each year.
What the SISGP scholarship actually is
SISGP is run by the Swedish Institute, a public agency, and it funds master's level study only. If you are admitted and selected, here is roughly what lands in your account and your admission file, as of the 2026 cycle:
- Tuition, in full. Paid directly to your Swedish university each semester, so you never front the international fee.
- A monthly living allowance. Around SEK 12,000 a month for the length of your studies, meant to cover rent and daily costs.
- Insurance and travel. Cover against illness and accident during your stay, plus a one time travel grant of about SEK 15,000 (lower, near SEK 10,000, for some Eastern Partnership countries).
- A leadership network. Membership in the SI Network for Global Professionals and, later, the Sweden alumni network.
What it does not do: support your family, extend beyond the awarded programme, or refund the university application fee. The details live on the official Swedish Institute SISGP page.
Who is eligible, and what SI actually weighs
Three gates decide whether you are in the running, and they are stricter than most fully funded schemes.
- Your citizenship. Only applicants from a set list of roughly 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe qualify. The list is reset every year, and countries move on and off it, so read the current year before you count on it. As a heads up, large sender markets like India and China have generally not been on the list.
- Work experience. You typically need at least 3,000 hours of work experience before the cutoff date. That is roughly two years full time, and paid work, internships, and documented volunteer roles can count toward it.
- Leadership. This is the part people underestimate. SI is openly looking for future leaders, so your CV, motivation letter, and reference letters need to show that you have led people or projects and that you plan to use the degree back home. Two strong references on SI's templates carry real weight here.
One structural rule ties it all together: you must apply to, and be admitted to, an eligible master's programme through the official University Admissions portal first. The scholarship is a second application layered on top, not a standalone form.
Why Sweden is a serious place to study AI
Sweden punches above its size in machine learning research. KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Chalmers in Gothenburg, and Lund all run strong AI and data science master's programmes, and Linkoping and Uppsala are close behind. Much of the funding runs through WASP, the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program, one of the larger national AI research efforts in Europe. Around 700 of Sweden's English taught master's programmes are covered by SISGP, so you are not forced into a narrow shortlist. You can browse programmes and the wider funding picture on the official Study in Sweden site.
If you want the country weighed against 20 others on after tax pay, visa routes, and years to permanent residence before you commit, that comparison is what the AI Relocation Guide is built for, and you can compare all 21 countries side by side. For a wider read on Sweden's job market and study options, see our piece on Sweden for AI careers and study.
How to apply, step by step
The two step timing trips up the most applicants, because the programme application and the scholarship application are separate events months apart. Work it in this order:
- Shortlist eligible programmes now. On University Admissions, pick master's programmes that appear on SI's eligible programme list. If a programme is not on that list, the scholarship cannot fund it.
- Apply to the programmes first. Submit your programme choices (you can rank up to four) by the mid January deadline and pay the application fee. Do this even if the scholarship result is uncertain, because admission is a precondition.
- Build the leadership file. Draft your CV, motivation letter, and two reference letters on SI's templates while you wait. This is where your leadership evidence has to be concrete, not vague.
- Apply for SISGP in the February window. When the scholarship portal opens for roughly two weeks in February, submit using your University Admissions application number. Miss the window and there is no late door.
- Clear admission by late March. You must be admitted to an eligible programme by the March cutoff for SI to consider you. Recipients are usually announced in April.
Deadlines shift slightly each year, so confirm the exact dates on the official Swedish Institute scholarships page before you build your calendar.
The honest takeaway
SISGP is close to ideal for a mid career professional from an eligible country who has led something real and wants a funded master's in AI. If that is you, the money is generous and the network is genuinely useful afterward. It is a poor fit if you are a fresh graduate with few work hours, since the experience bar and the leadership emphasis will sink your application, and it is simply closed if your country is not on this year's list.
If you fall outside the country list or the work requirement, do not force it. Look at DAAD in Germany, Erasmus Mundus, and other options in our roundup of fully funded AI master's scholarships in Europe instead. And remember the programme first rule cuts both ways: because you have to earn admission regardless, the admissions work is never wasted, even in a year you miss the scholarship.
Rule of thumb: treat SISGP as a leadership award that happens to fund a degree, not a degree grant that happens to ask about leadership. If you cannot fill the reference letters with real examples of leading people or projects, spend your energy elsewhere.
