Selection Criteria

A- Requirements for Admission

A - Proof that the applicant has successfully accomplished a first degree of higher education equivalent to a B.Sc. degree with at least 180 credit points according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and a final mark of 2.5 (according to the German grading scheme) or B (in the US-American grading scheme) in one of the following subjects: biology, ecology, geosciences, environmental sciences, limnology, oceanography, marine sciences, aquatic engineering or any similar subject. (Portugal : 13/20 as a minimum); Spain : B : 6.5/10; France : B: 12/20; cf. NARIC network for equivalence of scoring in the countries.
All certificates, diplomas and grade certificates must have translation into Portuguese or English or French or Spanish and also recognized by the Embassy of Portugal and/or Hague Apostil http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=41.

B - Fluency in English language at least according to the C1 level of the European reference scheme for language skills. The admission board might abstain from any proof of English language skills, if English was the language of instruction/teaching language for the B.Sc. degree.
Please provide certificated copies of language tests scores and language certificates (eg. TOEFL or IELTS score) www.ets.org/toefl/ or www.ielts.org

C - A Letter of Motivation stating the applicants interest in the study programme.

D - Two Letters of Recommendation not older than two years either by two university teachers or by one university teacher and one internationally recognised marine scientist.

B - Selection Procedure

  1. Each year 30 study places for ECOHYD are offered by the consortium. Applicants must send their applications to the Co-ordinator of the study programme and should indicate at which of the consortium HEI they would like to start their studies. If more eligible applications according to § 1 are received than study places available, the consortium will admit candidates according to their rank of qualification as explained under clause (4) and distribute the applicants among the consortium HEI.
  2. The consortium of HEI appoints a Selection Board, which will be responsible for the selection and admission procedure. The Selection Board consists of one representative of each partner and is chaired by the Co-ordinator of the EMBC programme. A student of the EMBC programme should be present at all meetings of the Selection Board.
  3. The Selection Board evaluates the application material based on the following criteria and ranks the applicants according to their score of qualification points.
  4. Based on the application material, the Selection Board creates a list of applicants according to their qualification rank with respect to the admission criteria laid out under clause (3). The Selection Board prepares a protocol of the selection procedure including day and place of meeting, names of participating members of the Selection Board, names and qualification ranks of the applicants. The Selection Board, taking in account a need of equability of student number by HEI, decides on the distribution of applicants among the partners according to their preferences to the study locations and the students’qualification rank. To the mobility choices of students among partner for courses and thesis work, the same selection procedure will be chosen.
  5. Based on the ranking list prepared by the Selection Board, the Admission Offices of the consortium admit applicants for study at the respective HEI.

Selection criteria and their relative weights for the selection of candidates applying to the ECOHYD Erasmus Mundus Master Course:

1- Applicants can reach a maximum of 100 points, distributed among the selection criteria as follows:

  • A maximum of 40 qualification points for the overall grade of the previous degree (usually B.Sc.) or the preliminary grade status of the applicant at the time of application (minimum of 120 ECTS). Qualification points are granted according to the applicant overall grade.
  • A maximum of 10 qualification points to be granted according to the relevance of the Bsc to the scientific area of Ecohydrology.
  • A maximum of 40 qualification points will be granted for “extra qualifications” and will be divided as follows:
      • A maximum of 10 qualification points can be granted to students having already a Master Degree in an scientific area considered relevant to the ECOHYD Erasmus Mundus Master Course and qualification points will be granted according to the obtained applicant overall grade.
      • A maximum of 15 qualification points can be granted to students having already previous experience in Ecohydrology. It will be valued scientific publications, projects, conference meetings or other activities considered relevant in this particular field.
      • A maximum of 15 qualification points can be granted to students showing relevant scientific activities as scientific publications, projects, conference meetings or other activities considered relevant to demonstrate extra skills and extra-academic and/or professional qualifications.
  • A maximum of 5 qualification points for the Letter of Motivation (statement of interest in the study programme). Criteria for the evaluation of the Letter of Motivation are specific reference of the study programme, a clear description of own qualifications and objectives, coherence of the intended career with the study programme, and congruence of the applicant’s motivation of study with the orientation of the study programme.

  • A maximum of 5 qualification (2.5 each) points for two Letters of Recommendation. Criteria for the evaluation of the applicants are quality of the previous study performance, scientific and personal potential of the candidates, especially with regard to the study programme, relevance of previous studies, and, if applicable, extra-academic and/or professional qualifications with respect to the scope of the ECOHYD Master Course.

2 - Applicants rated with less than 48 points will automatically be included in the non selected list.