Fifty new EU scholarships for Cambodian students

Another 50 Cambodian students and academic staff have been granted this year a full scholarship from the European Union (EU), under the Erasmus Mundus programme to study or lecture in Europe for periods that vary between 6 months and 3 years.

With the scholarships, these students will pursue Undergraduate, Master, Doctorate, and Post-Doctorate Degree programmes in universities in 14 different EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Their studies will cover 17 different majors including Architecture, Business, Communication, Economics, Education, Engineering, English Linguistics, Finance, Food Science, Geo-sciences, International Relations, Health, Law, Medical Sciences, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, announced the Delegation of the European Union to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Since 2005, the EU-funded Erasmus Mundus programme has provided scholarships to 370 Cambodian students and academic staff to study in Europe.

The Erasmus Mundus scholarships are instruments that supplement the specific support of the EU to the education sector in Cambodia. The EU provides over €10 million (US$13 million) per year in support to the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports to provide equitable access to education, improve the quality and efficiency of education services and build capacity of education staff. In addition, the EU has financed in Cambodia a number of NGO projects in the education sector, benefiting the most vulnerable populations.

“For almost ten years, EU Erasmus Mundus grants have supported hundreds of Cambodian students and academics to study and lecture in Europe. I talked to graduates and discovered that they not only attended high-standard courses from the world-renowned European universities but also often got good jobs upon their return to their home country. I hope the EU new Erasmus+ programme will enable even more Cambodian young people to study in EU countries and bring back high-quality knowledge and skills to develop their country,” said Mr. Alain Vandersmissen, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Cambodia.

Erasmus+ is the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport launched in January 2014. With a total budget of €16.4 billion (40% increase compared with the previous period), it will provide grants for 4 million people worldwide, including 2 million higher education students and 300,000 staff over the next seven years (2014-2020). It will also fund 135,000 students and staff exchanges between Europe and partner countries worldwide.

Cambodian students and higher education institutions can benefit from a range of actions offered by Erasmus+. These include the degree mobility, credit mobility and capacity building:

• Degree mobility: a scholarship to take part in a high-level integrated Master degree programme. Students studying for a joint Master will study an integrated course in at least two different European countries. Joint Doctorates are also available through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) which is the main EU programme for structured PhD training.
• Credit mobility: this is the EU former ‘Erasmus’ programme that funds student mobility between 3 and 12 months to obtain credits in a host institution which then be recognised by the home institution. Now this is open to students from outside the EU, too, provided that their university has an Erasmus+ agreement with a European university. This action also funds staff mobility in both directions. Credit mobility also has a positive impact on institutions which need to develop better services to send and receive foreign students, compare and upgrade curricula, etc.;
• Capacity building: Higher Education Institutions from Cambodia can take part in multilateral partnerships for joint projects, for example to fund curriculum development and modernisation, upgrade facilities or improve governance. The budget and modalities for application will be made known in September 2014.