EUROPEAN COMMISSION OFFERS SCHOLARSHIPS
FOR MASTERS COURSES IN THE EU

Under the Erasmus Mundus programme, the European Commission is providing EU-funded scholarships for third-country nationals in Masters Courses, as well as scholarships for EU nationals studying in third countries.

The Erasmus Mundus programme is intended to strengthen European co-operation and international links in higher education by supporting high-quality European Masters Courses, by enabling students and visiting scholars from around the world to engage in postgraduate study at European universities, as well as by encouraging the outgoing mobility of European students and scholars towards third-countries.

The Erasmus Mundus programme comprises four concrete actions:

·           ACTION 1 - Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses: they constitute the central component around which Erasmus Mundus is built. They are high-quality integrated Masters Courses offered by a consortium of at least three universities in at least three different European countries. The courses must be "integrated" to be selected under Erasmus Mundus, which means that they must foresee a study period in at least two of the three universities and that it must lead to the award of a recognised double, multiple or joint diploma.

·           ACTION 2 - Erasmus Mundus scholarships: in order to give the Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses a strong external projection, a scholarship scheme for third-country graduate students and scholars from the whole world will be linked to them. This scholarship scheme addresses highly qualified individuals.

·           ACTION 3 - Partnerships: in order to encourage European universities to open themselves up to the world and to reinforce their world-wide presence, Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses will also have the possibility of establishing partnerships with third-country higher education institutions. These partnerships will allow for outgoing mobility for graduate EU students and scholars involved in the Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses.

·           ACTION 4 - Enhancing attractiveness: Erasmus Mundus will also support measures aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of and the interest in European higher education. It will support activities that will improve the profile, the visibility and the accessibility of European higher education as well as issues crucial to the internationalisation of higher education, such as the mutual recognition of qualifications with third-countries.

In concrete terms, Erasmus Mundus will support about 90 Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses of outstanding academic quality. It will provide grants for some 5,000 graduate students from third-countries to follow these Masters Courses, and for more than 4,000 EU graduate students involved in these courses to study in third-countries. The programme will also offer teaching or research scholarships in Europe for over 1,000 incoming third-country academics and for a similar number of outgoing EU scholars. Last but not least, Erasmus Mundus will support about 100 partnerships between Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses and higher education institutions in third-countries.

How to apply?

The Erasmus Mundus programme will be implemented as of the academic year 2004/2005. The European Commission published a first call for proposals relating to the year 2004 in early April 2004 which covers Action 1 (Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses), Action 2 (scholarships) and Action 4 (enhancing attractiveness). A second call for proposals relating to the year 2005 and covering Action 1 (Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses), Action 2 (scholarships) and Action 3 (partnerships) was also published in April 2004.

·           European higher education institutions (for Actions 1 and 2) are invited to watch out for the calls of proposals relating to the years 2004 and 2005. They will be published on this website and the Official Journal in early April 2004. They will give guidance to applicants and include the application forms. The deadline for the submission of applications will be in spring 2004 for the call relating to 2004. As for the call relating to 2005 the deadlines for the submission of applications will be in autumn 2004 for Action 1 and the beginning of 2005 for Action 2.

·           Students and scholars: the list of selected Erasmus Mundus Master Courses will be available on this website. Students and scholars will be invited to apply directly to the offering consortia according to their instructions.

·           European and third-country higher education institutions (for Action 3): partnerships under Action 3 can only be established by selected Erasmus Mundus Masters Consortia offering Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses selected under Action 1. Therefore, the first partnerships will not start before the academic year 2005/2006. While partnerships will not be covered by the call for proposals relating to the year 2004, they will be included in the one relating to the year 2005. It will be published on this website and the Official Journal in early April 2004 and will contain all information needed to apply. The deadline for the submission of proposals will be at the beginning of 2005.

·           World-wide higher education institutions and other bodies active in the field of higher education (for Action 4): the call for proposals relating to the year 2004 will be published on this website and the Official Journal in early April 2004 and will contain all information needed to apply. The deadline for the submission of proposals will be in spring 2004.

Application via the following website:

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html

E-mail: EAC-Erasmus-Mundus@cec.eu.int