As of April 25, 2026, Georgia has become a primary hub for international students, particularly in medicine and business, due to its high standard of education and affordable cost of living. The Georgian government puts a lot of emphasis on bilateral and exchange-based funding, but there are already several internal and international windows open for the 2026–2027 school year.
Here are the main ways that international students in Georgia can get money.
1. International Education Centre (IEC) – Grants for Excellence
The IEC is the main government agency in Georgia that handles scholarships. While many of its funds support Georgians going abroad, it also facilitates reciprocal grants for international researchers and students from partner countries.
- Focus: High-priority areas like engineering, medicine, and agricultural sciences.
- Status for 2026: The call for “International Research and Study Grants” is usually open in the spring.
- Requirement: Applicants must often be nominated by the educational authority in their home country as part of a bilateral cooperation agreement with Georgia.
2. Erasmus+ Mobility (Scholarships for Exchange Students)
The Erasmus+ network is very active at some of Georgia’s most important schools, such as Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).
- The Award: Pays for travel and gives students moving to Georgia €800–€900 a month.
- • Deadlines for 2026:
- The deadline for exchange mobilities that start in the spring 2027 semester is September 2026.
- To be eligible, you must be a student at a partner university outside of Georgia right now. Your home school will fully accept the credits you earn in Georgia.
3. Scholarships for merit at specific universities
To attract talent from around the world, private and semi-private universities in Tbilisi offer their own “Excellence Discounts”.
- University of Georgia (UG): International students who keep a high GPA (usually 3.5/4.0 or higher) after their first year of study can get merit-based tuition fee cuts of 20% to 50%.
- Caucasus University (CU): Offers internal scholarships to international students in their English-taught bachelor’s and master’s programmes, especially in business administration and cybersecurity.
- Tbilisi State Medical University (TSMU): Full scholarships for the MD programme are hard to come by, but top-performing international students can apply for specialised research grants and stipends from foundations in their last years.
4. DAAD In-Country/In-Region (Central Asia and the Caucasus)
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) gives money to students from the Caucasus region to study at some of the best universities in Georgia.
- Current Status: The deadline to apply for the 2026/2027 cycle is usually the end of April or the beginning of May 2026.
- Coverage includes full tuition, a monthly living allowance, and money for travel.
- Requirement: The main goal is to get students from nearby countries (Armenia and Azerbaijan) to study in Georgia, but some calls are open to a wider range of international students for certain “development-related” courses.
5. Georgia’s Important 2026 Plan
If you want to get a scholarship or a paid spot at a Georgian university this year, keep these things in mind:
- Letter of Acceptance First, you need a conditional admission letter from a Georgian university for almost all mobility or government grants. Most applications for 2026 are made through the Study in Georgia portal or the DreamApply pages for each university.
- Language Skills: Most international scholarships are for programmes taught in English (IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL 78), but if you’re willing to study in Georgian, you might be able to get a wider range of state-funded “Language Preparatory” grants.
- Legalising Documents: Georgia is a signatory to the Apostille Convention. The Ministry of Education will only accept your high school and college documents if they have been apostilled and translated into Georgian by a certified translator.
6. A breakdown of costs and funding for 2026
- Cost of Living: Tbilisi is still very cheap; $400 to $600 a month covers rent (in shared apartments), food, and transportation.
- Tuition: For students who don’t have full scholarships, the cost of English-taught programmes is usually low, between $3,000 and $6,000 per year for most bachelor’s and master’s degrees.