King Abdul Aziz University Scholarship: Master’s and PhD Only, and You Cannot Just Apply

King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah funds international students through a scholarship that covers a monthly bursary, healthcare, accommodation and an annual return flight home.

Almost every page describing it online says it covers bachelor’s, master’s and PhD study. KAU’s own scholarships page says something different, and three other conditions on that page decide who actually gets through.

Let us go through what the university itself states.

It is for master’s and PhD, not bachelor’s

For applicants living outside Saudi Arabia, KAU’s scholarship page describes admission for Master’s and PhD programmes.

Separate arrangements exist for Gulf Cooperation Council students, for cultural-exchange students under special agreements, and for non-Saudis already living inside the Kingdom, who apply through what KAU calls the internal scholarship.

If you are a bachelor’s applicant sitting in Pakistan, India or Nigeria reading a blog that promises undergraduate funding here, check KAU’s own page before you build a plan around it.

And health sciences are excluded

KAU states plainly that Health Sciences programmes are not available under this scholarship. That includes Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing.

This is the single most useful line on the page for our readers, because medicine in Saudi Arabia is exactly what many of them assume this scholarship is for. It is not.

What the scholarship provides

• A monthly bursary
• A preparation allowance paid when you first arrive
• Free health care
• Accommodation, subject to availability
• An annual two-way ticket
• Academic, cultural and social support
• Access to the central library and university facilities
• Possibly subsidized meals
• An allowance for printing your thesis
• An allowance for shipping your books home after graduation
• For distinguished master’s graduates, the option to upgrade to a doctorate

Two of those deserve attention.

The annual two-way ticket. Not a single flight at the start. One return journey a year, for the length of your studies. Among fully funded scholarships that is genuinely generous, and it differs from schemes like Türkiye Bursları, which provides one ticket only.

The master’s to doctorate upgrade. A strong master’s student can continue to a PhD rather than reapplying from scratch. If you are weighing a master’s abroad as a stepping stone, that pathway is worth more than a slightly larger stipend elsewhere.

One honest gap. KAU’s page confirms a monthly bursary without publishing the amount. We are not printing a figure we cannot source. Email the scholarships unit and ask, the contacts are at the end of this guide and build your budget from their answer rather than from a number on a blog.

The four gates

Four conditions on KAU’s page eliminate most applicants, and only one of them has anything to do with how good a student you are.

Gate one: a nomination letter from your government

KAU requires a nomination letter from the competent authorities in your country, approved by the Saudi Ministry of Education.

Read that twice, because it reshapes the whole application. This is not a scholarship you simply apply to online and wait for. Your own country’s relevant authority must nominate you, and the Saudi Ministry of Education must approve that nomination.

Start there, not with the application form. In Pakistan that means working out which body issues such nominations for study in Saudi Arabia and approaching them early, because government processes run on their own calendar and nobody will hurry for your deadline. The same applies in India, Bangladesh and Nigeria.

An otherwise perfect application without this letter goes nowhere.

Gate two: documents certified by the Saudi Embassy

Your transcripts and certificates must be certified by the Saudi Embassy.

Attestation chains take weeks, not days, and they usually run through your own foreign ministry or education authority before they reach the embassy. Begin this the same week you begin the nomination, and treat both as the real timeline of your application.

Gate three: the age limits

• Master’s: no more than 35
• PhD: no more than 40

More generous than many scholarships Schwarzman cuts off at 29 but firm.

Gate four: your degree classification

Your university degree must come from an accredited institution and carry a classification of at least “very good”. Transcripts must support it.

What else they require

• Good conduct and medical fitness
• Two recommendation letters from former professors. Academics, not employers. Our reference letter generator shows what a usable letter contains
• You must not have been dismissed from any Saudi university
• Individual programmes may add their own requirements

The English requirement is lower than you expect

KAU accepts:

• TOEFL PBT 500, CBT 173, iBT 61, or IELTS 5

Scores remain valid for two years.

An IELTS 5 is a low threshold by international standards many scholarships ask for 6.5 or 7. For a strong researcher whose English scores have held them back elsewhere, this is a real opening.

And an exemption worth knowing: applicants whose first language is English, and applicants to master’s or PhD programmes in Arabic Language or Islamic Studies, do not need the test at all.

What you submit

Apply through KAU’s online application, after reading the instructions, admission requirements, document list and transcript rules for your specific programme, those vary by department rather than being uniform across the university.

Have ready: your degree certificate and transcripts (embassy-certified), the government nomination letter, two academic recommendation letters, your English test result where required, and evidence of good conduct and medical fitness.

Our SOP generator and CV reviewer will get your written documents into shape while the attestation runs in the background.

When to apply

Here we will be straight with you rather than guessing.

When we checked KAU’s scholarships page, it carried a last-updated date of 30 December 2024 and published no application dates for applicants outside the Kingdom. The only dates shown applied to the internal scholarship for students already living in Saudi Arabia.

So do not plan around a date you read on any blog, including this one. Email the scholarships unit directly and ask when the external cycle opens. KAU lists:

• External Scholarships Unit: Mr Majeed Al-Ghamdi: moalghamdi@kau.edu.sa
• Female Campus: Mrs Lugen Gashlan: lgashlan@kau.edu.sa

One short email gets you the dates, and it costs nothing. Our email reviewer will check it before you send.

Is it worth it?

For a master’s or PhD applicant in engineering, science, business, Arabic or Islamic studies, with a solid degree and the patience to handle a government nomination, this is a strong and underused option. The annual return flight, the healthcare, the master’s-to-PhD pathway and the low English threshold together make it more accessible than its reputation suggests.

For a medical applicant, a bachelor’s applicant, or anyone who cannot obtain a government nomination, it closes before it opens and knowing that today is worth more than a hopeful application in six months.

Start with the nomination letter. Everything else follows from it.