The Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM) is the European Union’s most generous postgraduate scholarship. It funds a master’s degree delivered jointly by a consortium of universities in different countries, so you study in at least two, and it pays a monthly allowance of €1,400 for up to 24 months on top of covering your participation costs. The timing matters right now: 37 newly selected programmes are opening applications this autumn for entry in September 2027.
Last verified: 20 September 2026 against the European Commission’s Erasmus+ announcements and the official EMJM catalogue.
Erasmus Mundus: The Short Answer
An EMJM is a single integrated master’s run by at least three universities in three different countries. Scholarship holders are not charged tuition or compulsory participation costs by the consortium, and receive an EU contribution of €1,400 a month for the programme’s duration. There is no central application — you apply to each programme separately, on its own deadline, and you may hold applications to a maximum of three.
Why This Autumn Matters
On 16 July 2026 the European Commission announced the results of the latest Erasmus+ call, selecting 37 new Joint Masters programmes. These are being added to the catalogue and open their student applications in autumn 2026, with teaching beginning in September 2027.
Newly selected programmes are worth targeting deliberately. They are not yet on the “top Erasmus Mundus programmes” lists that circulate every year, so they attract fewer applications in their first cycle than established programmes in the same field. If your academic fit is genuine, a new consortium is often a better-odds application than a famous one.
One caution: as of writing, several of these new programmes had been announced but had not yet published their individual application pages or deadlines. Do not rely on a date quoted by a third-party blog. Check the programme’s own website.
What the Scholarship Covers
- Participation costs — scholarship holders are not charged tuition or compulsory participation costs by the consortium
- An EU contribution of €1,400 per month, for up to 24 months depending on programme length
- Insurance arrangements as defined by your consortium
- Support towards travel and relocation in programmes that provide it
Be careful with the travel and installation element specifically. Published sources disagree about whether a separate travel or installation allowance still applies as standard under the current funding model, and arrangements differ between consortia. Over a two-year programme the monthly contribution alone is worth in the region of €33,600, but you should confirm exactly what your target programme provides before assuming flights and first-month costs are covered.
What Erasmus Mundus Will NOT Do
It will not let you stay in one city. Mobility is compulsory, not optional. You will move country at least once mid-degree, which means a second visa process, a second housing search and a second bank account, often in the middle of an academic year. Applicants with caring responsibilities or a partner’s job to consider should weigh this seriously before applying.
It will not bridge the gap before your first payment. You must budget for flights, visa fees, deposits and initial accommodation around the payment schedule, because the first scholarship instalment rarely lands before you do. This catches out applicants from countries with currency controls or slow international transfers in particular.
Not every listed programme currently offers a scholarship. The catalogue lists over 200 programmes, but some are reaching the end of their EU funding period and are running on tuition-paying intakes only. Verify funding status on the programme page before you invest weeks in an application.
Who Can Apply
- Students from anywhere in the world, including EU and non-EU countries
- Hold a bachelor’s degree, or be in your final year and able to graduate before the programme starts
- Meet the specific academic prerequisites of the consortium — these are often narrower than they look, particularly in engineering and quantitative fields
- Meet the language requirement, usually English at around IELTS 6.5, though some programmes require a second language
- Accept the compulsory mobility route between consortium countries
There is no age limit and no work-experience requirement, which makes EMJM more open than DAAD EPOS or Chevening for recent graduates.
How to Apply: Step by Step
- Open the official EMJM catalogue on the Erasmus+ website. This is the only complete and current list.
- Shortlist programmes by academic fit, not by country. Your bachelor’s subject and grades decide whether you are competitive; the countries are decided by the consortium.
- Check each programme’s funding status and deadline on its own site. Deadlines for the September 2027 intake will mostly fall between October 2026 and January 2027.
- Choose your three. You may apply to a maximum of three EMJM programmes per intake, so treat the choice as strategic: one ambitious, one realistic, one newly launched.
- Prepare documents: transcripts, degree certificate, CV, language certificate, referees, and a motivation letter written separately for each consortium.
- Apply directly to each consortium through its own system. There is no shared portal and no application fee.
- Watch for interview requests — some consortia interview shortlisted candidates, often online.
Worked Example: The Motivation Letter Mistake That Costs Places
Because applicants send three applications, the temptation is to write one letter and change the programme name. Consortium panels read these constantly and they are easy to spot, because a generic letter cannot explain the one thing that defines an EMJM: why this specific combination of universities.
Weak: “This programme’s international structure and excellent reputation will provide me with world-class training in environmental engineering and expose me to different academic cultures across Europe.”
Strong: “The first year in Delft covers hydraulic modelling, which is the technical gap in my background; the second-year specialisation in Lisbon covers coastal adaptation, which is what my country’s shoreline actually needs. I want both, in that order, and this consortium is the only route I found that teaches them as one degree rather than two disconnected ones.”
The second version proves the applicant read the curriculum, understood the mobility structure, and has a reason the joint format specifically serves. That takes about forty minutes of reading per programme — the highest-return forty minutes in the entire application.
How Competitive Is Erasmus Mundus?
Roughly 3,000 scholarships are awarded annually across the catalogue. Popular programmes may receive several hundred to a couple of thousand applications for fifteen to forty funded places, putting acceptance rates in the low single digits to around ten per cent. Newer and more specialised programmes are less contested. Applying to the full three programmes meaningfully improves your overall odds, provided all three are genuine fits rather than padding.
Common Mistakes
- Confusing Erasmus Mundus with “going on Erasmus” — the exchange scheme for students already enrolled at a European university. They are different things.
- Waiting for a single central deadline that does not exist
- Applying to a programme whose EU funding period has ended
- Submitting the same motivation letter to three consortia
- Ignoring the academic prerequisites and applying outside your discipline
- Planning finances as though flights and deposits are automatically reimbursed
- Paying an agent — EMJM programmes may not charge application fees and no intermediary can influence consortium selection
Erasmus Mundus FAQ
What is the Erasmus Mundus deadline?
There is no single deadline. Each consortium sets its own, and for the September 2027 intake most will fall between October 2026 and January 2027. Newly selected programmes publish their dates when their application pages go live in autumn 2026.
How much is the Erasmus Mundus scholarship worth?
Scholarship holders are not charged participation costs and receive an EU contribution of €1,400 per month for up to 24 months. Over a two-year programme that is roughly €33,600 in monthly payments, before any programme-specific travel support.
How many programmes can I apply to?
A maximum of three EMJM programmes per intake. Applying to all three is generally advisable, as long as each is a genuine academic fit.
Do I need work experience?
No. Unlike Chevening or DAAD EPOS, Erasmus Mundus has no work-experience requirement, which makes it one of the strongest options for recent graduates.
Do I have to move between countries?
Yes. Studying in at least two countries is a defining requirement of the programme, not an optional extra. Plan for a second visa application and a second relocation mid-degree.
What degree do I receive?
Either a joint degree issued on behalf of at least two institutions, or multiple degrees from the consortium universities. Check which applies to your programme, and how it is recognised in your home country, before accepting an offer.
Is there an application fee?
No. EMJM programmes may not charge applicants a fee, and scholarship holders may not be charged tuition or compulsory participation costs. Anyone asking you to pay for access is running a scam.
Your Next Step
Open the EMJM catalogue this week, not in December. Shortlist three programmes in your discipline, confirm each one’s funding status, and put its deadline in a calendar. Then spend your time on three separate motivation letters rather than one recycled one — that is the difference between a scholarship and a rejection at this level of competition.
Comparing options? See our guides to the Chevening Scholarship for the UK, DAAD EPOS for Germany, the Fulbright Foreign Student Program for the USA and Gates Cambridge. Erasmus Mundus is the most open of these to applicants with no work experience.
KINGNAMY verifies every opportunity against its official source and never charges fees. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
No comments yet — be the first to share your thoughts or ask a question about this opportunity.