Continuing their outstanding performance, 146 Indian students, including 75 women, have been awarded the prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarships for the two-year master’s programme in Europe under Erasmus+ for the 2024 academic year, making India one of the top recipients of the scholarship.

Worldwide, 2,603 students from 137 countries have been awarded scholarships this year for the Erasmus Mundus Joint master’s degree, which offers a study programme jointly delivered by an international consortium of higher education institutions, a European union press release said.

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2024 also marks the 20th anniversary of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters program, a milestone that underscores the program’s positive impact on students, higher education institutions, and countries beyond the EU.

India has been the largest beneficiary of the programme, with over 2000 students receiving the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship since its inception in 2004.

Overall, more than 6,000 Erasmus+ short and long-term scholarships have been awarded to Indian students since the program opened to international students in 2004, providing access to state-of-the-art education and research facilities, international exposure, and valuable professional networks and thus opened up wider professional opportunities.

To mark both these milestones, the Delegation of the European Union to India hosted an event for the grantees, celebrating the growing people-to-people links and mobility between the EU and India. These scholars are set to embark on their international degree programs in Europe starting this September.

The selected students will have the opportunity to study and conduct research at a minimum of two universities in different European countries, earning joint or double degrees in diverse fields such as sustainability, pharmaceuticals, engineering, quantum, data and various STEM and social science disciplines. The fully funded scholarship covers the recipient’s tuition fees, travel costs and living allowance.

Europe today is home to over 4,000 higher education institutions, from top-level research establishments to small, teaching-focused colleges. With more than 5,000 institutions, 17.5 million tertiary education students, 1.35 million educators, and 1.17 million researchers, Europe is a thriving hub for higher education and research.