StudyDesk Scholarships
About the scholarship
GEM — Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation for Environmental Modelling and Management — is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master run by a four-university consortium coordinated by the University of Twente’s Faculty ITC (Netherlands), with Lund University (Sweden), UCLouvain (Belgium) and the University of Tartu (Estonia). It is a fully English-taught, two-year (120 ECTS) programme, co-funded by Erasmus+, that ends with a double degree: two separate degree certificates, one from each host university.
A naming warning: this is not the separate Erasmus Mundus “MSc in Geospatial Technologies” run by NOVA Lisbon, Münster and Jaume I — a distinct programme with its own call. Confirm you are on gem-msc.eu before applying.
The scholarship structure is the standard Erasmus Mundus package at its most generous: roughly 17–18 scholarships for this intake, covering the whole two years, with selection that is academic first — a recorded online interview gates the final scholarship list.
What the funding covers
- €1,400 per month for up to 24 months (maximum €33,600), paid to the scholar.
- Full tuition fee waiver and comprehensive student insurance — emergency assistance, medical and dental, accidents, social and medical repatriation, liability, legal assistance, home contents and luggage — paid directly by the programme.
- The monthly allowance is intended to cover accommodation, travel, visa and residence-permit costs, study materials, a laptop and personal expenses. Budget carefully: travel and visa costs are not paid separately, and the scholarship does not cover a spouse or family.
- No application fee.
- The programme includes an internship within the two years and a common one-week joint event after year one.
Note the capacity constraint the consortium publishes: up to 100 candidates can be provisionally admitted per track, but a maximum of 8 students per track can ultimately enrol — the interview round is the real bottleneck.
Eligibility
- Degree: a bachelor’s degree equivalent to at least 180 ECTS or three years of full-time study in a discipline related to the course — geography, geoinformatics, GIS, remote sensing, environmental/earth sciences, ecology, agriculture, forestry, planning, civil/environmental engineering, computer science or data science.
- Grade: First Class or Upper Second (2.1) or equivalent — a 2.2 does not qualify and there are no waivers. Country-specific minimum grades also apply.
- University standing: your degree must come from a recognised university ranked in the top 10,000 of the Webometrics Ranking.
- Final-year students: may apply with a university letter confirming status and expected graduation plus the current transcript; the final degree and transcript must be uploaded by 31 July 2027.
- English: the test must be completed before the 15 January 2027 deadline — results obtained afterwards are not accepted. Multiple independent sources citing the consortium’s requirements give IELTS Academic 6.5 overall with at least 6.0 in each section, with alternatives including TOEFL iBT, Cambridge C1 Advanced/C2 Proficiency, PTE Academic and LANGUAGECERT Academic. Country exemptions exist for some English-speaking countries. An English-medium-instruction certificate alone is not enough unless your country is on the exempted list.
- Nationality: open worldwide; no age limit; work experience not required. The standard Erasmus+ mobility rule applies — your two study countries must differ from your country of residence at enrolment.
- Previous Erasmus Mundus scholarship recipients are ineligible for a second GEM award.
- You apply to one track only, and the track cannot be changed after admission. For the Developer and Modeller tracks, at least 15 ECTS in GIS/remote sensing is strongly recommended.
Documents you will need
The official apply page is precise — and unusually, it is a list of what to bring and what not to:
- Bachelor’s degree certificate (First Class or Upper Second or equivalent), official transcripts, certified English translations where applicable; additional degree certificates/transcripts if applicable.
- Valid English-language test certificate (test completed before the deadline).
- Copy of a valid passport.
- CV in the official GEM CV template, maximum 2 pages — the wrong template or an over-length CV makes the application inadmissible.
- Financial-information fields completed in the form in euros — no separate financial-plan document or proof of funds is required.
- Not required: motivation letter, reference letters, or a provisional research topic. Do not upload unrequested documents.
How to apply
- Check eligibility on the official Admission and Eligibility page — including the grade rule, the Webometrics top-10,000 rule and the English-test-before-deadline rule.
- Pick one track (Planner, Analyst, Developer or Modeller) and study its year-1/year-2 mobility pairing.
- Prepare all documents first — including the CV in the official 2-page GEM template and your English test results.
- Submit through the online application portal (run by the University of Twente) by 15 January 2027, 23:59 CET.
- If shortlisted: the recorded online interview (roughly the top 25 per track, February–March) is the gateway to the scholarship — only interviewed applicants remain eligible.
- Await the ranking — outcomes: admitted with scholarship, provisionally admitted without scholarship (possible reserve list), or not admitted.
Key 2027 dates from the official apply page: portal opened 1 October 2026 → deadline 15 January 2027 → results 31 March 2027 → tuition payment 1 May 2027 → final certified graduation documents 31 July 2027 → programme starts September 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation for Environmental Modelling and Management — an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master coordinated by the University of Twente’s Faculty ITC, with Lund, UCLouvain and Tartu. It is distinct from the separate Erasmus Mundus MSc in Geospatial Technologies (NOVA Lisbon / Münster / Jaume I).
€1,400 per month for up to 24 months, plus a full tuition waiver and comprehensive insurance. Travel, visa and family costs are not paid separately — they come out of the monthly allowance.
No. Applicants who submit a complete application before the deadline are automatically considered for an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Scholarship. No separate form exists.
No — the official FAQ explicitly says motivation letters, reference letters and provisional research topics are not required, and you should not upload unrequested documents.
First Class or Upper Second (2.1) or equivalent, from a university in the Webometrics top 10,000. A 2.2 does not qualify and there are no waivers.
It must be completed before the 15 January 2027 application deadline — results obtained after the deadline are not accepted.
About 17–18 for the 2027–2029 intake across the four tracks (70 across four intakes overall), with a possible limited regional allocation per European Commission funding provisions.
Yes — a double degree: two separate English-language degree certificates, one from each host university.
Verified 18 Oct 2026 against the official consortium site gem-msc.eu — the apply page (deadline 15 Jan 2027 23:59 CET, eligibility, documents incl. the 2-page GEM CV template rule, automatic scholarship consideration, interview gate, 2027 timeline), the finances page (~17–18 scholarships for 2027–2029, €1,400/month × 24 months, full tuition + insurance), and the homepage (four tracks and mobility pairings, double degree, co-funding by Erasmus+). The IELTS 6.5/6.0-per-section figure and the accepted alternative tests are consistent across multiple independent sources citing the consortium’s requirements and are used with that framing. The exact DreamApply portal URL was not captured from the official pages — the article directs readers to the official apply page instead of printing a link.
