KAUST Fellowship 2027 in Saudi Arabia: Fully Funded Master's and PhD Scholarship for International Students (Deadline 3 January 2027)

Is the KAUST Fellowship Really Fully Funded — and Is It Open Now?

Yes, on both counts, with one condition that matters. The KAUST Fellowship supports admitted graduate students for the duration of their studies at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia: full tuition support, a monthly living allowance of US$20,000–$30,000 per year depending on qualifications and progression, housing, medical and dental coverage, and relocation support. For Fall 2027 entry — open to MS, MS/PhD and PhD applicants — the official KAUST admissions timeline shows Round 2 applications opened on 28 September 2026 and close on 3 January 2027, with decisions released on 25 February 2027 and the semester starting on 29 August 2027. There is no separate scholarship form: admission carries the fellowship.

Status, verified 29 October 2026: the official KAUST admissions timeline page lists the Fall 2027 Round 2 dates quoted above and warns that the dates are tentative and may change based on application volume. The university's "Applying to KAUST" page confirms the fellowship benefits and the English-language and document requirements used in this article. Do not confuse this round with the Spring 2027 round, which was open only to PhD applicants and closed on 27 September 2026. If you are applying now, you are applying for Fall 2027.

The Money, in Plain Numbers

Scholarship articles often blur the difference between "tuition covered" and "everything covered." KAUST's own pages draw the line clearly, so this table follows them and nothing else. The living allowance is a range, not a single figure, because KAUST ties it to qualifications and progression through the degree programme — two applicants will not necessarily receive the same amount, and no aggregator's single number should be treated as a promise.

What is covered	What KAUST states
Tuition	Full tuition support for the duration of graduate studies
Living allowance	US$20,000–$30,000 per year, depending on qualifications and progression
Housing	Provided (charges may apply to dependent housing)
Medical and dental coverage	Provided (charges may apply to dependent coverage)
Relocation	Relocation support provided
Separate scholarship application	None — all admitted students receive the fellowship benefits

Two honest qualifications belong here. First, KAUST's admissions homepage says that over 90% of admitted students receive full tuition support, a monthly stipend, housing, medical coverage and relocation assistance — so read "all admitted students receive the benefits of the KAUST Fellowship" on the applying page together with that figure, and confirm the exact terms in your own offer letter. Second, the dependent caveats are real: if family members join you, dependent housing and medical coverage may carry charges. A single applicant's package and a family's package are not the same calculation, and anyone budgeting for dependents should ask admissions directly before accepting.

For scale: KAUST describes itself on its admissions site as a graduate-only research university with 1,741 students in total, students from more than 120 nationalities, 46% international students and 37% female students (figures correct as at September 2024), and as the number one Arab university in the Times Higher Education rankings for 2023–2025. Those numbers explain the campus feel applicants describe — small, intensely international, and built around research rather than undergraduate teaching. There is no undergraduate programme to compete with for lab time or supervisor attention.

Which Degree Route Fits You?

Fall 2027 admission offers three routes, and choosing the wrong one is the most common avoidable mistake in a KAUST application. The timeline page is explicit: Fall 2027 is open to MS, MS/PhD and PhD applicants, while the closed Spring 2027 round took PhD applicants only.

Route	Who it is for	What to show
MS	Holders of a relevant bachelor's degree aiming for a research master's	Strong undergraduate record, research exposure, clear programme fit
MS/PhD	Bachelor's holders who intend to continue straight through to a doctorate	The same, plus a longer research horizon and a credible PhD direction
PhD	Holders of a relevant master's degree (or equivalent preparation) ready for doctoral research	Prior research output, a defined research direction, supervisor fit

KAUST is a science and technology university. Its graduate programmes sit in three academic divisions: Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) — Bioscience, Bioengineering, Environmental Science and Engineering, Marine Science and Plant Science; Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) — Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Statistics; and Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) — Applied Physics, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Earth Science and Engineering, Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. If your degree is in the humanities, law, business or medicine as a clinical discipline, this is not your university, however strong the funding looks. The research strengths KAUST names on its admissions site — health, energy, sustainability, food and digital technologies, with Red Sea marine science prominent in BESE — should match the programme you name in your application, not sit beside it as decoration.

What KAUST Actually Asks For

The "Applying to KAUST" page lists the requirements without embellishment. Work through them in the order KAUST lists them, because the English test and the recommendation letters are the two items that most often run late.

• English: a minimum TOEFL score of 81 on the internet-based test, or 6.5 on IELTS. Only official scores are accepted, and institutional test scores are not. The exemption is narrow: no TOEFL or IELTS score is required if you received a degree from an accredited institution in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand. KAUST's admissions code is 4107. A medium-of-instruction letter is not listed as a substitute on the official page — do not plan around one.
• GRE: not required. KAUST states that it strongly encourages applicants to take the GRE General Test, and that a high quantitative score will enhance an application. Official results go directly from ETS; the admissions code is 4139. Treat the GRE as optional leverage for quantitative programmes, not as a gate.
• Transcripts: an official, complete university transcript, mark sheets, graduation certificate or academic record from every institution previously attended, uploaded with a certified English translation where needed. The transcript must include the university grading scale. If offered admission, an official final transcript must be sent to the Office of Admissions in a sealed envelope before arrival.
• Recommendation letters: three letters, submitted through the application directly by the recommenders — professors or advisors under whom you pursued research or took courses in your major field. KAUST asks recommenders for details of how they know your work, comparative statements, and insight into your research ability. Contact your referees weeks early; a letter that arrives after the deadline is the same as a letter that was never written.
• Curriculum vitae: KAUST asks applicants to add a CV to the application. Keep it research-focused: projects, methods, publications or preprints if any, technical skills, and the specific research direction you want to pursue at KAUST.

What the pages checked for this article do not do is publish a single GPA cut-off, a statement-of-purpose word count, or an application fee. This article does not invent those figures. Open the application portal early, read the programme-specific instructions inside it, and follow what the portal itself asks for — portals, not aggregators, are the final authority on document formats. The timeline page adds one procedural point worth heeding: ensure all required documents are submitted and respond quickly to any interview invitations, because prompt decisions depend on it.

Timeline: The Dates That Decide Your Application

All dates below come from the official KAUST admissions timeline page, which labels them tentative and subject to change based on application volume. Re-check the page in December; a date that moves by a week is still a date you must meet.

• 28 September 2026: Fall 2027 Round 2 applications opened (MS, MS/PhD and PhD).
• 3 January 2027: Fall 2027 Round 2 application deadline. KAUST publishes no closing time on the timeline page — submit well before the final day rather than testing the boundary.
• 25 February 2027: Fall 2027 Round 2 decisions released.
• 29 August 2027: Fall semester starts at KAUST in Thuwal.
• For reference only: Spring 2027 (PhD only) closed 27 September 2026; its decisions were due 19 November 2026 and its semester starts 17 January 2027. Do not apply to that round now — it is closed.

A practical note on timing: the deadline falls just after the New Year, when universities are closed and referees are hardest to reach. The applicants who miss 3 January are rarely the ones who started in December; they are the ones who waited for a referee who was on holiday. Send the referee requests in November, book the English test with results in hand before Christmas, and treat 20 December as your personal deadline. The extra fortnight costs nothing and removes the single most common failure mode.

Who Should Think Twice Before Applying?

Honesty here saves readers a wasted application. Do not apply if your field sits outside science, engineering, mathematics, computing and environmental science — KAUST has no programme to admit you into, and the fellowship cannot create one. Do not apply if you cannot meet the English requirement and do not fall inside the exemption list; KAUST accepts only official TOEFL or IELTS scores. And do not apply for Fall 2027 expecting an undergraduate place, a part-time route, or a taught professional master's in a non-research field. KAUST is a small, residential, research-intensive graduate university on the Red Sea coast, 50 miles north of Jeddah, and its fellowship is designed for people who want to spend their days in laboratories and research groups. If that description excites you, the funding is among the most complete available anywhere. If it does not, a fully funded place you would not enjoy is still the wrong place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a separate KAUST Fellowship application? No. All admitted students receive the fellowship benefits; admission itself carries the funding, and the offer letter sets out the terms.

What is the KAUST Fellowship deadline? 3 January 2027 for Fall 2027 entry (Round 2). The date is labelled tentative by KAUST and may change with application volume — re-check the official timeline page.

How much is the living allowance? US$20,000–$30,000 per year, depending on qualifications and progression through the degree programme, plus full tuition, housing, medical and dental coverage and relocation support.

Do I need IELTS or TOEFL? TOEFL iBT 81 or IELTS 6.5, unless you hold a degree from an accredited institution in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand. Only official scores are accepted.

Is the GRE required? No, but KAUST strongly encourages it, and a high quantitative score can strengthen an application.

Can I apply for Spring 2027? No — that round was PhD-only and closed on 27 September 2026. The open round is Fall 2027.

Official Links

• KAUST Admissions — Admission Timeline (official: Fall 2027 Round 2 dates, Spring 2027 closure)
• KAUST — Applying to KAUST (official: fellowship benefits, English and document requirements)
• KAUST — Academic Programs by Division (official: BESE, CEMSE and PSE programme lists)
• KAUST Admissions — homepage (official: community, funding and programme information)

Apply on Official Website — check the Fall 2027 timeline on the KAUST admissions site, then apply through the KAUST application portal before 3 January 2027.

Conclusion

The KAUST Fellowship 2027 is funding without asterisks for the right applicant: full tuition, a US$20,000–$30,000 annual living allowance, housing, medical cover and relocation support, for a master's or doctorate at a research university where the whole campus exists for graduate science. The price of that completeness is focus — a STEM research direction, official English scores, three strong recommendations, and a deadline of 3 January 2027 that sits awkwardly close to the holidays. Start the referee requests and the English test now, pick a programme whose research you can name in a sentence, and let the application show work already done rather than ambitions only. For other fully funded master's and PhD routes, see our ADB-Japan Scholarship Program 2027 guide and our Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme 2027-28 guide.

By Opportunity Wave — 29 October 2026. Facts checked against the official KAUST admissions timeline page, the official "Applying to KAUST" page, the KAUST admissions homepage and the KAUST division programmes page on 29 October 2026, including the 3 January 2027 deadline, fellowship benefits, English requirements and programme lists. Dates are labelled tentative by KAUST — always confirm the deadline on the official timeline page before applying.