Admission Criteria

Admission may be granted to applicants who meet the following minimum common criteria:

  • A Bachelor degree in one of the following fields: telecommunications, electronic or electrical engineering, computer science, physics, mathematics or similar. The BSc degree should correspond to at least 180 ECTS (i.e. 3 -4years of study) and a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of at least 75% of the scale maximum.
  • Advanced English language skills. Applicants must prove their English proficiency at the level of the following tests:
    • IELTS (Academic) with an overall score of 6.5 – no less than 6.0 in any of the four components (listening, reading, writing, speaking).
    • TOEFL-iBT (internet-based test) with an overall score of 92- no less than 21 in each section.
    • Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) or Cambridge Certificate of Advanced  English (CPA) – grades A-C

The above language test requirement is not needed if you have completed a qualification equivalent to UK BSc degree in any of the following countries : Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, USA.

You also do not need to prove your knowledge of English if  you are a national of Canada or any of the aforementioned countries, or you have studied in the UK before as a Tier 4 (Child) student

IELTS and TOEFL tests cannot be older than two years.

Exemption from the aforementioned IELTS/TOEFL language test requirement might be considered only for exceptional cases in which no approved secure English language test centre (check here for TOEFL or IELTS) is available in the candidate’s country. For those cases, applicants will have to provide other evidence of their English language knowledge at C1-CEFR level (e.g. by taking an online Oxford placement test, or an Erasmus English test (OLS), or a university confirmation that they have been taught and passed a corresponding English language module at C1-CEFR level). However, those candidates will not be eligible for acceptance in mobility paths involving Aston University (i.e. Mob-1, Mob-2, Mob-3, Mob-5).

Applicants who have not completed their BSc degree yet, but are expected to graduate before July 31st, 2020 are allowed to apply to the current call of application. However, if selected, to be admitted to the programme they will have to provide a copy of the BSc degree certificate before July 31st, 2020.

In addition to the aforementioned admission criteria, for the available EMJMD scholarships, the following eligibility criteria apply:

  • Students are not allowed to submit a scholarship application to more than three EMJMD consortia for a specific intake.
  • Students who have already obtained an EMJMD scholarship or an Erasmus Mundus Master Course/Joint Doctorate scholarship are not eligible to apply for an additional scholarship under the EMJMD action.
  • Students cannot benefit from another EU-funded scholarship scheme while they are receiving an EMJMD scholarship.

Selection Criteria

Received applications will be first assessed by the SmartNet Secretariat against the aforementioned admission/eligibility criteria of the programme. Applicants who fail to comply with these criteria will be excluded from the application procedure and they will be informed of the specific reason for their ineligibility.

The SmartNet Admission Board will then proceed with the evaluation of the applications on the basis of the following selection criteria:

  • Academic curriculum (e.g. average mark of university exams and thesis, relevance of curriculum to the SmartNet subject areas) –  60%
  • Previous professional and/or research experience in the field – 10%
  • English language knowledge level – 10%
  • Quality of reference letters – 10%
  • Motivation letters – 10%

Applications will be considered solely on the basis of their academic merits, abilities, and potential, regardless of gender, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or any other irrelevant distinction. The Admission Board reserves the right to invite specific candidates for an online interview (e.g. via video-conf), to explore further their application. Interview notifications will be sent via email.

Candidates obtaining a certain minimum score will be eligible for three different ranking categories:

  • students from Programme Countries who candidate for the Erasmus+ EMJMD scholarships
  • students from Partner Countries who candidate for the Erasmus+ EMJMD scholarships
  • students who candidate for self-funded positions

For the EMJMD scholarship categories, a main and a reserved list will be formed. When a main list scholarship student withdraws, he/she will be replaced by the first eligible candidate on the reserve list. In this case, the rule concerning the presence of a maximum of three applicants from the same country among the scholarship holders will be applied for the reserve list candidate. If there are already three other students from the same country on the main list, the consortium will have to move to the next eligible candidate.

At the end of the selection process, the lists of the admitted candidates will be posted on the SmartNet website.

Appeal Procedure

Applicants are given the possibility to appeal the decision of the Selection Board if they disagree with the results.  The appeal procedure is not an automatic re-evaluation. It can come into play only if an applicant feels that the SmartNet consortium has not handled his application according to the Admission Criteria described on this website. Applicants who fail to provide the required documents of the Application Procedure within the established time-frames may not submit an appeal. Also, no new information in the proposal will be taken into consideration.

The appeal must be in writing, by filling out the Appeal Form with all the necessary information, signed and dated, and sent (in .pdf) by the applicant to the contact e-mail address of  SMARTNET, within (3) three working days after the receipt of the selection results. Once we receive the appeal form, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent back to the applicant. The appeal will be then analysed by the Selection Board, and if justified, your application will be re-evaluated. You will be informed about the final decision within (15) fifteen working days.