How a Physics Scholar from Pakistan Secured the Fully Funded Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to Study Astrophysics at Top European Universities

My name is Haider Khan, and I am a physics student, hailing from a small city in Punjab, Pakistan. Completing my early education at Narowal Public School (NPS), I secured second position among over 70,000 students participating in pre-engineering exams from my division in 2018. I was fortunate to secure admission in some of the top universities in Pakistan, notably Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI), all with merit scholarships. I chose LUMS for its academic culture and student life, and decided to pursue a degree in Physics. LUMS has made it mandatory for its students to take courses from other subjects to graduate as well-rounded students. Hence, my training in courses with Computer Science, Business Communication, and Psychology polished my academics and personality to go with my skills in Physics.

At the end of my first year at LUMS, I was conflicted between declaring either Computer Science or Physics as my major. However, after an inspirational astronomical session with the LUMS space observatory and discussions with the excellent advisory board at the university, I decided to study Physics with a minor in Computer Science.

My scholarship journey began with a funded exchange program to the US with the Global UGRAD in 2021. I was fortunate to be among a cohort of 125 students selected from a pool of over 18,000 candidates to represent Pakistan in different US universities. I was placed at Central Washington University (CWU) in Fall ’21, where I took courses in astronomy and intercultural communication, while also conducting research in computational astronomy. I owe my selection in this program to my excellent leadership experience with different student clubs at LUMS and the community services society Humanity Edge Portal (HEP) that I co-founded with my schoolmates in my hometown, Narowal. Global UGRAD aims at students with leadership and co-curricular experiences to be representatives of their cultures in the US, and my teamwork, networking, and management experiences to go with excellent grades, paved the way for my selection. Studying at CWU, I interacted with students from around the world and also built my profile as a researcher in Physics: an experience that opened doors to multiple opportunities for me in the future.

Post-graduation in 2022, I worked as one of the youngest physics lecturers in the country at Jinnah Islamia Post-Graduate College in Sialkot before receiving acceptances from multiple scholarships to study around the world. These include Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's (EMJM) Master's in Astrophysics and Space Science (MASS), EMJM International Master of Advanced Methods in Particle Physics (IMAPP), and the Fulbright Scholarship in 2023. Moreover, I was also among 5% candidates from Pakistan who applied for the Chevening Scholarship to study in the UK, having secured admissions in the University College London (UCL) and the University of Edinburgh.

I chose MASS for my interest in Astrophysics and Gravitation and began my Erasmus journey at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata in Italy. Erasmus Mundus, a master's program offered by a consortium of different universities, offers an excellent opportunity to explore cultures while learning in universities across Europe. After my first semester in Rome, I moved to the heart of Serbia, studying at the University of Belgrade for a semester before shifting to Germany to study at the University of Bremen for my third and fourth semesters. It was in Bremen that I worked on my master's thesis on the effect of magnetic fields on black hole lensing. The University of Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, was the fourth university in this consortium where I spent my summer school in 2024. I am planning to graduate in September 2025.

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Details

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's (EMJM) is funded by the European Union. Once selected, you are provided with a tuition fee waiver at any of the consortium universities you enroll in, alongside a health insurance plan and a monthly stipend of €1400 for 24 months. The perks could also include travel reimbursements in some cases.

The Fulbright Scholarship covers the length of your stay in the US, providing you with tuition fees, health insurance, and travel tickets to and from the US alongside a monthly allowance based on your needs.

Similar to the Fulbright scholarship, the Chevening scholarship also covers your expenditures in the UK, granting you a monthly allowance alongside a health insurance plan and tuition fees.

Application to the Institutions

Each Erasmus Mundus program has a separate application portal that can be accessed through the Erasmus Mundus Catalogue available on their website. Programs have different requirements, including a letter of motivation, CV, university degree and transcripts, and an IELTS certificate, among the most generally asked documents. Some programs may even interview you after you meet the eligibility criteria, while others can directly offer you admission based on your provided profile.

The Fulbright scholarship also has similar requirements to the Erasmus Mundus; however, the GRE is a major addition. While for Pakistani students the minimum GRE score was set at 290, a score in excess of 310 could be a better score to boost your chances. After a successful application, Fulbright selects its candidates after an interview process where the applicants are asked questions about their personal statements and future aspirations. While an English language certificate is not required at the time of application, if selected, the Fulbright Scholarship committee will require you to sit through a TOEFL exam.

Chevening scholarship requires its applicants to write four essays about their leadership experiences, networking skills, educational ambitions, and future goals. Additionally, it demands that the applicants secure admission in one of the three universities in the UK that they provide a name for in their applications. The selection of candidates is based on their interview performance and further eligibility criteria, like ensuring admission to UK universities.

Preparation

Applying for a scholarship is not a single-step process, and it takes weeks, if not months, to build up your profile. An important component of your scholarship profile is your grades that you have obtained over the course of your university career, so the preparation could arguably last years. I worked hard, ensuring a place in the Dean's Honors List (DHL) for 4 successive years during my undergrad at LUMS. A good GPA was a significant addition to my profile.

Depending on the scholarship, you may have different requirements. Erasmus Mundus is a purely academic scholarship, and your selection is based on your academic profile. This means that your grades play a pivotal role in taking you forward. However, average grades should not dishearten you, as there are ways to compensate for them through having a good research profile. The goal of Erasmus Mundus Master scholarships is to invite top brains from around the world to these institutes in Europe, and if you can prove your mettle in academia through good grades and research experience, you have a bright chance.

Scholarships like Fulbright and Chevening have different goals and they attempt to promote cultural exchange between the host and the home countries of the applicant and proving strong leadership skills, ability to absorb cultural influences and being a good representative of your country, good networking skills and community services experience go a long way with these applications. My experience of helping the community through Humanity Edge Portal (HEP) and leadership roles with HEP and multiple student clubs in LUMS proved beneficial to my profile, while having enrolled in courses outside of the field of physics and computer science was instrumental in creating a strong profile for me.

Would Potential Students Have Any Problems Academically, Not Knowing the Native Language of the Country?

All Erasmus Mundus programs and the respective consortium universities recognize English as the only mode of instruction; hence, all lectures, exams, and assignments are held in English. However, despite this, you are encouraged and sometimes offered credits for learning the local language. While you may still pass all your semesters without mastering the language of the European country, your social life could be vastly different from those who put an effort into language learning. While it varies between countries, most of the youth in European countries are now well-versed in English, and you can get by without knowing the local language. However, dealing with the bureaucracy or making good friends with the local students requires some proficiency in the local language.

What Do You Think Made Your Application Stand Out?

My co-curricular experiences, leadership roles, and community service paved the way for my selection at UGRAD, Fulbright, and Chevening, while my good grades and an undergraduate research experience proved instrumental in my Erasmus Mundus applications.

What Advice Would You Give Those Looking to Apply for a Similar Scholarship?

I would encourage the applicants to research the goals of the scholarship they are interested in and try to mold their application and profile to suit the scholarship’s needs. Moreover, while good grades is a requirement for most scholarships, you can always make up for average grades through research roles, and improving your extra-curricular profile.