The Flood Risk Master Programme is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master worth 120 ECTS over two years, taught in English by four European universities: TU Dresden in Germany, IHE Delft in the Netherlands, UPC Barcelona in Spain and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. Graduates leave with MSc degrees from all four.
The cohort moves every semester. Climatology, hydrology and flood risk foundations are taught in Dresden; hydroinformatics, flood modelling, decision support systems and artificial intelligence for water systems in Delft; coastal flooding, debris flows and fluvial morphodynamics at UPC; spatial planning and the socio-economic assessment of flood protection in Ljubljana. The last semester is a research thesis with a partner university or an outside organisation.
IHE Delft coordinates admission and holds the application file for the whole consortium. The programme is built around one gap it names openly: flooding affects 2.3 billion people a year and there are too few flood risk professionals to work on it.
Benefits & funding
- Erasmus Mundus Joint Master scholarship: €1,400 per month for the entire two years, covering subsistence, accommodation, travel and installation.
- The same scholarship pays tuition, library, laboratory and other compulsory participation costs, so the €18,000 programme fee falls away.
- About 70 EMJM scholarships fund the four annual intakes running from 2024 to 2027.
- Inside that pool, 4 scholarships are reserved for applicants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro (IPA countries) and 8 for NDICI regions.
- A contribution towards disability support is available on top of the monthly allowance.
- Reduced-fee scholarship: €3,000 tuition instead of €18,000 excl. VAT, with insurance, visa, travel and living costs left to the student.
- MSc degrees awarded by IHE Delft, TU Dresden, UPC Barcelona and the University of Ljubljana.
- Self-funded reference costs: €18,000 tuition excl. VAT, insurance at €47 a month (€1,128 in total), a visa at roughly €300, and €1,000–1,400 a month for living and inter-campus travel.
Eligibility
- A first degree equivalent to a BSc worth at least 180 ECTS, in civil or environmental engineering, geosciences, environmental sciences, limnology, oceanography, geography, geology or natural resources.
- Final marks of at least B/B+ in the US system or 2nd upper in the UK system.
- Academic knowledge of mathematics and water-related subjects; the CV and transcripts are still judged case by case.
- Evidence from an internationally recognised English test. IHE Delft, the coordinating institute, sets the floor at IELTS academic 6.0 with writing 6.0, or TOEFL iBT 80 with writing 17, dated within 24 months of the application; nationals of 30 listed countries whose earlier degree was taught in English are exempt.
- Bachelor students with 120 ECTS or more may apply before graduating, provided the degree is completed by 15 August of the starting year.
- Open to applicants of every nationality. No age limit and no work experience requirement are set.
- Anyone who has already held an EMJM scholarship cannot receive a second one; dual nationals of a programme and a partner country must declare one nationality.
Can you apply?
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Application process
- 1Check the admission requirements against your bachelor field, ECTS total and grade average.
- 2Gather certified diplomas and transcripts translated into English, a CV covering work and research, and two recommendation letters from university teachers, employers or recognised scientists.
- 3Answer the five motivation questions within their limits: why you apply (600 characters), the challenge you want to address (1,000), how the programme helps (1,000), your relevant qualifications (1,000), and where you see yourself in five years (1,000).
- 4Submit the online form at apply.un-ihe.org; every file must be PDF, Word or JPEG and no larger than 2 MB.
- 5Apply by 3 January 2027 (partner countries) or 7 February 2027 (programme countries and the Balkans) to be scored for an Erasmus Mundus scholarship; English test results may follow until 1 February 2027.
- 6Admission and scholarship outcomes are sent at the beginning of April 2027.
- 7Without a scholarship, apply by 15 April 2027 for the reduced fee or by 30 April 2027 for academic admission, then confirm your funding by 15 May 2027; applicants who need no visa for Germany have until 31 July 2027.
Program timeline
Erasmus Mundus scholarship deadline for partner-country (non-European) applicants, 23:59 CET
Jan 3, 2027
Last date to upload English test results for applicants who applied by 3 January
Feb 1, 2027
Erasmus Mundus scholarship deadline for programme-country (European) and Balkan applicants, 23:59 CET
Feb 7, 2027
Admission and scholarship decisions announced
April 2027
Reduced-fee scholarship deadline
Apr 15, 2027
Deadline for academic admission with your own or external funding
Apr 30, 2027
Financial confirmation due
May 15, 2027
Deadline for applicants who need no visa for Germany
Jul 31, 2027
Semester 1 starts at TU Dresden
September 2027
Thesis semester ends
August 2029