International Master in Quaternary and Prehistory — Master's Scholarship

The International Master in Quaternary and Prehistory (IMQP) is a two-year joint master worth 120 ECTS, coordinated by the Università degli Studi di Ferrara in Italy. Teaching is shared with the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, the Instituto Politécnico de Tomar and the University of the Philippines Diliman, alongside more than twenty associated partners.

The curriculum covers prehistory, anthropology, human palaeontology, chronology, the evolution of fauna and flora, archaeometry and Quaternary geology. Students move between partner institutions and join summer schools of at least fifteen days built around excavation and field survey.

Graduates receive a joint degree signed by the four European institutions, with a Joint Diploma Supplement in English. The degree qualifies its holders to enter PhD programmes; teaching languages are English, French and Italian.

Benefits & funding

Every student admitted to the programme is exempt from tuition fees.
EACEA scholarship: €33,600 across the two years, paid as €1,400 per month, with participation costs waived and health insurance covered by the programme.
EACEA scholarships go to the highest-ranked candidates scoring at least 85 points out of 100; the number awarded each year depends on the volume and quality of applications.
Students enrolled without an EACEA scholarship receive a consortium mobility grant of €300 to €500 per month, depending on the destination country, during the compulsory second-year mobility.
Partner institutions offer free or low-cost housing to support the mobility periods.
Students who complete at least 60 ECTS at the University of the Philippines Diliman also receive a Filipino master’s degree; a national degree from the first host institution can be requested as well.

Eligibility

A higher education degree from a course of at least three years, in a field such as archaeology, history, letters, earth sciences, biological sciences, environmental sciences, geography, heritage studies, conservation and restoration, cultural and ethnological anthropology, education, communication or tourism.
Applicants who have not graduated yet may apply with their most recent transcript; for the 2026/27 intake the degree had to be completed by September 2026.
English or French at B2 level of the Council of Europe scale (Cambridge FCE or the DELF level of the French Ministry of National Education); IELTS, TOEFL and Cambridge certificates are accepted, and native speakers or applicants whose previous studies were taught in English may be exempt.
Open to applicants of any nationality; no fixed GPA threshold is set.
Candidates who already hold an Erasmus Mundus scholarship cannot apply.
A total score of 71 out of 100 admits a candidate to the programme; 85 is the bar for the EACEA scholarship.
Study must be spread across countries: no more than 60 credits in the country of habitual residence, and at least 30 credits at two institutions outside it.

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Application process

1
Wait for the annual call, which the consortium opens in December; the scholarship application form goes live four months before the closing date.
2
Prepare the mandatory documents: passport scan, CV, motivation letter, proof of English, and the degree diploma with transcript.
3
Ask up to two referees to email their recommendation letters directly to the coordination address stated in the call; scanned, electronic and digital signatures are all accepted.
4
Submit the single online form, which covers both admission and the scholarship.
5
Send everything before the closing time of 17:00 Italian time on the deadline day.
6
Attend a video interview if the selection committee calls for one.
7
Check the published ranking: candidates at 71 points or above may enrol, and the top-ranked receive the EACEA scholarships.

Program timeline

the consortium opens the annual call.
December
application deadline for the 2026/27 intake, at 17:00 Italian time.
Feb 27, 2026
After the deadline
video interviews for selected candidates, then the published ranking and scholarship offers.
the point by which admitted students of this cycle had to hold their previous degree.
September 2026