GroundwatCh is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master run by three universities: Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, IHE Delft in the Netherlands, and TU Dresden in Germany. It teaches how groundwater, surface water, climate and global change interact, and how to design adaptation measures for them.
The degree runs 120 ECTS over four semesters and every student moves through all three countries. Semester one in Lisbon covers environmental engineering foundations, semester two in Delft covers water resources and management, semester three in Dresden covers climate modelling and groundwater-soil-land-climate processes, and semester four is a 30-ECTS thesis at the partner university you were assigned at the start, often with an associated partner organisation.
Graduates receive a joint degree from the three universities. The current call is for the 2027-2029 intake, which opens on 1 October 2026 and starts in early September 2027.
Benefits & funding
- Erasmus Mundus scholarship: all participation costs, meaning tuition, library and laboratory costs, full insurance and any other mandatory fees.
- The scholarship adds €1,400 per month for subsistence, travel and installation, for the full two years.
- Extra contributions are available for students with a disability.
- Around 15 Erasmus Mundus scholarships are awarded each year, about 60 across the 2024-2027 intakes.
- Reduced tuition scholarship: €3,000 excluding VAT instead of €18,000, for private individuals who fund their own living costs, insurance and travel.
- Self-paying route: €18,000 excluding VAT for the two years, field trips included, plus insurance of €1,120 for the full two-year programme.
- The programme also lists national and third-party funds, including Aga Khan Foundation, OFID, the IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship for women, and the Taiwan Ministry of Education scholarship of USD 16,000 a year.
Eligibility
- A first higher education degree equivalent to a BSc worth 180 ECTS, in geology, hydraulic, civil, environmental or agricultural engineering, environmental or climate sciences, geography, or a comparable subject.
- A cumulative grade point average of at least B/B+ in the US system, or at least a 2nd upper in the UK system.
- Sufficient academic knowledge of mathematics.
- Evidence from an internationally recognised English test; the admitting institute sets IELTS Academic 6.0 overall with 6.0 writing, TOEFL iBT 80 with 17 writing, TOEIC 865 listening and reading with 335 speaking and writing, Cambridge C2/C1 grade A-C or B2 grade A-C, or PTE Academic 51.6 with 62.2 writing.
- Applicants from 30 listed countries whose earlier education was taught in English and ended in a bachelor degree are exempt from the English test.
- Final-year bachelor students may apply once they have passed 120 ECTS, with a signed and stamped statement of studies; the diploma must be in hand by 15 August of the starting year.
- Open to all nationalities, with no residency requirement; your nationality decides which application deadline applies, and dual nationals must state the one they want to be considered under.
- Applicants are asked to apply to only one Erasmus Mundus programme a year; applying to more lowers the chance of a scholarship.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
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Application process
- 1Wait for the call to open on 1 October 2026, then apply through the IHE Delft admissions portal at apply.un-ihe.org.
- 2Upload certified copies of your diplomas and transcripts, with a grading system explanation and a sworn English translation where the originals are not in English.
- 3Upload a CV covering work experience and any research background.
- 4Answer the five motivation questions on your fit with the programme, the problem you want to solve, your qualifications and where you see yourself in five years; the first answer is capped at 600 characters with spaces and the other four at 1,000 each, with no minimum, and the consortium asks you not to use AI tools.
- 5Arrange two recommendation letters from university teachers, employers or scientists, covering your academic, professional and personal qualifications.
- 6Add your English test result, or send it by 1 February 2027 if the test comes after the deadline.
- 7Submit every document as a PDF of at most 2 MB.
- 8Apply by 3 January 2027 if you hold a partner country nationality, or by 7 February 2027 if you hold a programme country nationality.
- 9Scholarship results are announced in April 2027, subject to European Commission approval; self-paying applicants hear back within four weeks of applying.
- 10Reduced-fee applicants send bank statements by 15 April 2027 and hear back by 30 April 2027; self-payers settle by 30 April 2027, or 31 July 2027 if they need no visa for Portugal.
Program timeline
Applications open for the 2027-2029 intake
Oct 1, 2026
Deadline for partner country applicants seeking an Erasmus Mundus scholarship
Jan 3, 2027
Last date to submit English test results
Feb 1, 2027
Deadline for programme country applicants seeking an Erasmus Mundus scholarship
Feb 7, 2027
Scholarship decisions announced
2027-04
Bank statements due for the reduced tuition fee scholarship
Apr 15, 2027
Reduced fee decisions, and payment deadline for self-paying students
Apr 30, 2027
Payment deadline for self-paying students who need no visa for Portugal
Jul 31, 2027
Bachelor diploma must be in hand
Aug 15, 2027
Introductory week and start of studies in Lisbon
2027-09