erasmus Archives - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

Delhi University issued a notification on 22 October setting out eligibility criteria and selection procedures for Erasmus mobility across four categories: students, PhD scholars, teaching staff and non-teaching staff.

DU has formalised the selection process for Erasmus mobility opportunities available to students, PhD scholars and staff under its bilateral agreements with foreign higher education institutions. The notification, issued on 22 October with the competent authority’s approval, prescribes separate procedures depending on whether an individual department coordinates the agreement or the university’s International Relations office coordinates it directly.

For students, the minimum CGPA requirement is 7.5 for candidates from the Unreserved, OBC and EWS categories, and 6.5 for SC and ST candidates. Applicants must have passed all papers in completed semesters without any essential repeat, meet a minimum attendance of 66.67 per cent and hold a valid passport with at least two years of remaining validity. Prior participation in any Erasmus mobility programme disqualifies a candidate.

For students other than PhD scholars, the selection process gives the highest weightage to academic record at 50 per cent. The interview carries 30 per cent, while the statement of purpose, faculty recommendation, departmental contributions and attendance account for the remaining 20 per cent. The interview will assess subject knowledge, communication skills, clarity of thought and the candidate’s stated objectives for the exchange.

For PhD scholars, the research proposal carries the most weight at 40 per cent. Alignment between the candidate’s research area and the host supervisor’s expertise accounts for 20 per cent, and the interview for 30 per cent. UGC or CSIR NET or JRF qualification contributes 10 per cent. Scholars must submit both a recommendation letter from their DU supervisor and an acceptance letter from a prospective supervisor at the host institution. Preference will be given to candidates with publications in Scopus-indexed journals.

Faculty applying for teaching staff mobility must have at least five years of full-time teaching experience at DU and must not have participated in the programme in the preceding five years. The same five-year gap requirement applies to non-teaching staff, whose applications are restricted to Group A officers, and whose proposed training must align with their job responsibilities.

According to the notification, the Vice-Chancellor holds final authority over any difficulties in interpreting or implementing the Erasmus agreements.

Image source: du.ac.in

Abhishek Goverdhan
[email protected]

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Delhi University, being one of the premier universities of our country has left no stone unturned to ensure that students get the right kind of exposure to education trends all over the world. Keeping this in mind, it has a number of international exchange Programs with renowned universities from various parts of the globe. It has long been in consortium with several universities through various projects, and provides undergraduate and post graduate students, as well as faculty members with several opportunities for exchange programmes, fellowships and scholarships. The main aim of these programmes is to give the students a chance to learn in a new, more global environment and facilitate inter- cultural interaction and understanding.

For undergraduate courses, the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Lot 15 for India provides funds to promote student and teaching staff mobility between 12 European universities and 8 Indian universities. It is available to all Delhi University students. Through EMECW15, successful applicants (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctorate students as well as academic staff) are also awarded a scholarship which covers costs of travel, insurance, possible tuition, living expenses and housing. The coordinating institution for the EMECW15 scheme is the University of Lund (Sweden). The yearly deadline for submission of applications is 15^th February. For more information refer to www.erasmuswindow15.org .

Delhi University has also collaborated with the University of Heidelberg and the University of California and these ties having been strengthened further during the last five years. There is a successful student exchange programme between the University of Delhi and these Universities especially in the fields of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Apart from these, many exchange programmes in Delhi University are college specific.

LSR has collaborated with many international universities and at present has exchange programmes going on with Kinnaird College, La Trobe University and Smith College.

Brown College too has collaborated with LSR and St. Stephens, while NUS is in partnership with LSR and Hindu College.

Last year, a team of 12 students and four faculty members from the Hogeschool Utrecht University of Applied sciences visited the University of Delhi for an inter-cultural interaction, the focus being provision of multi-cultural interaction on the academic platform. About 30 students from Miranda and SRCC participated in this programme.

The Centre of International Education at Ramjas College has also been greatly enhancing the prospects of students. At present, they are conducting jointly conducting a programme with Denmark’s International Study Program, Copenhagen. It also has to its credit an exchange program with the Department of Applied Economics, Antwerp, Belgium and Lahore University of Management Sciences.

In addition to this, efforts are on at present to build relationships with institutions in Sweden, New Zealand, Brazil and Chile, and discussions and other preparatory work for the same are in progress.

Information regarding exchange programmes for a specific course, if any, being offered in other colleges can be obtained from the concerned department of that college.

International exchange programmes have helped to establish a more global front and given a more holistic base to the undergraduate studies of Delhi University. However, the absence of a semester system and difference in the marking structure still limits the choice of Delhi University students to programmes in partner universities only, which is sometimes restricted only to specific courses. A student of Miranda House says, “I had been to the US this summer for a short term course. The Universities are keen to introduce more exchange programs but according to them, the technicalities of both the systems hugely differ”. Hopefully the possible introduction of the Semester System next year will improve prospects of collaboration with premier institutes and increase the choices in course and subject.

(This article has been equally contributed by Kritika Kushwaha and Geetika Sachdev)

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