ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STUDENTS

Asian students who want to participate in mobility to the EU:
* Must be a national of one of the third countries covered by the Asian lot;
* Must have not resided nor have carried out their main activity (studies, work, etc) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in one of the European countries;
* For TARGET GROUP 1 (TG1): students need to be registered at one of the 8 Asian partner institutions within the partnership. Undergraduate students must have successfully completed at least one year of studies in their home institution;
* For TARGET GROUP 2 (TG2): students need either to be registered in any other institution (not included in the partnership) of the third country concerned by the lot or having obtained a university degree or equivalent by an institution of these third countries. They will need to justify how this study period abroad will benefit them (and their direct socio-economical environment) and include letters of support in their individual application;
* For TARGET GROUP 3 (TG3): students need to be nationals of one of the third countries concerned by the lot and be part of the vulnerable target groups.
* Must have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses or of one of the languages currently spoken in the hosting countries.
* No student can benefit from more than one mobility activity in the same project.

 

 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR STAFF

In order to be eligible, academic and administrative staff hereafter referred as "staff":
* Must be a national of one of the eligible countries;
* Must work in or be associated to an institution within the partnership;
* The mobility assignments must be based on partnership agreements between the members of the partnership;
* The home and host universities and the individual staff must agree on the programme of lectures to be delivered by the visiting staff, on the research activities or on the type of training to be followed;
* The mobility may constitute a post-per-post exchange or a one-way visitor flow to or from a third country.
Priority will be given to mobility that:
* ensures that the visiting teacher's contribution will be an integral part of a program of the host institution
* will lead to the production of new teaching material
* will be used to consolidate and extend links between departments and faculties and to prepare for future cooperation projects between the home and host university (joint projects, joint degrees etc.)
* will help strengthen the international cooperation departments in the foreign universities
* will lead to progress in the application of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) and other systems for recognition of studies and qualifications in the partner institution
* will improve the university - enterprise cooperation
* will help to start up Doctoral Schools
* will lead to the improvement of quality assurance mechanisms at universities..

 

SELECTION PROCESS

Step 1 - The application forms from TG1 students and staff members will be screened and validated online by the International Relations Office or contact person of their home university. Validation is a technical screening of your file: is the student enrolled in the home university? Are all the supported documents included? Is mobility allowed during this phase of the study program?
Step 2 - The host universities get access to application files of the students via the database. The local coordinators do a first, initial screening of the applications. They check whether the requested study program is available, the language requirements are fulfilled, the admission requirements are fulfilled etcetera. If a file is rejected, the host university has to indicate the reason ( cf. infra). If not, an evaluation score is given. A selection committee with representatives from all faculties do the evaluations. The professors use a standardized evaluation form with questions regarding the academic merit, motivation and language level to evaluate all files.( check selection criteria). The IROs upload the evaluation forms and total points to the database. The requested host universities have the final word in the decision whether you will be accepted.
Rejection reasons:
* Incomplete file: documents or information ( transcript of record, degree,…) is missing
* Unfulfilled admission requirements: the admission requirements for the programme or university are not fulfilled
* Poor motivation: see above
* Insufficient knowledge of language of instruction: the applicant did not prove he/she has adequate knowledge of the language of instruction e.g. lack of TOEFL, IELTS certificates, TOEFL or IELTS scores are not high enough, …
* Profile of applicant does not match the requested programme: this applies to the academic profile of the applicant, for example the professors at the host university are not specialized in the research field of the PhD applicant.
* The total evaluation score given by the host university was not high enough to be granted a scholarship: the applicant was not initially rejected, but there were applicants with a higher score who obtained the scholarship
* The requested programme is not available: the programme is not on offer (anymore), or the university cannot accept additional candidates
Step 3 - The number of available scholarships is being divided among the different partner universities, aiming on an equal spread but also taking into account the selection results submitted by the partner universities. There are no fixed quota per university ( only per country), some universities will send out and host more students than other universities. The coordinator makes separate lists with all the scores of the students per study level, target group and requested mobility duration.(e.g. a list with all the target group 2-PhD students- 6 months scholarship or target group 1-Master-10 months mobility). The candidates with the highest score per list receive a scholarship.
Step 4 - The EU-NICE Secretariat informs all applicants (selected, reserve and rejected candidates). Afterwards the host university will be responsible for further processing of the mobility and contact with the student. The feedback letters are automatically generated from the database and contain the reason for non-selection, based on the reasons given by the host university.
Step 5 - All students must start their studies/research 31st of December 2011 the latest. Staff members (one month mobility) can start their mobility during the whole duration of the project (July 2014).

 

COMPULSORY DOCUMENTS

Translations in English are required (for evaluation purposes)
* Photocopy of passport or other official identification proof
* Photocopy of Academic Transcripts including final average grade (i.e. transcripts from the whole academic career). Undergraduate students must proof that they have successfully completed at least one year of studies at higher education level
* Motivation letter
* Certificate of degree obtained (for degree students)
* At least one recommendation letter, preferably from academics or other persons who have had an academic or work relation with the applicant.
* Research Plan (Doctorates and Post doctorates only)
* Plan of Academic activities to do at the host university (only for teaching staff mobility)
* Language certificates: in English! (check the language requirements of the host universities)
* Target Group 3: description and proof of their vulnerable situation.