Erasmus Mundus - IMRD Scholarships
The joint International Master in Rural Development (IMRD), part of the European Erasmus Mundus program, offers the opportunity to study the European vision on rural development in its diversity of approaches and applications.

The objective is to train specialists in integrated rural development, focussed on socio-economic and institutional aspects, not only from the European Union but also from developed, developing and transition countries outside the European Union through a 2 year master program (120 ECTS) jointly organised by seven European leading institutes in agricultural economics and rural development.

The Master program is offered by Ghent University (Belgium), Agrocampus Ouest (France), Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany), the University of Cordoba (Spain), in collaboration with Wageningen University (The Netherlands), the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia) and the University of Pisa (Italy). these will be joined by universities in China, Ecuador, India and South Africa.

The methodology consists of a combination of basic and specialised training in technical, economic and social sciences, a case study of one month, an individual master thesis and a high extent of student and scholar mobility.

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

1. Applicants must have a Bachelor's degree of minimum 3 years with good overall scores (at least a second class or equivalent, preferably higher) from a university or recognized equivalent. Candidates are expected to have basic science training (demonstrable in the transcripts) in the following fields: (1) mathematics and/or statistics, (2) agronomy and/or biology and/or environmental sciences and (3) social sciences and/or rural development. Candidates who cannot present a combined training of these fields will be evaluated on their aptitude, based on experience and knowledge of these fields, as demonstrated by CV or other evidence.
2. Sufficient language knowledge proven by language certificates. The applicant must be proficient in the language of the course or training programme, i.e. English. Command of the English language is a very important criterion for admission. With the exception of those who have a diploma (Secondary Education, Academic Bachelor Degree, Master Degree) issued by an institution officially recognized by the Flemish Government, applicants must be able to prove their proficiency in English. See the language section on the left.

Applicants generally have a Bachelor's degree or a recognized equivalent academic degree of minimum 3 years study in bioscience engineering or agricultural sciences (preferably agricultural economics), in combination with knowledge in environmental sciences, economics, sociology and rural development studies.

Admission decisions are based on a combination of factors, including academic degrees and records, the statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, test scores, language skills and relevant work experience, if any. We also consider the appropriateness of your goals to the IMRD programme. In addition, consideration may be given to how your background and life experience would contribute significantly to an educationally beneficial mix of students.

NON-EUROPEAN STUDENTS :

The first step of the application procedure is an on-line registration and application form. Register in the IMRD database, complete the application form and submit it to the central IMRD secretariat electronically. Make sure you fill in at least all the obligatory fields, add as much additional information as possible and load electronic copies of your documents.


The second step is a hard copy application file, composed of the printed application form and all requested documents (secondary school leaving certificate, higher education diploma(s), including all transcripts of records, language certificate(s), curriculum vita, passport pictures, copy of passport, recommendation letters) by regular or express mail to the IMRD secretariat before the deadline. Download the recommendation letter/reference letter here: Word document.

CLICK HERE TO START THE APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Contact detail: imrd@ugent.be
Moreinfo: http://www.imrd.ugent.be

Erasmus Mundus - AFEPA Schlolarships
The European Master in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis (AFEPA) aims at providing a high quality education in designing and assessing public policies targeted to the agricultural and food sector as well as the rural environment. This European Master responds to the increasing need to better understand and anticipate the various and often complex socio-economic and environmental effects of these policies either in a functioning market economy as in the European Union or in economies in a development or transition phase. The European Master offers a two-year academic curriculum with integrated and advanced theoretical, methodological and empirical courses in economics and quantitative methods as well as in agricultural, food and environmental sciences, agricultural and trade policy, environmental and natural resource policy, rural development policy and agribusiness management and market analysis. To connect theory and methodology to practice, a problem solving project is developed and presented as a master thesis at the end of the two-year curriculum.

The European Master is jointly organised by five leading European educational and research institutions: the Corvinius University of Budapest (CUB) in Hungary, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Sweden, the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn (UBonn) in Germany, the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Spain. These five partner universities are recognised worldwide for the quality of their educational programme and scientific achievements in agricultural, environmental and economic sciences. The required 120 ECTS credit points are structured into three blocks: a minimum of two semesters of studies (55 ECTS) at a first partner university, as well as two semesters of studies (60 ECTS) at a second partner university, and two joint summer schools (5 ECTS) at partner universities. The language of instruction and examination is English for most of the courses in three partner universities while it is either French at UCL or Spanish at UPC for most of the courses. The Master degree is awarded as a double degree from the two home and host universities.

This European Master is accessible to candidates holding a bachelor degree or a recognized equivalent academic degree with a minimum of 180 ECTS or 3 years university study from an accredited institution, with sufficient undergraduate training in economics and agricultural or environmental sciences, with an excellent scholastic average, and with fluency in English but also French or Spanish if attending either UCL or UPC respectively.

Recipients of this European Master are qualified to understand the fundamentals of public policies oriented to the agricultural and food sector, rural areas and natural resources, develop and use quantitative methods to perform rigorous socio-economic and environmental assessment of these public policies, and provide sound and relevant policy recommendations for a more sustainable development of this sector and rural areas. They are qualified to take responsibilities in international, national and regional agencies, non-governmental organisations, consultancy firms, professional organisations and private companies.

Main area: Social sciences (including economics), cultural sciences
Second area: Agricultural and forestry sciences
Third area: Geography, earth and environmental studies

At the end of the course, graduated students will be awarded a double degree.

* Erasmus Mundus scholarships for non-European students (Category A)

The Erasmus Mundus programme of the European Union awards a limited number of individual scholarships to non-European applicants to the European Master in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis. When non-European candidates apply for admission to the AFEPA European Master, they can also apply for this scholarship programme using the same application form by the same deadline. If non-European candidates applying for this scholarship programme are admitted to the AFEPA European Master but are not offered an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, then admitted candidates cover the tuition fees and all other expenses with funding from an alternative scholarship programme or private sources.

For a non-European applicant, the scholarship amounts to:
a total contribution to travel, installation and any other type of costs € 8,000
a contribution to cover the tuiton fees of the European Master € 3,000 per semester
a monthly allowance € 1,000 per month

* Erasmus Mundus scholarships for European students (Category B)

The Erasmus Mundus programme of the European Union awards a limited number of individual sholarships to European applicants to the European Master in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis. When European candidates apply for admission to the AFEPA European Master, they can also apply for this scholarship programme using the same application form by the same deadline. If European candidates applying for this scholarship programme are admitted to the AFEPA European Master but are not offered an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, then admitted candidates cover the tuition fees and all other expenses with funding from an alternative scholarship programme or private sources.

For a European applicant, the scholarship amounts to:
a contribution to the tuiton fees of the European Master € 1,500 per semester
a monthly allowance € 500 per month


To apply, click here to fill out the application form

The two academic referees fill out the downloadable reference form in English, sign it, save it under the file name ‘RF_CandidateLastName_RefereeLastName.doc’ or ‘RF_CandidateLastName_RefereeLastName.pdf’ and send it to master-afepa@uclouvain.be

Reference form in the AFEPA preformatted version

Contact detail: Pascale.Pattyn@uclouvain.be
Moreinfo: http://www.uclouvain.be/afepa

The Nestl� Scholarship for Women, Worldwide

The Nestl� Scholarship for Women was first awarded in 1997 and was initiated by a group of IMD MBA participants who wanted to encourage women to take the MBA.
Applicants must have been accepted into the IMD MBA program prior to their application.
Our scholarship applications are essay based, with winning essays typically including the following features:

* Relevance to the essay title
* Organization and structure
* Fully developed arguments
* Persuasiveness
* Personal element and/or passion

IMD reserves the right not to award a scholarship if the criteria are not met to the satisfaction of the jury/sponsors.
Number of scholarships: One
Amount: CHF 25,000
Geographic region: Worldwide (with preference given to developing countries)

Who can qualify: Accepted women candidates who demonstrate financial need. Employees of Nestl� and its subsiduaries are not elegible.

Criteria: Submitting an essay discussing the issue: �Does diversity in management impact the bottom line? If so, how?� (maximum 750 words)

Deadline: September 30

Contact: Scholarship essays, or questions, should be sent to mbafinance[at]imd.ch

http://www.imd.ch/programs/mba/fees/scholarships/Nestle.cfm