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For 2024/2025, the 3^rd edition of MBUILD intends to attract 26 motivated students from all over the world and the application procedure will be carried completely through this platform.

The application process will run from 06 December 2023 until 19 January 2024 and the Final Selection List is expected to be published in early March 2024.

The 1^st semester of MBUILD will start at FEUP/Porto in the beginning of the academic year, early September 2024.

Admission Requirements

To be eligible for the MBUILD Erasmus Mundus Joint Master programme the applicant should fulfil the following ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Be holder of a Bachelor in the field of Civil Engineering or Architecture before enrolling. The suitability of the previous studies and experience, will be assessed by the Scientific Management of the Programme. The programme is primarily intended for students who have completed a 180 ECTS Bachelor degree (or equivalent working load for those students outside the European framework, with a MINIMUM OF 3 YEARS = 6 FULL SEMESTERS Bachelor Degree duration), in the fields of Civil, Building and Construction Engineering. Notwithstanding, students with a somewhat different or more focused background may also apply (as, for instance, Construction Management, Structural Engineering, Architecture, Technical Architecture, and others).
International students attending the MBUILD Programme and whose first language is not English, are required to have an appropriate grade/score in an approved examination in English language equivalent to level B2 before they can register on an academic programme. Any English test will need to have been taken within 2 years of registration onto de course. For indicative purposes only, the following tests are considered as equivalent to B2 level in English:
- University of Cambridge ESOL examinations: First Certificate in English (FCE)
- Trinity College London: Integrated Skills in English II (ISE II)
- British Council - International English Language Testing System (IELTS – min 5.5)
- University of Cambridge Linguaskill (B2)
- Oxford Test of English (B2)
- British Council (B2)
- Test of English as a Foreign Language - Internet based (TOEFL-iBT – min 72)
Students who have taken their education entirely in the medium of English and can demonstrate that they have completed a recognised degree or have successfully completed the whole of their secondary education up to and including the equivalent of year twelve in one of the countries on the UKBA list of countries, will automatically receive and English language waiver.
Indicative equivalence to B2 level in English:
- University of Cambridge ESOL examinations: First Certificate in English (FCE)
- Trinity College London: Integrated Skills in English II (ISE II)
- British Council - International English Language Testing System (IELTS – min 5.5)
- University of Cambridge Linguaskill (B2)
- Oxford Test of English (B2)
- British Council (B2)
- Test of English as a Foreign Language - Internet based (TOEFL-iBT – min 72)

MBUILD is open to all applicants from all over the world (EU or non-EU), without any restrictions, besides the limit for the award of scholarships to applicants of any single country, as described below in “Scholarships”.

General Assessment Criteria for Applications and Rules

The applicants will have to submit all the information required in the platform, according to the requirements and formats specified in it. Only the complete applications will be assessed.

The selection procedure will go through the following stages:

1. STAGE 1 – Assessment of 1. ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: previous civil engineering, architecture studies or related degrees. This assessment will be performed for all applicants and will provide a list with the ranking order of applicants, from the highest to the lowest value of assessment.
2. STAGE 2 – Establishment of a first list of applicants, in the number of (a) 60 or (b) 30% of the total number of applications (whichever is the lowest) or (c) at the Executive / Academic Committee discretion, but always over (a) or (b).
3. STAGE 3 – Assessment of 2. PROFESSIONAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE and 3. OTHER MERITS for the applicants in the first list, obtaining a pre-selection ranking of applicants, from the highest to the lowest value of the global assessment obtained in the 3 criteria referred above. In this Stage, applicants will be interviewed by videoconference to assess and confirm the applicants’ merits, considering both their language skills and their knowledge and motivation.
4. STAGE 4 – Establishment of a Final Selection List which will take into account the result obtained in the pre-selection ranking and the Erasmus+ rules for Scholarship Award (see below).
5. If needed, the procedure above will be extended so that all available places are attributed.

Scholarships

MBUILD is an EMJM Erasmus Mundus Joint Master co-funded by the European Union. Included in this support there is the provision for the award of scholarships. MBUILD will have 4 editions (first edition in 2022-2023 and last in 2025-2026) and the following rules apply for the award of scholarships:

Grant of 1.400€ (one thousand, four hundred euros)/month for each scholarship holder. This scholarship will be transferred to the holder’s account and will be managed by her/him to support all travel and living expenses for the schedule of each edition of MBUILD (2 Years = 24 months). This amount will also have to be used to support the costs for visa or any other residence authorization or permit that may be required for permanence in the three countries of the partner universities.
The Erasmus Mundus grant considers the award of 15 scholarships in each edition, with the restriction that no more than 10% of the scholarships will be awarded to students from the same nationality (this is considered as a target for the full 4 editions, permitting some variation from edition to edition according to the decision of the Executive / Academic Committee of MBUILD).

These restrictions will be taken into consideration for the establishment of the Final Selection List mentioned above.

Students who will be granted a scholarship, will have the following costs covered:

Health and accident insurance during the whole academic period.
The registration of the student as regular student of the partner universities.
Tuition fees.
Language courses at each university (online or presential).
Access to library and laboratories.
Student management, services and activities; support in visa application procedures, etc.
Initial Welcome Week for all MBUILD students.
Registration and participation in the events organised under the scope of MBUILD.
All other academic and administrative fees (e.g., Final Diploma, Diploma Supplement).

Students who have previously obtained an EMJM scholarship are not eligible to apply for an additional scholarship under the EMJM.

Self-funded Students

In the present edition, in addition to the 15 students who will be awarded scholarships, MBUILD will be able to enrol 11 SELF-FUNDED STUDENTS, for whom we are unable to provide any economic support from the programme and will have to provision themselves all travel, living and participation costs in the course, including tuition fees. For the 3^rd edition of 2024-2025, the tuition fees will be:

For students from EU countries = €2.500 (two thousand, five hundred euros)/academic year;
For non-EU students = €6.000 (six thousand euros)/academic year;
For students from CPLP countries (Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa/Community of Countries of Portuguese Language, see list here) = €3.300 (three thousand, three hundred euros)/academic year.

During the process of application, the applicants will have the possibility to indicate if their application should keep being considered even if no more scholarships are available (therefore, with the possibility of enrolling as self-funded students, if their assessment ranking will entitle them to).

IMPORTANT: When you will reach this option (possibility of enrolling as self-funded if not selected for scholarship), please be aware that Self-funded students will have to cover for all living and travelling expenses, as well as tuition fees (see above), and will be required to pay a part of the tuition fees at the enrolment, for confirmation of their intent and guarantee of place.

Self-funded students will be entitled to:

Health and accident insurance during the whole academic period.
Language courses at each university (online or presential).
Access to library and laboratories.
Student management, services and activities; reasonable support in visa application procedures, etc.
Initial Welcome Week for all MBUILD students.

Selection Criteria

The Executive / Academic Committee will consider the following criteria for the selection of candidates:

Criteria	Weight	Items
1. ACADEMIC BACKGROUND	50%	Relevance of Degree - To ensure that the previous academic studies are pertinent to the scientific fields addressed in MBUILD Level of Degree - To ensure that the background is of an academic level and extent sufficient for a suitable following of MBUILD. Equivalent Grade of Degree - To obtain a widely comparable metric between applicants of the performance in the previous academic studies. Webometrics ranking of awarding HEI – To introduce the quality of teaching and accurate grading of students from the degree awarding HEI.
2. PROFESSIONAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE	30%	Professional CV - To assess any previous experience related to academic and/or professional activity in the field of the Construction Industry that can indicate the motivation and work awareness for enrolling in MBUILD. Research experience - To assess any previous experience and involvement related with research programmes, as well as authored or co-authored scientific publications, which can indicate the motivation and work awareness for enrolling in MBUILD. Endorsement Letters - Two recommendation letters are required, as well as the reference contacts.
3. OTHER MERITS	20%	Motivation, English proficiency, Portfolio, Interview, etc.

ERASMUS MUNDUS JOINT MASTER DEGREE IN SUSTAINABLE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Call for applications

Selection results