Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme Application Guide (2026)

A lot of pages covering the Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme present it as a straightforward need-based scholarship for developing-country students, full stop. That framing skips the detail that actually changes how you should think about accepting one: this isn't a pure grant, it's structured as roughly half grant and half loan, and where you can even apply depends on whether the Aga Khan network has a local office in your specific country of residence, not a general developing-country eligibility list. This is built from what's consistently described across multiple sources, with the funding-structure and eligibility details that most guides understate given the attention they actually deserve.

What this scholarship actually is

The Aga Khan Foundation's International Scholarship Programme (AKF ISP) funds postgraduate study, generally at the master's level, for outstanding students from specific countries who have no other realistic means of financing their studies. It's run through the Aga Khan Development Network's education-focused agencies: Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), Aga Khan Education Services (AKES), and Aga Khan Education Board (AKEB), which operate in a specific set of countries rather than globally. The underlying intent is explicitly need-based: it targets students who have real financial need, not simply strong applicants who'd prefer not to self-fund.

Half grant, half loan: the detail that changes your planning

This is the single most important structural fact about the programme, and it's exactly the detail aggregator pages tend to flatten into a single line or skip. The award is commonly described as 50 percent grant and 50 percent loan. The loan portion is expected to be repaid after you complete your studies, on terms set by the local office administering your award, which can vary. Some sources describe partial loan forgiveness tied to strong academic performance, but the exact terms, interest structure if any, and repayment schedule are set locally rather than through one uniform global policy, so the only way to know your actual terms is to ask your specific local AKF or AKEB office directly before you accept an award, not after.

Practically, this means you should budget for the scholarship the way you'd budget for a partial student loan, not the way you'd budget for a fully funded named scholarship like several others covered on our scholarships directory. A degree that costs you half its sticker price in eventual repayment is still a meaningfully better deal than paying the full cost privately, but it's a different financial commitment than "fully funded" language implies, and you should go in with that distinction clear.

Eligibility runs through local office presence, not a generic country list

Unlike scholarships that publish a simple list of eligible nationalities, AKF ISP eligibility is tied to whether the Aga Khan network actually operates a local AKF, AKES, or AKEB office in your country of residence. Those offices exist in a specific, not universal, set of countries, largely reflecting where the Aga Khan Development Network has an established institutional presence. If your country doesn't have one of these offices, there's no alternate central application route that gets around that, this scholarship simply isn't available to you regardless of your academic record or financial circumstances. Confirming whether your country has a participating office is the first thing to check, before you spend time on transcripts, recommendation letters, or a personal statement.

Beyond that gate, sources consistently describe the core criteria as a strong academic record, genuine demonstrated financial need (this isn't a program to apply to if you have another realistic way to finance your studies), and a frequently mentioned, though not strictly absolute, preference for applicants under roughly 30 years of age.

Which universities and fields actually qualify

AKF ISP isn't tied to a fixed list of partner universities the way some scholarships restrict you to a specific set of institutions. Sources describe it as covering postgraduate study at recognized universities generally, with your local office assessing the specific programme and institution you've been admitted to as part of reviewing your application, rather than you choosing from a pre-approved shortlist. Fields of study aren't restricted to a narrow list either, though applications connected to development-relevant fields, areas like public health, education, rural development, engineering, and the social sciences, align most directly with AKDN's own institutional priorities and historically make up a large share of funded applicants. A strong, clearly reasoned application outside those fields isn't automatically disqualified, but it's worth being aware that the selection panel's own frame of reference skews toward development-relevant study.

Historically, the countries where AKF, AKES, or AKEB maintain a presence, and where applicants have reported successfully applying, have included a mix of South and Central Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, alongside several East African countries including Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and a smaller number of other countries with an established Aga Khan Development Network presence. This isn't an exhaustive or officially confirmed list for the current cycle, confirm directly with your own country's office whether it currently participates, since presence in a country doesn't automatically mean that office is running an open scholarship call in every given year.

Apply locally, not to an international office

Applications go to the Aga Khan Foundation, AKES, or AKEB office in your own country of residence, not to a central international AKDN office. Some guides don't make this clear enough, and applicants occasionally lose time sending materials to the wrong place. Your local office is also the one that sets the specific documentation requirements and the cycle's exact deadline for your country, so a generic deadline quoted on a scholarship-aggregator site may not match the deadline your own local office is actually running. Go to your country's local AKF, AKES, or AKEB contact directly for the current cycle's real requirements and dates.

Where the professor-funded route fits if a PhD is the actual goal

Most descriptions of this programme emphasize postgraduate study broadly, typically read as master's level, without a clearly separated PhD-specific track the way, for example, the Commonwealth Scholarship explicitly structures distinct master's and PhD routes. If a funded PhD rather than a master's is genuinely your goal, confirm directly with your local AKF or AKEB office whether doctoral study is covered under the current terms, and don't treat this scholarship as your only plan either way. A PhD search runs on a different mechanism entirely: identifying professors in your field who are actively publishing current, funded research and reaching out to them directly, often independent of whether any named scholarship comes through. Our guide to emailing a professor for PhD funding covers that structure, and running it in parallel with an AKF ISP application, rather than waiting on one before starting the other, keeps your actual timeline moving regardless of which funding route comes through first.

GradScoutFunding's professor search, verified-publishing check, and personalized outreach-email drafting work the same way for this parallel search. The free tier gives you 2 credits with no card required to test it against your actual target list while an AKF ISP application, or any other named scholarship, is still under review.

Deciding whether the loan terms are actually worth it

Because half the award is a loan, the honest comparison isn't "scholarship versus paying full price," it's "a roughly 50 percent discount on your total cost of study, repaid over time, versus whatever your actual alternative financing looks like." For many applicants from countries where private education loans either don't exist or carry significantly higher interest and less flexible terms, that's still a clearly better deal than the alternative. For an applicant who already has access to a different fully funded named scholarship, or to a professor-funded assistantship that doesn't require any repayment at all, the comparison is less obviously one-sided, and it's worth actually running the numbers on your specific programme's cost rather than assuming "scholarship" automatically means the cheapest available option. Ask your local AKF or AKEB office for the specific repayment terms, interest treatment, and grace period attached to your award before you accept it, and compare that honestly against any other offer you're holding at the same time.

Common questions