The Erasmus Mundus programme provides support to:

1. higher education institutions that wish to implement joint programmes at postgraduate level (Action 1) or to set-up inter-institutional cooperation partnerships between universities from Europe and targeted Third-Countries (Action 2);
2. individual students, researchers and university staff who wish to spend a study / research / teaching period in the context of one of the above mentioned joint programmes or cooperation partnerships;
3. any organisation active in the field of higher education that wishes to develop projects aiming at enhancing the attractiveness, profile, visibility and image of European higher education worldwide (Action 3).

Calls for proposals are now being received for Action 1 as detailed below:

Action 1: Erasmus Mundus Joint Programme

This action aims at fostering cooperation between higher education institutions and academic staff in Europe and Third Countries with a view to creating poles of excellence. Action 1 is composed of 2 main strands:

Action 1A – Erasmus Mundus Master Courses (EMMCs)
Action 1B – Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates (EMJDs)

whose aim is to support postgraduate programmes of outstanding academic quality, jointly developed by consortia of European and, where relevant, Third-Country Universities which could contribute to the increased visibility and attractiveness of the European Higher Education sector. Such joint programmes must involve mobility between the consortia Universities and lead to the award of recognised, joint, double or multiple degrees.

15 new proposals and 36 renewal proposals are available for Action A1 and 10 new proposals for action 1B. The total budget for this call is 25,000,000€.

A detailed programme guide and further information about selection criteria are available on the European Union website or through the Graduate School. (http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/doc72_en.htm or email the Graduate School at a-c.bennion@warwick.ac.uk for an information pack)

The deadline for submission of proposals to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency is 30th April 2009. Expressions of interest should be sent to the Graduate School as soon as possible and by no later than 20^th March 2009.

Forthcoming Opportunities

Please note that a further 429,000,000€ over the period 2009-2013 with pledges of:

• 308,000,000€ for Masters scholarships
• 65,000,000€ fellowships for doctoral candidates
• 28,000,000€ for Third-Country scholars in EMMCs and
• 28,000,000€ for European scholars in EMMCs.

No information has as yet been released by the European Union with regards to the allocation of such funds but departments will be kept updated when further information becomes available.