Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships 2026: Deadline, Eligibility, Benefits

Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships are the New Zealand government's flagship scholarship programme for citizens of a defined set of Pacific and Asian partner countries, delivered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade through Education New Zealand. Eligible Pacific countries include Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste; eligible Asian countries include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Bangladesh is not on the eligible country list. The programme runs four categories: full undergraduate and postgraduate academic scholarships for study at a New Zealand institution, Thematic Short Term Training Scholarships and Vocational Short Term Training Scholarships for shorter professional development, and English Language Training for Officials for government employees. The academic scholarships cover full tuition fees, a living allowance, an establishment grant for settling in, return airfares to and from New Zealand, and health and travel insurance for the length of study. Each partner country and category runs its own selection round with its own deadline set out on the Manaaki website's eligible-countries and how-to-apply pages; a recent example round for Samoa's national scholarship opened 4 August 2026 and closed 4 September 2026. This record is included in the catalogue for completeness and to correctly flag that Bangladeshi students are not eligible for this particular New Zealand government scheme, unlike the University of Auckland and other New Zealand university scholarships that are open to all nationalities.