National Tempus / Erasmus+
Office in Ukraine

 Erasmus Mundus  is an education program of the European Union; it is aimed at increasing attractiveness of European higher education, fostering international cooperation, accelerating mobility for  university students, teachers and scholars in the EU and worldwide.     

The Program is called after Erasmus of Rotterdam, Renaissance scholar and philosopher, who travelled a lot and taught at different universities that enabled him to realize five hundred years ago the advantages of mobility and international cooperation in education and learning.  

The program comprises 3 Actions:

Action 1: Joint master’s and doctoral programmes including a scholarship scheme.

This component encompasses 

1. joint programmes of the masters’ and doctoral levels developed by university consortia,
2. scholarships for students who apply for the above programs, and  
3. scholarships for students to conduct research within selected courses and academics who participates in the development of joint programs. 

Action 1 is open to:

а) Ukrainian students and graduates who have obtained their first higher education degree (bachelor or its equivalent).  Students have to choose a programme from Erasmus Mundus compendium of courses and apply for it following the guidelines and instructions of an institution that teaches this program.

The catalogue of  Erasmus Mundus programmes courses can be found at:   http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/projects/index_en.html .

There are two types of requirements for potential applicants who intend to obtain Erasmus Mundus  funding  - a scholarship to participate in Erasmus Mundus program:

general requirements for potential participants:   students are expected to have a high academic rating  and be fluent in foreign languages, which  is confirmed by relevant certificates,

specific requirements for a programme, developed by consortium members who have developed and deliver a program.

б) Ukrainian scholars and teachers who can join the consortium by invitation of their university colleagues from the EU and  participate in the development of Erasmus Mundus courses (currently, third countries representative, including Ukraine, cannot be applicants within Erasmus Mundus Action 1 projects and initiate  establishment of  consortia and development of courses or programs).

Action 2: Erasmus Mundus Partnerships.

This component provides

1) support for partnerships established between the EU universities and their  third country counterparts with the purpose of  students’ (bachelor, master and doctoral levels) and academics’ exchange;

2) mobility scholarships for students, teachers, researchers from European universities and third countries higher education establishment.

Erasmus Mundus partnership brings together European universities (minimum 5 from at least three EU member-states) and higher education institutions from the third countries for a certain purpose.  Scholarships cover travel costs, tuition fees, research and other expenses necessary to achieve partnership goals. Within the partnership framework, European scholars can teach and work at Ukrainian universities and students can take courses and study together with Ukrainian students.

Several dozens of Ukrainian universities have already been participants of such partnerships, including National  University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Dnipropetrovsk National University, National Ivan Franko University, (L’viv), National Technical University “KPU”, National Medical O. Bohomolets University, National Academy of Food Processing (Odessa), Kharkiv National Technical Agricultural University and others.

Action 3: Promotion of European Higher Education and international cooperation in education

Under knowledge economy added value and economic growth are generated due to knowledge and innovations.  Universities become centers where knowledge is accumulated and innovations are born.

Promotional Erasmus Mundus projects are to enhance attractiveness of European higher education, raise its profile worldwide, accelerate international cooperation in the educational field, encourage intercultural dialogue.

The current Erasmus Mundus program has been approved for the period 2009 – 2013.  It is managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Agency Executive Agency under the guidance of European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture and EuropeAid – external cooperation agency.