Scholarships for Higher Education Abroad to Meritorious Boys and Girls from Open Category

What is the Maharashtra foreign scholarship for open category students?

Scholarships for Higher Education Abroad to Meritorious Boys and Girls from Open Category is a fully funded overseas study scholarship run by the Higher and Technical Education Department, Government of Maharashtra. The Department started the scheme in the academic year 2018-19, and it is operated through the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) with applications taken on the state foreign scholarship portal at fs.maharashtra.gov.in.

The scheme exists to close a specific gap. Maharashtra already ran foreign scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, OBC, minority and Maratha applicants, but a meritorious student from an economically weaker family in the open (unreserved) category had no state route to fund a degree abroad. This scheme is that route.

According to the Directorate of Technical Education, the scholarship provides full tuition fees, personal health insurance, an annual subsistence allowance, a one-time round-trip economy class airfare and contingency expenses. The DTE advertisement puts the subsistence allowance at GBP 9,900 a year for the United Kingdom and USD 15,400 a year for other countries.

Because the scholarship pays actual tuition at a top-200 university, the value of a single award varies widely by country and course, and the "maximum benefit" is best understood as full funding rather than a single rupee figure.

Who is eligible for the open category foreign scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You belong to the open (unreserved) category.
• You and your parent or guardian are Indian citizens and domiciled residents of Maharashtra.
• Your combined annual family income from all sources is below Rs 8 lakh for the previous financial year.
• You hold an unconditional offer letter from a foreign university ranked within the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings for the relevant year.
• You have at least 55 percent marks in the qualifying degree. The bachelor's degree for a master's or postgraduate diploma applicant, and the master's degree for a PhD applicant, from a recognised Indian university.
• You are within the age ceiling published in that year's advertisement. The scheme documentation has carried an age limit of 35 years for master's courses and 40 years for PhD, while the 2019 DTE advertisement stated a maximum of 30 years as on 1 July of the admission year. Read the current advertisement, because this figure has varied between cycles.

You are not eligible if:

• You belong to a reserved category: Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, OBC, minority or the Maratha category covered by SARTHI. Those groups have their own foreign scholarship schemes on the same state portal, and applying under the wrong department's scheme wastes a cycle.
• Your annual family income is Rs 8 lakh or more.
• Your offer letter is conditional, or the university is outside the top 200 ranking list for the relevant year.
• You scored below 55 percent in the qualifying degree.
• You or your parent/guardian are not domiciled in Maharashtra.
• You are over the age limit stated in the current advertisement.

What courses and streams are covered?

The scheme funds postgraduate degrees, postgraduate diplomas after graduation, and doctoral (PhD) programmes abroad. Streams named in the scheme documents are Arts, Commerce, Science, Management, Law, Engineering and Architecture, and Pharmacy.

Seat numbers are fixed by each year's advertisement and have changed since the scheme began. The Directorate of Technical Education advertisement lists 40 seats distributed as 15 for Engineering and Architecture, 5 for Science, 4 for Management, 4 for Pharmacy, and 3 each for Arts, Commerce and Law. The myScheme entry for the scheme describes an earlier pattern of 20 seats to 10 for postgraduate and diploma courses and 10 for doctoral courses, with 30 percent reserved for girls. Treat the current year's advertisement on fs.maharashtra.gov.in as the authority on both the seat count and the stream-wise split.

What documents are required?

Originals and attested copies both matter here. The online application is followed by an in-person check of originals, and a missing attested copy at that stage can cost the seat.

How to apply for the Maharashtra foreign scholarship

1. Secure the admission first. Obtain an unconditional offer letter from a university ranked inside the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings for the relevant year. Without this document the application cannot proceed.
2. Watch fs.maharashtra.gov.in for the Higher and Technical Education advertisement. The portal lists which departments' windows are open and which are closed at any time, and the DTE site at dte.maharashtra.gov.in carries the same notice.
3. Register on the portal and complete the online application form with your personal, domicile, income and academic details.
4. Upload the scanned documents — offer letter, domicile certificate, income proof, marksheets, passport, Aadhaar and bank details.
5. Submit the online application before the closing date and save the generated application number and printout.
6. Attend physical document verification at the designated divisional office with all originals and attested copies before the deadline stated in the advertisement. For the 2026-27 cycle this physical submission closed at 5:00 pm on 17 July 2026.
7. Track the merit list and selection result on the portal, and complete visa and joining formalities once selected so the tuition and airfare components can be released.

What are the key dates?

Scholarships for Higher Education Abroad to Meritorious Boys and Girls from Open Category runs on an annual cycle tied to the foreign academic year. For the 2026-27 cycle, the Higher and Technical Education Department published its advertisement on the state portal and set 17 July 2026, 5:00 pm as the last time for physical submission of original documents at the divisional office.

There is no rolling application. A student who misses the window applies in the next cycle, which is why securing the unconditional offer letter early in the admission season matters so much, the offer letter, not the scholarship, is the step students most often run out of time on.

How to check your application status

1. Sign in to fs.maharashtra.gov.in with the credentials used at registration and open the application status page.
2. Check whether your document verification at the divisional office has been marked complete. An unverified file does not enter the merit list.
3. Watch the notices and results section on fs.maharashtra.gov.in and dte.maharashtra.gov.in for the provisional and final selection lists.
4. For portal problems, use the helpline 022-68597496 or 022-68597421 published by the Directorate of Technical Education, available on working days, or the portal support email listed on fs.maharashtra.gov.in.

Why applications get rejected

• Conditional offer letter instead of an unconditional one.
• University outside the top 200 of the ranking list for the relevant year; rankings change annually, so a university that qualified last year may not qualify this year.
• Family income of Rs 8 lakh or more, or an income certificate that does not cover all sources of family income.
• Below 55 percent in the qualifying degree.
• Domicile not established for the parent or guardian, not only the student.
• Physical verification missed, the online application alone does not complete the process.
• Applying under the wrong department, for example a reserved-category student applying under the Higher and Technical Education window rather than the scheme meant for their category.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Technical Education helpline: 022-68597496 or 022-68597421, on working days.
• Divisional office of the Directorate of Technical Education named in the advertisement for your region, for document verification questions.
• Portal support contact published on fs.maharashtra.gov.in for login and upload issues.
• Higher and Technical Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, for policy and scheme questions.

The scholarship application is free. No consultant or agent can secure a seat under this scheme, and selection is made from the departmental merit list only.