CAPES is the foundation of the Brazilian Ministry of Education responsible for evaluating and funding graduate programs. While PEC-PG is a specific diplomatic program for developing nations, CAPES provides massive domestic funding ('Demanda Social' or 'Proex') directly to university departments, which they can award to international students regardless of their country of origin.
Quick Overview
Full Requirements & Details
Academic Requirements
- Min. CGPA
- No Minimum Requirement
- Offer Degrees
- Masters, PhD
- Subjects
- Agriculture, Arts, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Psychology
- Seats Available
- Thousands globally (via specific institutional quotas)
- Study Gap Allowed
- No Restrictions (Gap Allowed)
- Research Publication
- Optional
- Work Experience
- No
- Age Range
- No Age Limit
Language Requirements
- IELTS
- Optional
- TOEFL
- Optional
- GRE
- Not Required
- Local Language
- Portuguese
- Local Lang Test
- No
- Study Languages
- Portuguese, English (in specific research labs)
Financial Details
- Type
- Full
- Fund Details
- Tuition waiver + R$ 2,100 (Master's) or R$ 3,100 (PhD)
- Monthly Stipend
- BRL 2100/mo
- Tuition
- Full
- Living Costs
- Full
- Travel & Health
- No / None
- Application Fee
- Free (No Application Fee)
- Spouse Allowed
- No
What Matters Most
Required Documents
Why You Should Apply
If you are from a developed country (e.g., USA, Europe) or simply missed the PEC-PG deadline, you can still get fully funded in Brazil. Public universities in Brazil receive 'quotas' of CAPES scholarships to distribute to their best students. By applying directly to a Brazilian Master's or PhD program, you can compete for these internal departmental scholarships.
The financial value is the national standard: 2,100 BRL/month for Master's and 3,100 BRL/month for PhDs, alongside free tuition. Furthermore, CAPES operates the 'CAPES-PrInt' initiative, a massive internationalization project that specifically funds foreign visiting professors, post-docs, and sandwich PhD students to come to Brazil to work in English-speaking, high-impact research environments.
Application Process
You do not apply to the central CAPES headquarters for standard graduate scholarships. You apply directly to the 'Programa de Pós-Graduação' (PPG) at your target Brazilian university. Each PPG runs its own 'Processo Seletivo' (Selection Process).
During the application, you indicate that you wish to be considered for a scholarship. The department ranks all admitted candidates (both Brazilian and international) based on their entrance exam scores, interview performance, and CV. The top candidates receive the department's CAPES quota.
How to Win This Scholarship
Because you are competing directly against local Brazilian students for departmental funds, your academic profile must be superior. You must establish contact with a potential thesis advisor months before applying. If a professor wants you in their lab to drive a specific publication, they will champion your case to the scholarship committee.
You must convert your CV into the Brazilian 'Lattes' format. While formal Portuguese certificates might not be strictly mandated by every individual department at the application stage, passing the departmental entrance exam (which is often entirely in Portuguese) requires high proficiency.
Benefits After Completing Study
These scholarships do not typically have the strict return-home requirements that diplomatic programs do. Graduating with CAPES funding integrates you deeply into the Brazilian academic machine, making it relatively straightforward to transition into a post-doctoral fellowship (PNPD/CAPES) or seek academic employment in Brazil.
These are strictly living stipends. They do not cover international airfare or moving expenses. Because the funds are managed by the department, if the department runs out of quota, you might be admitted but left unfunded.
The stipend is paid directly to a Brazilian bank account, which you cannot open until you have a CPF (Brazilian tax ID) and a physical address in Brazil, so bring at least two months of living expenses in cash to survive the initial bureaucratic setup phase.
Official Source
For complete details and to verify all requirements, please refer to the scholarship provider's official website.
Visit Official Source