Criteria and Requirements

Our Applicants

While the program is open to applicants from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, knowledge, and experience, a suitable applicant typically has: excellent academic results in relevant degree (e.g. development studies, economics, geography, international relations, and sociology); strong interest in international development with aspirations to work in the area related to development policy; very good command of English. As our program is highly competitive (in 2018 we received more than 1500 applications), please consider whether your profile fits into the above characteristics before you apply. The Admission Committee looks at the overall profile of the applicant, so a degree in a less relevant discipline may be good enough if you have excelled in development courses and your extra-curricular activities or working experience are clearly linked to development.

Application

The call for the applications for the 2019–2021 intake is open from 1^st November 2018 until 30^th April 2019 (23:59 CET). However, if you want to apply for a scholarship, you must do that before 31^st January 2019 (23:59 CET) having your tertiary degree finished at the time of application.

To apply, fill in the Online Application Form and attach the below mentioned documents. Once you readmission.upol.czgister in the system, open the application and fill in your personal data. You will get to Creating Applications where you choose:

Type of study: Postgraduate Master
Faculty: Faculty of Science
Choose a study program: Geography

Then click on Login next to International Development Studies (GLODEP). Please note that there are two versions of International Development Studies program and you need to select the one with GLODEP if you want to apply for Erasmus Mundus program. In the next steps follow the application, on Acceptance decision of admission, select Agree. Do not forget to attach the documents in the last step of the application.

Please note:

The applicants for GLODEP program do not have to pay an application fee. Therefore, please ignore any calls for payment of this fee anywhere in the application as it is not relevant for GLODEP (it is there as it is relevant for other programs offered by Palacký University Olomouc).
Do not send us the printed version of the application as this is not required for GLODEP program.

The application is complete when all mandatory fields are filled in and all required documents (see below) attached. You can save your application before submitting. Please note, that after clicking on the submit button, it will no longer be possible to change the uploaded documents.

Attachments to application

All attached documents must be in pdf or jpg form and except diploma (1) all must be in English. There are seven documents (see numbers 1–6 below) required for program application and two additional documents (see numbers 7–8 below) required for the scholarship application.

Application for the program is considered incomplete if it does not include any of the seven documents required for the program (or any of the documents is inadequate). In this case, the application is ineligible for the program and the applicant is informed about non-admission to the program. All applications ineligible for the program are also automatically ineligible for the scholarship.
If the application is incomplete only in terms of the two additional documents required for the scholarship (missing or inadequate), the application is eligible for the program but ineligible for the scholarship. In this case, the application will be assessed by the Admission Committee for the program, but the applicant cannot be offered the scholarship if admitted to the program.

All applicants are required to attach the seven following documents:

(1) Copy (scan) of a diploma

Copy (scan) of an original diploma proving successfully completed tertiary education (bachelor/master/PhD). Applicants without completed tertiary education must provide Declaration of Honor stating when they expect to receive it (if they are admitted to the program, they must provide the diploma and its recognition for enrolment in early September 2019). Please note that applicants without completed tertiary education at the time of application are ineligible for the scholarship.

(2) Copy (scan) of a transcript of records

Copy (scan) of a transcript of records related to the above-mentioned diploma(s) including all completed courses at the time of application. If the original is in a language other than English, the certified (legally attested) copy must be in English.

(3) Proof of English proficiency

Proof of English proficiency – all applicants need to provide a proof of sufficient knowledge of English by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below:

A diploma of tertiary education where English was the language of instruction (in this case, submit a Declaration of Honour);
Having successfully completed course units in tertiary education with a minimum total of 60 ECTS credits from courses taught in English (the proof that shows the number of ECTS credits studied in English must be signed and stamped by the educational institution);
Native speakers must provide a Declaration of Honour);
Having successfully completed one of the following language tests confirmed by the relevant certificate:

TOEFL: minimum level 550 paper-based, 213 computer-based, 79 internet-based (attention: TOEFL ITP will NOT be accepted)
TOEIC with minimum level: 785
IELTS: minimum level academic module 6,5
Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE), grade B
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE), grade C

Note to the language tests

TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS certificates cannot be older than 2 years from the program application deadline, i.e. not older than 30th April 2017. CAE and CPE certificates cannot be older than 4 years, i.e. not older than 30th April 2015.
Only the language tests mentioned above are accepted. If your test is not included in this list it will not be accepted. We kindly ask you not to contact us to ask for exemption based on other test methods.
No scores below the above stated minimums will be accepted.

(4) Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae of maximum two A4 pages.

(5) Motivation letter

Motivation letter of maximum 500 words. The motivation letter should mainly focus on your academic interest in GLODEP program and what you hope to achieve through studying in the program. Additional relevant information can also be included, and you may refer to your Curriculum Vitae to save space. Please refrain from describing the GLODEP program unless doing so is relevant to your argument.

(6) Two letters of recommendation

We recommend that the letters are from academic referees (e.g. your former university lecturers that are able to judge your academic qualities and potential) and have been explicitly written for GLODEP program application. The reference letter should include: date of issue, name, institution, position, signature, official stamp (if available) and contact details (phone number and email) of the person/institution recommending you. Each one must be submitted as a separate file rather than one combined file as previously advertised.

Applicants that apply for the scholarship (deadline 31^st January 2019) are required to attach two additional documents:

(7) Proof of nationality

Proof of nationality – i.e. copy of valid passport (applicants with multiple nationalities must specify at the application stage under which nationality they wish to apply). Please note that for non-EU citizens only copy of passport, not ID, is acceptable. Citizens of the EU may use their ID as proof of nationality. Upload only the passport page(s) with holders´ photograph and name.

Applicants with multiple nationalities must specify at the application stage under which nationality they are applying. The nationality has implications for the amount of the scholarship. The declaration of nationality cannot be changed later. Applicants whose nationality is one of the Erasmus+ Partner Countries and who are not residents, nor have carried out their main activity (studies, training or work) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in a Programme Country, are considered as Partner Country students.

(8) Proof of place of residence

Proof of place of residence – this document must contain: your name, your address, date of issue. Please note that we accept proof of place of residence only if it was issued no more than 12 months before the scholarship application deadline, i.e. issued after 31st January 2018. You must submit one of the following documents:

Residence certificate;
Certificate or confirmation letter from the applicant’s place of work, study or training issued by the employer or institution in question;
Receipt of the tax payment, residential rental agreement or employment contract;
Confirmation from your flat owner, that you are living on this address;
Invoice (eg. from your phone/internet provider);
Passport or personal ID (the latter only for EU citizens). Passport or ID is accepted as a proof of place of residence only if the place of residence (not place of issue or place of birth) is stated in the document.

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Selection Criteria

Admission to the program
Eligible applications for the program are assessed based on academic merit (the relevance of the degree/courses studied and overall grades), motivation, references, and curriculum vitae. Each of the three Consortium Institutions makes an assessment, classifying applications into five categories: outstanding (5 points), excellent (4 points), very good (3 points), good (2 points), and poor (1 point). Applications are ranked in descending order based on the total number of points acquired from the three assessments (max. 15). The admission to the program will be offered to the applicants with the highest number of total points.
Please note that ineligible applications will not be assessed.

Scholarship award
The top-ranking applicants from those offered the admission to the program will be invited for an online interview to compete for EMJMD Scholarship and Consortium Scholarship. The interview aims to consider the applicant’s overall profile including academic merit, motivation, language skills, and knowledge of basic economic concepts.* Admission Committee awards each applicant 1–5 points and makes a final ranking of applicants based on the interview results. EMJMD Scholarship will be offered to applicants with the highest number of points from the interview, respecting EACEA guidelines. The consortium may provide few Consortium scholarships to applicants that have not been offered EMJMD Scholarship.

Please note:

The applicants that have already received any other Erasmus Mundus scholarship (for the full tertiary program) before, are not eligible for EMJMD Scholarship.
Only applicants who have already graduated from a tertiary degree at the time of submitting the application will be considered for EMJMD Scholarship.

* The required knowledge is no more than principles course in economics. To guide you in the preparation, we recommend you Modern Principles of Economics textbook by Cowen and Tabarrok (4^th edition, 2018). However, there are many good alternative textbooks (e.g. Krugman and Wells; Mankiw; Frank et al., Karlan and Morduch). If you do not want to spend money on a textbook, Marginal Revolution University provides many economics videos that may, to some extent, substitute for the textbook. Also, CORE provides a free economics e-textbook The Economy.

Admission Calendar

1^st November 2018 Call for applications (program/ scholarship) opened
31^st January 2019 Call for program applications with scholarship closed (23:59 CET)
30^th April 2019 Call for program applications without scholarship closed (23:59 CET)

1^st round of the selection process
(Applications to the program and scholarship submitted from 1^st Nov 2018 till 31^st Jan 2019)

February 2019

Non-eligible applicants will be informed via e-mail

March 2019 (1^st half)

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for the online interview via email
Online interviews with shorlisted applicants

March 2019 (2^nd half)

Eligible applicants will be informed about (non) admission to the progra
Interviewed applicants will be informed about scholarship results

2^nd round of the selection process
(Applications to the program submitted from 1^st Feb 2019 till 30^th April 2019)

All phases of the admission process will be done in a few shorter rounds. No scholarships will be awarded.

Tuition fee payment
30^th September 2019 Payment of tuition fee by self-funded students

Please note, that the admission calendar is subject to change.

Appeals

There are different types of appeal procedures related to the admission process:

Appeal against the decision on the ineligibility of the application

All applicants with an ineligible application (either for the program or for the scholarship) receive an email with the explication of the reasons for ineligibility.
If the applicant has serious reasons to believe that a mistake has been made in the assessment of the eligibility of his/her application, s/he can ask for a reassessment of the application by sending an email to admission@glodep.eu by the indicated date. In the email, the applicant is asked to clearly indicate the reasons for the appeal. The Admission Committee will review the case and will inform the applicant about the final decision by email.

Appeal against the decision on non-admission to the program

All applicants are informed about their admission/non-admission to the program. The electronic letter (signed by the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc) is uploaded to the applicant´s folder in the electronic application system and the applicant is informed by email.
In accordance with the provisions of Section 50, Article 6 of the Higher Education Act (Czech Republic), the applicant may appeal within 30 days of this notification. Applicants who want to appeal should send a letter (paper letter with your signature, not an electronic copy) stating the reason for the appeal to Mrs Dana Gronychová, Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Science, 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Appeal against the decision of non-recommendation for the EMJMD the scholarship

All applicants that have participated in an online interview are informed whether they have been recommended/not recommended for EMJMD scholarship. The electronic letter (signed by the GLODEP Consortium Director) is uploaded to the applicant´s folder in the electronic application system and the applicant is informed by email.
Applicants that have participated in an online interview may appeal against this decision by sending an email with the reasons for the appeal to admission@glodep.eu by the indicated date.

Questions

For technical inquiries concerning the online application, please contact helpdesk. For specific GLODEP-related questions, contact study@glodep.eu.

Updated: 6.11.2019