Erasmus Mundus Scholarships for South-East Asian Students to Europe

Lotus is an Erasmus Mundus Action Two Partnership (EMA2) of European and South-East Asian Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and Associations aiming at fostering mutual enrichment and better understanding between the EU and South-East Asia (China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand), through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills at higher education level and to co-operate in the following program activities:

• Mobility of undergraduate and graduate students
• Mobility of PhD students
• Post-doc mobility
• Academic and administrative staff mobility

The types of mobility to be funded are:

• For students: undergraduate, master, doctorate and post-doctorate mobility opportunities
• For academic staff: exchanges for the purposes of teaching, practical training and research

This project is to give South-East Asian students and staff the possibility to go to a European University to improve, enrich, learn, experience, …. their own knowledge and skills.

Please bear in mind that the scholarships are only granted to South-East Asian students and staff coming to Europe. The grant covers:

• Monthly subsistence allowance
• Travel ticket
• Insurance
• Tuition fee

To enable students to benefit in a linguistic, cultural and educational way from the experience of pursuing academic studies in another country, all students should have a thorough command of English (this can only be proven by means of internationally recognized documents, p.e. IELTS certificate, TOEFL, First Certificate of Cambridge, an English diploma, a Degree obtained in English). Please note, however, that this also depends on the language requirements of the host universities within the Lotus project.

Objectives

• To promote cooperation between the EU and the Asian countries involved in the project: the project is striving to build structured long-term cooperation between all partners, resulting in a sustainable network. The project offers the perfect opportunity to boost the exchange of know-how for curriculum development, new teaching methods, international relations and university management.
• To enable students to benefit from a study/research period abroad and thus to develop a pool from well-qualified, open-minded and internationally experienced young women/men as future leaders: the project aims to make a bridge between the EU and the Asian countries involved by offering opportunities to young people to come to the EU and build up contacts. To promote the regional cooperation in the Asian countries involved and to train a future generation of academics that foster a culture of sustainable development and durable growth and promote regional integration.
• To improve the transparency and recognition of studies and qualifications: the project is focused on mobility and will give explicit attention to the promotion of recognition of studies systems.
• To contribute to provide good students from vulnerable groups equal chances and thus disseminating EU social and democratic values: 15% of the scholarships is reserved for students from vulnerable groups in the Asian countries involved (refugees, ethnic minorities, internally displaced populations, disabled students, economically disadvantaged students)
• To enhance the skills of staff, who can in their turn contribute to the improvement of the education system in their home country: 22% of the scholarships are reserved for staff exchange. Professors applying will have to argument how their stay will contribute to structural reforms in the Asian countries involved, and this will be evaluated.
• To enhance in the medium term the political, cultural, educational and economical links between the EU and the Asian countries involved: this project contributes to improving mutual understanding between the EU and Asia, by enabling personal contacts.

Eligibility criteria for students 
Asian students who want to participate in mobility to the EU:

• Must be a national of one of the third countries covered by the relevant lot;
• Must have not resided 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 the European countries;
• For target group 1 (TGI): students need to be registered at one of the third-country HEIs within the partnership. Undergraduate students must have successfully completed at least one year of studies in their home institution;
• For target group 2 (TGII): students need either to be registered in a HEI (not included in the partnership) of the third country concerned by the lot or having obtained a university degree or equivalent by an institution of these third countries. They will need to justify how this study period abroad will benefit them (and their direct socio-economical environment) and include letters of support in their individual application;
• For target group 3 (TGIII): students need to be nationals of one of the third countries concerned by the lot and be part of the vulnerable target groups.
• Must have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses or of one of the languages currently spoken in the hosting countries.
• No student can benefit from more than one mobility activity in the same project.

Eligibility criteria for staff
In order to be eligible, academic and administrative staff hereafter referred as “staff”:

• Must be a national of one of the eligible countries;
• Must work in or be associated to an HEI within the partnership;
• The mobility assignments must be based on partnership agreements between the members of the partnership;
• The home and host universities and the individual staff must agree on the programme of lectures to be delivered by the visiting staff, on the research activities or on the type of training to be followed;
• The mobility may constitute a post-per-post exchange or a one-way visitor flow to or from a third country.

Priority will be given to mobility that:

• Ensures that the visiting teacher’s contribution will be an integral part of a program of the host institution
• Will lead to the production of new teaching material
• Will be used to consolidate and extend links between departments and faculties and to prepare for future cooperation projects between the home and host university (joint projects, joint degrees etc.)
• Will help strengthen the international cooperation departments in the foreign universities
• Will lead to progress in the application of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) and other systems for recognition of studies and qualifications in the partner institution
• Will improve the university – enterprise cooperation
• Will help to start up Doctoral Schools
• Will lead to the improvement of quality assurance mechanisms at universities.

Please note that the Lotus project only funds mobilities to nationals from South-East Asia and China to the 9 European partner universities. The partner Universities within the Lotus project are:

EU Universities:

1. Ghent University (Belgium)
2. Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)
3. University of Goettingen (Germany)
4. Sciences Po (France)
5. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (The Netherlands)
6. University of Porto (Portugal)
7. Uppsala University (Sweden)
8. University of Lubljana (Slovenia)
9. University of Kent (UK)

South-East Asian Universities:

1. University of Health Sciences Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
2. Nanjing University (China)
3. Peking University (China)
4. Sichuan University (China)
5. Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia)
6. University of Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)
7. West Yangon Technological University (Myanmar)
8. Thammasat University (Thailand)
9. Can Tho University (Vietnam)
10. Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Vietnam)
11. Hue University (Vietnam)

Scholarships
Subsistence allowance:

• 1000 € per month for undergraduate and graduate students
• 1500 € per month for doctorate students
• 1800 € per month for post-doctorates
• 2500 € per month for academic staff

Insurance costs:

• All grant holders are subscribed to a central group policy. The policy can be found on the website.

Tuition fees/registration fees:

• The tuition fees are covered by the project.

Travel costs:

• One return ticket will be provided by the coordinator by means of booking via a central travel agency. Self-purchased tickets will not be reimbursed.
• Travel Costs: depending on the distance.

Before applying online:

• Make sure to read the eligiblity criteria in order to define the Target Group and mobility type you want to apply for;
• Check the language and the admission requirements of the requested host universities;
• Consider contacting the department where you would like to study: this way you will obtain more information on their study opportunities and formalities;
• Know that for exchange students the online application form is valid for application at both home and host institution;
• Remember that the online application forms of all Target Group 1 students will be screened and validated by the International Relations Office (IRO) or the contactperson of their university.
• Bear in mind that all full degree seeking students, i.e. those who intend to obtain a diploma at the host university of their choice, will have to apply both online to the Lotus consortium for a scholarship, and then – if they are selected – also follow the standard individual application procedure at their host university.

The deadline for application has been set on December 23rd, 2011, so all applications should be submitted before that date.

The Lotus II project will run from 15th July 2011 until 14th July 2015 and is financed by the European Commission.

For further information about scholarships visit official website