How to apply

Selection of Students

We aim at enrolling top-ranked students, therefore the selection of students will be primarily based on excellence. In particular during the selection process the following points will be carefully considered by the nominated Selection Committee:

• full academic background incorporating the list of courses followed
• testified examination marks/obtained grades
• language skills
• individual content in the letter of motivation
• relevant (astronomy/astrophysics related) extracurricular activities
• content of the reference letters

In order to apply, students must submit in electronic form all documents listed below. These documents should be combined together with a hand-signed copy of the application form in a single pdf file, named with applicant´s last and first name and uploaded in the section "Forms". Hand-signed referee forms must be uploaded separately by the referees, in pdf format.

List of required documents

Eligible applicants (see: Who can apply) must provide in electronic form the following documents in English language. For all documents whose originals are not in English language, we require a certified English translation. Scanned copies of the documents are accepted.

• Completed and signed Application Form in all its parts, together with a list of all attended courses with credits and brief summary of the course contents, and a letter of motivation (max 1 page). Handwritten application forms cannot be accepted. Please, do not delete any part of the Application Form.
  

• Scanned copy of passport.
  

• Proof of proficiency in English language. Accepted tests and scores are the following:
  • Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English, minimum "Grade B";
  • Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English;
  • "International English Language Testing System" (IELTS), minimum "Band 6";
  • Paper-based "Test of English as a Foreign Language" (TOEFL) with minimum score 550 points;
  • Computer-based TOEFL with minimum score 220 points;
  • Internet-based TOEFL with minimum score 83 points;
  • UNIcert level "III";
  • C1 according to the Common European Framework (CEF);
  • Test of English as a Foreign Language - Institutional Testing Program (TOEFL – itp), minimum score 550 points.

  Native English speakers are exempted from providing such a proof. Transcript of TOEFL / IELTS scores or equivalent should have been obtained not more than 2 years before application time. For application purposes students can submit scanned copies of their transcripts. Students that have been selected for admission must ask ETS for sending the TOEFL transcripts directly to the AstroMundus coordinating institution (University of Innsbruck, see full address under "contact" - no institute code is available).

• Electronic copy of the Bachelor's Degree (with a certified English translation, if the original is not in English language) or a certification with the expected date of the degree.
  Bachelor's Degrees are accepted in either Astronomy, Astrophysics, Physics, or Mathematics or recognized equivalent level of learning in the same field, quantified as 3 years of studies corresponding to 180 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).
  Since the course will start in Oct. 2017, we request that the students either hold already their Bachelor or they expect to obtain it latest by August 2017 (or by mid-July 2017, if they need a Visa to enter Austria). In the latter case students should provide a certification stating the expected date for the Bachelor's degree and the list of courses that are still in progress. The Bachelor's certificate and the grades obtained in the courses currently in progress must be uploaded to this site as soon as they are available.
  Important note for Chinese students: Chinese students need to obtain a certification through the "Akademische Prüfstelle" in Peking. The relevant information is available at the APS web site.

• Up-to-date CV (curriculum vitæ, resume), which contains a list of publications (if any), the title and short summary of the Bachelor's thesis (if applicable), a description of extra-curricular activities that are related to astronomy or astrophysics (if any), and skills acquired (e.g. computer/ programming skills).

• Electronic copy of academic records (accompanied by a certified translation into English, when relevant).

• Two letters of recommendation. These must be uploaded directly by the referees and should address the questions provided in the online referee form.

• Partner-Country candidates who wish to apply for an Erasmus+: EMJMD scholarship, need to present a valid proof of their place of residence, issued within 12 months before the application deadline, for the purposes of calculation of the scholarship amount (see the section "finance"), should a scholarship be assigned to them.

In order to be admitted, selected students will be requested to present the originals (or certified copies) of all documents they have transmitted electronically at application time and any additional document required by the admission department of the University of Innsbruck according to the general Guidelines for International Students (with the exception of the proof of knowledge of German language, which is replaced by knowledge of English language for Erasmus Mundus students).

Steps after the selection process

Applicants will be informed via e-mail about the outcome of their application for participation in the course.

Highest ranked applicants will be offered a scholarship, limited to the number of scholarships available for the course edition they applied for.

Applicants who are selected for participation in excess of the number of available scholarships will be in a reserve list (i.e. waiting list) for the award of a scholarship and have the possibility to participate as self-funded students.

Applicants who have been selected for the award of a scholarship will have 2 weeks time to accept or decline the offer. In the case they decline the offer, the scholarship will be offered to the next student(s) in the reserve list. In the case of acceptance of the scholarship (or in the case of reserve-list candidates who wish to participate as self-funded students), they will receive detailed instructions about the necessary subsequent steps. In particular, they  will receive an official confirmation of the scholarship award (if they have been offered a scholarship), a detailed description of the legalized documents needed for admittance to the University, the insurance card and general conditions of the insurance package, a proof of reservation of a room in a student dormitory (if they chose to have a room booked by the AstroMundus administration office on their behalf), and a document with general information about the programme, the scholarship amount, the type of needed Visa, lodging possibilities, and other useful information . After the University has received and verified the requested legalized documents, it will issue a letter of admission, which, together with the provided documents listed above and a letter of invitation, will allow the student to submit a Visa application.

Applicants who have not been accepted for participation in the course will be notified and will have the possibility to file an appeal if they have reasons to object against the Consortium decision. Detailed instructions for the appeal procedure will be included in the notification email. Letters of appeal explaining the candidate's reasons are to be submitted in electronic version and in free format to the AstroMundus contact e-mail address .

The currently adopted appeal procedure consists of the following two stages:

1. If the candidate has reason to believe that the decision about her/his eligibility for admission made by the Selection Committee is deemed inappropriate she/he can file an appeal to the Selection Committee explaining her/his reasons within two weeks after receiving the notification e-mail.  The Selection Committee will jointly review an appeal and answer within two weeks.
2. If the outcome of this answer remains still unsatisfactory, the candidate may choose to appeal to a Board of faculty members in the consortium independent from the Selection Committee, supervised by the EM coordinator. She/he needs to explain the reasons for such appeal and why the appeal was not satisfactorily closed with the response from the Selection Committee.
   Such appeal has to be made within two weeks after receiving the response from the Selection committee.  This Board will independently review an appeal and answer within four weeks.
   The Board will only consider cases which have not been resolved to the satisfaction through the mechanisms outlined above. It is the final stage of the appeal process and any decision will be final.

Under no circumstances, personal expenses made in the application procedure to fulfill application requirements can be subject of an appeal to admission to the AstroMundus programme.

Selection of Scholars

A number of scholarships will be offered to Partner-Country and Programme-Country academics, who wish to carry out short periods (at least one week and up to three months) of teaching and/or research activities in the framework of the AstroMundus E+:EMJMD programme (Editions 6, 7, and 8 of the course, starting with the academic year 2015/16). Any of the 5 Consortium Universities can host scholars in the framework of the programme.

Guest scholars for the Edition 5 of the course (academic years 2014/15 and 2015/16) are subject to the regulations of the Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 Action 1. For these scholars, the minimum duration of the mobility period is of 2 weeks, Partner-Country scholars can only spend mobility periods in the Programme-Country Universities of the Consortium and Programme-Country scholars are eligible only if affiliated to one of the Programme-Country Consortium Universities and spending a mobility period at the University of Belgrade.

Top-level academics will be selected by the nominated Selection Committee based on excellence and on consortium needs according to the specific topic of expertise.
The official language of the AstroMundus Masters Course is English.
Applications in electronic form can be submitted at any time by both non-European and European academics.
As a minimum requirement for eligibility, applicants should hold a PhD in either Astronomy, Astrophysics, or Physics or an equivalent amount of research experience and have a long-standing experience of teaching at graduate level.
Together with the completed Application Form, applicants should submit the following documents in English language:

a detailed and up-to-date CV

a list of publications

a record of the teaching experience at graduate level

a document certifying English language ability (if not obvious from the CV)

a scanned copy of the passport.

Enquiries can be directed via e-mail to the following address:

astromundus AT uibk.ac.at

Last updated on August 1st, 2016