The short version nobody advertises
If you are searching for a fully funded Greek government scholarship for a Bachelor's or Master's degree as a Bangladeshi student, you are looking for something that does not exist as a standing, annually repeated scheme. That is the finding, and it is worth knowing before you spend a month searching.
Greece is on this site because it is genuinely affordable, not because it is funded.
What IKY actually is
IKY is the State Scholarships Foundation, the Greek state's scholarship body. Three things it does, and one it mostly does not:
| IKY activity | Who it is for | Relevant to you? |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic scholarships and grants | Greek citizens and residents | No |
| Greek language and culture scholarships | Foreign nationals, short courses | Only if you want to study Greek |
| National Agency for Erasmus+ in Greece | Institutions and their students | Indirectly, through your university |
| Full degree scholarships for non-EU students | Very limited, scheme-dependent | Rarely, and not as a standing programme |
Bilateral scholarships between Greece and other states do exist and are announced through diplomatic channels rather than as an open portal application. They are irregular, small, and not something to build a plan around. If you want to check whether anything is currently open for Bangladesh, the announcement would come from the Greek diplomatic mission accredited to Bangladesh — see where to submit your visa application for how that accreditation works in practice.
What universities offer instead
Individual Greek universities occasionally attach a fee reduction or a small merit award to an English-taught Master's programme. The pattern is consistent and worth knowing:
- It is advertised on the programme page, under fees and funding — not on a central scholarship page and never on an aggregator.
- It is usually a percentage off tuition, not a living allowance.
- It is often decided after you have an offer, sometimes automatically from your application file.
- Deadlines follow the programme's own admission deadline rather than a separate scholarship calendar.
So the practical method for Greece is: shortlist programmes first, then read each one's fees page. There is no single list to search. That is also why where to find European scholarships without an agent puts the programme page ahead of every portal.
Why Greece is still one of the cheaper options
The reason Greece works financially is the base cost, not the discount.
| Item | Typical range, 2026 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| English-taught Master's, public university | EUR 1,500-9,000 for the whole degree | Programme-specific; on the programme page |
| Living, Thessaloniki or a smaller city | EUR 550-750 a month | Rent is the main variable |
| Living, central Athens | EUR 700-950 a month | |
| Student meals and transport | Heavily subsidised | Free or near-free canteen access at many public universities |
Compare that with a country where a EUR 12,000 tuition bill is met by a 30 percent scholarship. The Greek number without any scholarship is frequently the lower one. Run both through the cost calculator before deciding which looks better funded.
The funding that opens once you are enrolled
The one substantial funded route in Greece becomes available after you are a student there rather than before. IKY is the Greek national agency for Erasmus+, so once you are enrolled at a Greek university you sit inside the European mobility system: a funded study or traineeship period in another European country, applied for through your Greek university's international office.
That is genuinely worth knowing when you compare Greece against a more expensive destination — the cheap degree can carry a funded semester elsewhere inside it. It is not, however, money for your first year, and it is allocated by your host university rather than granted on request. Erasmus+ exchange versus Erasmus Mundus explains which of the two programmes this is.
Postgraduate research is the other place funding appears: doctoral positions attached to funded projects, advertised by the department. That market is thinner in Greece than in the Nordic countries — see PhD funding and assistantships in Europe.
Where the money actually has to come from
Because scholarships will not carry the plan, the two things that decide whether Greece is viable are your own funds and the visa's financial requirement. The requirement is set on living costs and is not reduced by a cheap tuition bill — see proof of funds for a European student visa.
⚠️ Be sceptical of any Greece scholarship advertisement outside a university's own domain or a Greek state domain. The absence of a large scheme is exactly the vacuum that agency advertising fills.
Next steps
- 1Shortlist three or four English-taught programmes and read each one's own fees and funding page.
- 2Check the Greece country guide and studying in Greece from Bangladesh for the admission route and documents.
- 3Build the budget as fully self-funded, then treat any fee reduction as a bonus rather than a plan.
Official sources — check for yourself
- IKY — State Scholarships Foundation
- Study in Greece — national portal
- Hellenic Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports
- Cost calculator
Rules and figures change. We review these articles periodically and show the date above, but always confirm the current requirement with the official source before you act on it.
Common questions
Is there a Greek government scholarship for Bangladeshi students?+
Not as a standing, annually repeated degree scholarship comparable to Stipendium Hungaricum. IKY's main programmes serve Greek citizens and residents, plus Greek language and culture courses for foreigners. Bilateral awards are announced irregularly through diplomatic channels. Plan Greece as self-funded.
So why is Greece on a list of affordable destinations?+
Because the base cost is low rather than the discount being high. English-taught Master's programmes at public universities commonly cost EUR 1,500-9,000 for the entire degree, and living outside central Athens runs roughly EUR 550-800 a month. That total is often below a heavily discounted programme elsewhere.
Where do I look for a university fee reduction in Greece?+
On the individual programme's own fees and funding page. Greek universities do not maintain a single searchable scholarship database for international applicants, so the workflow is to shortlist programmes first and read each one's page rather than to search for scholarships and work backwards.
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