KRG: No Overseas Scholarships This Year Due To Iraq’s Financial Crisis
Students currently studying abroad continue to receive funding, but no new students will be sent this year, with many applicants whose names appeared in the three completed phases still waiting and unable to travel due to frozen files
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research confirmed Tuesday that no overseas study scholarships will be provided for new Kurdistan Region students this year due to Iraq's financial crisis, with Dr. Yasin Saleh, Director General of Missions and Cultural Relations, exclusively telling Kurdistan 24's Golbakh Bahrami that many students whose names were selected in the three completed phases are still unable to travel because their files have been frozen by Baghdad.
"Of the five phases, three have been announced so far, and that was due to the availability of funds. But even within those three phases, some were sent and others could not be sent due to the lack of funds," Dr. Saleh told Kurdistan 24. "There are now many people whose names appeared in those three phases who could go abroad but their files have been frozen due to the financial crisis from Baghdad's side, and this year no student will be sent abroad."
He clarified that students currently studying abroad are having their expenses and costs covered, but new students will not be sent due to the absence of a budget.
The Iraqi government under PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced 5,000 overseas higher education scholarships for all of Iraq, with 1,000 seats allocated to the Kurdistan Region based on population ratios. A portion of those scholarships was designated for families of martyrs and political prisoners. The scholarships were to be distributed across five phases. Three phases have been announced and students were selected, but not all of those selected have been able to travel. The fourth and fifth phases have not been announced. The entire process stalled in 2026.
The suspension directly reflects the broader financial crisis between Erbil and Baghdad. The Kurdistan Region's budget share has been reduced from 14.14 percent to 12.68 percent following the 2024 census. The 2027 budget draft allocates the lowest investment spending for the Region in five years. Salary transfers have been delayed. And now students who were formally selected for overseas scholarships are waiting with frozen files, unable to begin studies they had already been approved for.