European Union awards a record 205 Erasmus Mundus Scholarships to ASEAN students

08.09.2020

The European Union (EU) has awarded full scholarships to 205 students from ASEAN Member States to undertake Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) starting the academic year of 2020.

 

European Union awards a record 205 Erasmus Mundus Scholarships to ASEAN students

 

The European Union (EU) has awarded full scholarships to 205 students from ASEAN Member States to undertake Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) starting the academic year of 2020. This is a record number. With these scholarships, the students will be able to pursue their Master’s Degree for up to two years in at least two universities located in two different European countries.

Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the Erasmus awardees will depart for Europe to commence their studies in this fall semester. In some exceptional cases courses will be postponed to next year.

“I am happy to see the interest from ASEAN students to study in Europe despite the global pandemic. The Erasmus+ programme provides a great opportunity to the scholarship awardees to develop academically and professionally at top-quality European universities. The scholarships broaden the personal horizon and present valuable lessons for the Erasmus alumni to be brought back to their home countries," said H.E. Mr Igor Driesmans, EU Ambassador to ASEAN.

From 2014 to 2020, the EU has awarded EMJMD scholarships to more than 900 students and lecturers in ASEAN. The highest number of Erasmus Mundus awardees comes from the Philippines, and followed by Indonesia and Vietnam. In addition to this scheme, the Erasmus+ programme also offers a variety of instruments to support higher education institutions through the Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) scheme, the promotion of European Studies through Jean Monnet scheme and short-term exchanges of students and scholars through the International Credit Mobility (ICM) scheme. Since 2014, over 5,500 students and staff from ASEAN universities have received ICM scholarships to pursue short-term studies and teaching in European universities.  In reverse, nearly 3,000 European students and staff have taken up short-term study and teaching in ASEAN Member States under the ICM scheme.

The Erasmus+ programme reconfirms the strong EU commitment to support student and scholar mobility and strengthening the quality of higher education institution in ASEAN even more important in times of COVID-19. Academic mobility is an area with great potential, and I hope that the current generation of students will be able to benefit from it and ultimately bring our two regions even closer together,” added Ambassador Driesmans.

Other than the Erasmus+ programme, the EU also supports ASEAN in strengthening regional cooperation, and enhancing the quality, competitiveness, and internationalisation of ASEAN higher education institutions through the European Union Support to Higher Education in ASEAN Region (SHARE) Programme.

The SHARE programme facilitates student mobility through scholarships, and is underpinned by the unique European experience of building higher education cooperation at regional level through the Erasmus+ programme. Since 2015, the programme has awarded 489 intra-ASEAN scholarships for students from 8 ASEAN countries to undertake short-term studies at 32 ASEAN universities.

 

BACKGROUNDER

About Erasmus Plus (Erasmus+)

Erasmus+ is a programme funded by the European Union to support education, training, youth and sports. For the 2021 academic year, the Erasmus+ Masters programme will open the application process around October 2020. Information on Erasmus+ scholarships is available at: 

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/scholarships_en

Europe has more than 4,000 tertiary institutions and more than 15,000 postgraduate study programmes conducted in English. Many of them are organised by European universities which are among the 100 best universities in the world, with cutting-edge facilities and unlimited research opportunities.

About Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree (2014-2020)

Graphic of Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree 2014-2020

 

 

 


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