Ugandan Chemistry Graduate Wins Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to Study Bio & Pharmaceutical Materials in Europe

My name is Jugu Patrick Ezra, I am Ugandan. I am doing the Erasmus Mundus Master's in Bio & Pharmaceutical Materials Sciences (BIOPHAM), currently in the last semester. I have a BSc in Chemistry from Algeria, Oran1 Ahmed Ben Bella University.

Undertaking further education in Europe was what I always wanted, but it wasn’t possible to self-fund myself through this journey, so I sought out scholarships. Erasmus Mundus masters scholarships are the best European scholarships out there. In the second year of my Chemistry degree, I set out my goal to apply, and luckily, I got accepted while I was in my final BSc semester. The dream to apply for the scholarships which I knew were competitive pushed me to study hard, I was top of my class with a CGPA of 16.5/20.

How did you apply to Erasmus Mundus Scholarships?

I applied to 4 Erasmus Mundus programs, I got on a reserve list for one of them and then was accepted on the main list of the BIOPHAM program. The scholarship allowances and stipend include; 1000 € monthly living allowances, 2000 € travel costs given once a year (It is different depending on your country of origin) and 1000 € given once to aid settlement into the new country.

BIOPHAM is a two-year master's program entirely taught in English. It aims to meet an international demand for qualified graduates with theoretical and applied high-level training in materials science and physics & chemistry of materials and their applications to pharmaceuticals.

BIOPHAM was built by a consortium of four acknowledged European Universities, the University of Lille (France), the University of Pisa (Italy), the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), and the Polytechnic University of Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain) and benefits from the involvement of a very large international network of companies, large scale facilities, and associated Universities.

What is your advice to future applicants?

Early preparation is key to preparing a very competitive application.

First, identify Erasmus Mundus courses that align with your subject of study from the courses catalog. Go to the websites of these courses because each course has a different consortium and therefore has varying requirements for application.

Identify the required documents, if you have them or if you don’t, start as early as possible to find these documents.

Try to improve what you think are your weak points. Save up money and start early preparations for the IELTS or any other English proficiency test of your choice.

Talk to your professors about your dreams about the Erasmus Mundus scholarships, they might be useful and might offer you some research internships to improve your scientific CV and also they we will also write you a recommendation letter when the time of application comes.

Also, check or send emails inquiring if for the year you intend to apply to a specific program, it still would be taking in more intakes. This is important because for example for my program (BIOPHAM), it hit the end of its Erasmus Mundus funding period, meaning, it won’t be taking in more intakes until maybe the consortium re-applies for the funding.

Write drafts of your motivation letter, SOPs, and cover letters because the more you practice, the more you get better at writing as well try to get feedback from your professors or senior colleagues and people who have won these kinds of scholarships previously.

The last piece of advice I will give is that try to submit as many applications as possible because this increases your luck of getting accepted. It is tiresome, especially with the rejections but don’t give up, you might just be one application away from getting your dream. Good Luck, you will need it.