Erasmus Mundus Exchange Program for Students

Created with the aim of improving the quality of education and increasing student mobility by the European Union, the Erasmus Mundus program co-operates with Europe and the rest of the world. There is also the Erasmus program, but it is only available to Europeans. "Erasmus Mundus" also allows students to exchange students in almost any country, regardless of geographical location.

About the program

It is implemented in three main areas:

• Joint doctoral and master programs, which provide support for scholarships;
• Programs of partnership between universities of different countries;
• Programs that increase the attractiveness of European education.

Every year Erasmus Mundus finances the training of a certain number of students. The cost of education, insurance medical policy, flight and residence in the host country can either be partially or fully covered by scholarships and grants.

In the given program teachers of high schools, post-graduate students and students (masters and bachelors) participate. The university, political and economic cooperation between Russia and the European Union is strengthened with the help of the Erasmus Mundus subprogramme. Within its framework, Russian Ph.D. candidates and graduate students who participate in semi-annual internships, as well as in academic and research programs conducted by European universities receive scholarships. For example, masters can choose to train up to three educational programs "Erasmus Mundus".

Partnership

Any university from any country can join this program, as it is aimed at developing all sorts of cooperation. You just need to fill in a special application on the official website. "Erasmus Mundus" - a program designed to unite European universities with universities in other, arbitrarily remote regions. Countries outside the EU, including Russia, also have the right to join the program. Students, post-graduate students and teachers willingly take the opportunity to exchange knowledge and replenish them at the expense of the European Union and Erasmus Mundus. The program is headed by European universities, and it can be joined by institutes, academies, universities, officially accredited and registered by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Each year the European Commission allocates about fifteen million euros to finance three consortia of Russian and European universities. Thus, the European Commission finances all costs for the organization and implementation of the program. Below it will be fragmentarily (for example) listed what will be needed to participate in Erasmus Mundus (2016), because at its core year by year the parameters in the program are repeated and the terms change rarely. Also, prospective scholarships will be presented for certain courses in the 2017-2018 school year.

Amendments are usually made between October and January, but if you choose the course you want, the teacher or student who wants to join the program must begin the paperwork without waiting for changes, because this process is not easy. "Erasmus Mundus" is a student exchange program, it is very popular, so you need to treat the collection of documents with special attention.

Example project

The Aurora Project - Towards Modern and Innovative Higher Education - is designed to support the academic mobility of staff, graduate students, and university students participating in this project. The consortium contains twenty-two universities in Europe and Russia and eight associated organizations, where the coordinator is the University of Turku (Finland).

Among the European partners of Erasmus Mundus 2016 are the Universities of Turku and Bologna, the University of the Czech Republic (Masaryk), the Catholic University of Belgium of Belgium, the Universities of Groningen and Humboldt in Germany, the Latvian and Warsaw Universities, Deusto Universities in Spain and Tartu in Estonia. .. The project involved graduate students, teachers, doctoral students of one of the partner universities; European and Russian citizens studying or graduating from European or Russian universities that are not partners of the project.

The Erasmus Mundus scholarship is awarded to Russian citizens who are in a difficult situation (in refugee status or seeking political asylum according to international and European legislation, persons unfairly expelled from higher education institutions for ethnic, racial, political, religious or gender reasons, which must be proven ) And representatives of small indigenous peoples.

Competition and the size of grants

The objectives of graduate students are non-degree internship, degree studies, practice takes up to three months after a six-month course. Competition "Erasmus Mundus" 2016-2017 was announced in the fall of 2015. For doctoral students, the purpose of the exchange is a research internship, and for teachers and administrative staff - research, teaching, development of courses and teaching methods. Such goals contribute to the establishment of closer ties between faculties, departments, partner universities, help the introduction of the ECTS system, the development of managerial personnel, the recognition of the result of studying at a university abroad.

Grants must cover the following costs:

• Transport: travel to the host university and back once;
• Medical insurance;
• The cost of a visa (this does not include a residence permit).

Erasmus Mundus scholarship is 1500 euros per month for graduate students, 1800 for doctoral students, 2500 for teachers and administrators. In addition, the project reimburses the cost of training for the host institution of the EU, which is more than ten months.

First thing

Candidates must fulfill all the requirements that the project has to them:

1. Carefully read the Study and Research Opportunities, which exist in European partner universities.
2. To study the websites of these partner universities in order to choose the right programs for training and take into account the peculiarities of the educational process, opportunities for further training, research and so on.
3. Choose from one to three partner universities.
4. Proceed to prepare a package of application documents, taking into account the category of participation in the competition.
5. Fill in the online application without using Windows Explorer before 11 December 14:00, Finnish time.
6. Scan the application documents and send them electronically before December 18, 14:00, Finnish time. The originals remain with the participant of the competition, and if they receive a grant, they must be provided to the host institution. All documents must be compiled in English.
7. Expect the results until April.

Documents and selection criteria

For absolutely all participants of the competition, regardless of the category, they will need:

• A copy of the identity document (passport);
• Summary in Europass format and motivation letter.

This is only the most important, but not all. The rest of the set of documents depends only on the selected category.

What are the criteria for the competition? Academic performance should be in order. The participant's training program should correspond to the project's theme. To participate, you need a reasonable reason with the appropriate training, research or teaching plan and a foreign language at a high level of ownership. Again, the advantage in the competition is given to disabled people, poor and ethnic minorities.

In Minsk

In Minsk on November 1, 2016, there was an information day concerning the program of the European Commission, called Erasmus Plus. The event was organized by the Ministry of Education, its information and analytical center and the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank. The information day was held at this educational institution along Sovetskaya Street, house 18. The purpose of this event is more than clear: the need to inform students interested in studying abroad, postgraduate students, doctoral students and teachers, because that's where they learned about the specifics of the third contest of project proposals for the program Erasmus Mundus in Belarus.

Members of all structural subdivisions of higher educational establishments who are interested in the implementation of international programs and projects, as well as those responsible for international cooperation took part in the work of this meeting. A lot of interested people were invited, they all filled in the relevant preliminary applications. It should be noted that such events are not uncommon in Belarus, international experts are invited with great authority, who render technical assistance and transmit their unique experience. To participate in the contest, applications were selected and sent to the European Commission's Executive Agency, which owns the Erasmus Mundus program. Known participants in these projects are in Belarus. For example, model and TV host Leila Ismailova.

In Kazakhstan

The Erasmus Plus program opens up new opportunities for teachers, students and staff of Kazakhstan's universities, implemented within the boundaries of Key Action 1 (key action 1), which clearly enhances mobility, which has always been an important component of the higher education system and enabled universities to develop. Moreover, this activity positively affects both the universities of the countries of the program and the universities of the partner countries, being an incentive for improving the quality of education, improving the work of student and international university services.

It also makes it possible to compare education programs, update them. All this makes for the world students "Erasmus Mundus". Kazakhstan joined the educational programs of the European level, all the best internationalization strategies are being developed every year, which serves as a catalyst in the reform of the country's higher education. Important and useful educational mobility for students and teachers, as well as for the administrative staff of universities, it has the most positive impact on the quality of education and forms recognition tools. Twenty-eight EU countries, Iceland, Turkey, Liechtenstein, Macedonia participate in partnership with universities of Kazakhstan on the Erasmus Mundus program.

Russia

The consortium, under the auspices of the University of Barcelona (Spain), has included the following Russian partner universities:

• Siberian Federal University ;
• Russian State Hydrometeorological University;
• Lomonosov Moscow State University;
• South Ural State University;
• Lobachevsky NSU;
• Yaroslavl State University. Demidov;
• Pskov State Pedagogical University;
• St. Petersburg State University.

The consortium, headed by the University of Turku (Finland), included the following partners from among the Russian universities (the list is not complete):

• State University of Emmanuel Kant in Russia;
• Higher School of Economics;
• Kazan Federal University;
• Irkutsk State University;
• Russian State University for the Humanities;
• Petrozavodsk State University;
• Udmurt State University;
• St. Petersburg State University;
• Novgorod State University named after Yaroslav the Wise.
• The Ural State University.

Requests

Students and teachers need to address to the international department of any of the listed higher education institutions, and all requirements, selection criteria, which are made to the applicants, are determined by the university where the application is submitted. The same as the timing of its submission. Third-year students who have already completed an incomplete higher education can expect to receive a grant or scholarship from the Erasmus Mundus program. The term of study abroad varies depending on the category of exchange - it is not less than three, but not more than ten months.

Students receive a scholarship of 1,000 euros per month. Bachelors or students who study at the university for more than three years, preparing a thesis or defense of a master's degree, study from three months to twenty-two. The scholarship is also 1000 euros. Graduate students who are preparing for a Ph.D. degree study from six to thirty-four months. Candidates with a Ph.D., who are in doctoral studies, are trained from six to ten months, and the professorial and teaching staff has a trip period of no more than three months.

Afterword

Few EU programs, if they exist at all, have such a large scale of pan-European level. Erasmus Mundus absorbed ninety percent of European universities. The program was opened in 1987, and since then more than two million students have taken part in it. More than thirty countries are in the program and even more intend to join. Exchange and cooperation in the framework of Erasmus Mundus are aimed at spreading the European quality of higher education, all this promotes understanding between cultures, dialogue between people of different nationalities, races, religions and so on. This program develops both human resources and international cooperation potential between higher education institutions of different countries due to the intensification of knowledge sharing.

In the future, the European Union plans to increase the support of gifted students, graduate students, doctoral candidates and university professors from those countries that are not part of the EU, by granting them to participate in joint programs directly in Europe. The scale of the work will be further increased, the volume of financial injections will be increased to help students.

This is a great chance for energetic and talented young people who have been studying at the university for at least 4 years, continue to receive education abroad in the best universities in Europe. Over one hundred master's courses are already funded, and there are many interesting things for the faculty. The most interesting thing is that you can not just study in one European university, but learn both in two and three European universities in different countries, then get a full European diploma, and the amount of the scholarship can cover all student needs. Moreover, in every European university there is a coordinator of this program, always helping every foreign student on all issues: administrative and personal, even in search of housing, for example, if there is such a need.