European Master of Science in Research on Information and Communication Technologies.

MERIT ERASMUS MUNDUS 2010-2012: Category A STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP CALL

This is the call for applications to the Erasmus Mundus Category A student (non-European) scholarships for MERIT – the European Master of Research on Information and Communication Technologies (see http://www.meritmaster.org ).

MERIT is a European 2-year post-graduate programme taught in English at the following institutions:

• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

• Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden

• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), formerly University of Karlsruhe, Germany

• Politecnico di Torino (PdT), Torino, Italy

• Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain, Belgium

MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships are addressed for highly qualified non-European students willing to study the MERIT programme in two of the above institutions beginning September 2010. The number of MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships for the MERIT course 2010-2012 is 7.




Additional Category A student scholarships (up to 2) for students under the Western Balkans and Turkey Window will also be granted.

The application deadline for MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships is 17:00 (CET) January 11th 2010 to do electronic data entry and upload of required documents in the on-line application tool.

This call is subject to the general conditions of the Erasmus Mundus programme the details of which can be found in:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/doc72_en.htm

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/tools/contacts_en.php

FRAMEWORK

MERIT is a multi-track research oriented Master programme within the guidelines of the Bologna process whose scope is Information and Communication Technologies. The MERIT academic program is organized in 3 Areas of Knowledge and their corresponding 9Specialisation tracks which can be studied in any two of the institutions indicated below:

a) Microwave, Antennas, Remote Sensing and Photonics (UPC, KTH, PdT, KIT)
1. Microwaves and RF Circuits and Systems (UPC, PdT) European AArea rea of HHigher igher EEducation ducation
2. Antennas and EM modelling (UPC, PdT, KIT)
3. Remote Sensing and Imaging (UPC, KIT)
4. Photonics(KTH, KIT)

b) Wireless and Optical Communication Systems and Networks (UPC, KTH, PdT, KIT)
5. Information Transmission and Wireless Communication Systems (UPC, KTH)
6. Wireless Network Management (KTH, PdT)
7. Optical Communication Systems and Networks (UPC, PdT, KIT)

c) Multimedia Signal Processing (UPC, KTH, UCL)
8. Image and Video Processing (UPC , UCL)
9. Speech and Language Technologies (UPC, KTH)

Students applying for the MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships must include up to 4 specialization options which can be:
a) Any of the 9 specialization tracks.
b) Any of the 3 AoK.
c) Indifferent.

In addition, students should also indicate which university they prefer, if any, for the second year of studies.


ELIGIBILITY

Applications are sought from students in their final year of university programs in electrical engineering or an equivalent university degree involving at least 3 years of coursework (equivalent to 180 ECTS). Priority will be given to applicants whose background and interest match closely with those of MERIT. In any case, applicants should hold a university degree by September 1st 2010.

Applicants of MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships should qualify as third-country nationals, as defined in the Erasmus Mundus programme, i.e., nationals of all countries of the world with the exception of the Erasmus Mundus eligible applicant countries: the 27 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), the EEA-EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway).

Additional MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships (up to 2) will be assigned to students from the “Western Balkans and Turkey Window”, i.e. nationals of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

The following restrictions apply:

• Applicants are not residents nor have carried out their main activity (studies, work, etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of Erasmus Mundus eligible applicant countries above.

• Students can apply for an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to the EMMCs of their choice but the number of applications must be limited to maximum three courses.

• Individuals who have already benefited from an EMMC scholarship are not eligible for a second scholarship in order to follow the same or another EMMC.

• Students benefiting from an EMMC scholarship cannot benefit from another Community grant while pursuing their Erasmus Mundus masters studies.

• EMMC students scholarships are awarded exclusively for a full-time enrolment in one of the course editions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Students will be selected on the basis of their academic merits, language skills (English) and international test results (GRE). Priority will be given to applicants whose background and interest match closely with those of MERIT.

To check this, prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to see the program description at:

http://www.meritmaster.org/public/web/index.php?accio=st_program

In the case that the applicant has taken the GRE general test and, possibly, the GRE subject test in mathematics, scores from these tests should be sent to UPC directly by the organization administering these tests (ETS). To request this you should use the GRE institution code corresponding to UPC (7124). See http://www.gre.org for details.

MERIT is comitted to promote a balanced gender participation in the course, access to disadvantaged students and to students with disabilities or special needs. As such, in case students of different gender are ranked equally, the tie would be resolved in favour of the less represented gender in the scholarship or admitted list. Also, students with disabilities or special needs are subject to a more favourable evaluation in the setection process and, if selected, might qualify for additional funding from the Erasmus Mundus programme. Applicants are given the possibilty to include information regarding any sort of disability in their application form.

DURATION, CONDITIONS AND AMOUNT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP

Scholarships will be awarded for two years conditioned on a successful performance of the student. Students will receive a yearly payment of € 4.000 Euro as contribution to travel and installation cost and a monthly allowance of € 1.000 for a total of 24 months. Tuition fees and insurance coverage will be paid directly from the Erasmus Mundus programme. Note however that, if the scholarship is granted, no payments will be made until the grant recipient arrives at the host university. No payment advances will be sent abroad for covering travel and moving expenses.


CALENDAR

• Online Application System: 1st December 2009
• Deadline for online application: 17:00 (CET) January 11th 2010.
• Notification of Scholarships: April-May 2010.
• Start of MERIT studies: August-September 2010.

APPLICATION-SUBMISSION

Application for MERIT Erasmus Mundus Category A student scholarships requires uploading personal data and electronic copies of supporting documents in the MERIT Erasmus Mundus Online Application Tool (MEAT):

http://www.meritmaster.org/meat

This tool supports most current web-browsing software, and will be used to check the applicant’s eligibility, get his/her contact data, and upload relevant files such as CV, etc. MEAT allows applicants to enter their personal data and the electronic versions of documents to support the application (CVs, copies of academic certificates, recommendation letters, etc.). Only PDF format will be allowed for upload to MEAT (a single file for each item).

INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED

MEAT will prompt the applicant to enter/upload the following information:

1. Citizenship and country of residence.

2. Periods of stay in Europe during the last 5 years (if any).

3. University degrees (held or currently studying) and universities where those degrees where obtained.

4. Gender / Name/ Email / Birth date / Postal address

5. Disabilities (if any)

6. (Optional) GRE exam codes and GRE exam dates (General and subject test in mathematics).

7. Scanned image of your passport showing your picture (PDF).

8. CV-Resume (PDF)

9. (Optional) Name of a MERIT faculty member who knows you and knows the most relevant items in your CV1

10. Academic certificates (school certificate/diploma, University transcripts, University degree certificate) relevant to MERIT topics. All university transcripts must in English and should be uploaded into MEAT as a single PDF file.

11. Description of the contents of the courses taken to obtain the degree of the previous point. It is of utmost importance to state any subject, experience or work related to MERIT areas of knowledge.

12. Up to 4 specialisation options.

13. Motivation letter, in which the applicant explains in English the reasons to study MERIT and how they relate to his/her career goals.
14. Proof of proficiency in English. TOEFL and IELTS certificates are preferred.

15. Order of preference of the 5 MERIT institutions for the second year of studies. Note that MERIT master thesis, is undertaken at the second year university.

Please, contact merit.admission@tsc.upc.edu for any question regarding this call

Please note that the acceptance/rejection of an application is a decision jointly taken by all consortium universities.

SOURCE: CLICK HERE