European Union Scholarship Programme

The Erasmus Mundus programme of master’s courses hasproven so popular since its launch in 2004 that it hadto be expanded to keep up with demand. Erasmus MundusMaster’s Courses are top-quality courses offered bypartnerships of European higher educationinstitutions. There are currently 57 courses to chosefrom, covering everything from engineering andtechnology, natural sciences, life sciences, socialsciences, business, economics, to law and thehumanities. The European Commission has selected, forthe 2006-2007 academic year, 1.377 students and 231university teachers to participate in the programme.Ján Figel’, European Commissioner for Education andTraining, said “Europe’s universities are nowattracting more of the world’s best graduate studentsand teachers, thanks to the Erasmus Mundus scheme.With Erasmus Mundus, Europe’s universities areencouraged to get together to attract leading talentfrom around the globe, with obvious benefits to theirlevel of excellence”. To conclude : “Ultimately, whenEurope’s universities benefit, the EU economy benefitstoo, as does our dialogue with other cultures”. TheErasmus Mundus students study for a European masters’degree for one or two years, in at least twouniversities located in two different Europeancountries, so they experience of European lifestyles,cultures and languages. They are admitted onto theCourses only after a highly competitive process,ensuring that the Erasmus Mundus programme draws theworld’s best talent. Erasmus Mundus universityteachers spend up to three months in Europe workingfor one of the Erasmus Mundus masters courses, thusstrengthening ties between universities worldwide.The Erasmus Mundus programme is proving to be verypopular: the level of demand from third-countrygraduates and academics to study and teach in Europe’suniversities has been increasing rapidly: the 57Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses received almost 6,000applications for scholarships from students andscholars from all over the world.To cover the demand from specific Asian countries,additional funds were injected into the Erasmus Mundusprogramme, the so-called “Asian Windows”. These fundsare earmarked for scholarships for nationals comingfrom specific Asian countries such as China or India.In all, for the 2006-2007 Academic year, the EuropeanCommission has selected 1,377 students and 231scholars from all over the world to receive ErasmusMundus scholarships for the next academic year(2006-2007). Nearly EUR 52 million will be devoted tofund the 1377 Erasmus Mundus students’ scholarshipsand about EUR 2.5 million will be used to fund theuniversity teachers.
The funds will be managed by theEducation, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency.
The 741 students selected under the general ErasmusMundus programme come from 92 different countries,with China (81), Brazil (43), Russia (36), India (31),USA (28), Malaysia (25), and Mexico (24) ranking inthe first places.The 636 additional students receiving scholarshipsunder the “Asian Windows” come mainly from India(288), China (99), Thailand (53), Pakistan (42),Malaysia (32) and Vietnam (29).Of the 231 scholars, 199 have been selected under thegeneral Erasmus Mundus programme and 32 under the“China Window”. The selected scholars under thegeneral programme come from 45 different countries.Among the best ranked countries are the USA (42),Russia (14), India (12), Canada (11) and Brazil (10).Further information, including a geographicalbreakdown by country of origin of the Erasmus Mundusscholarships grantees, can be found on the ErasmusMundus web site:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html