The MARIHE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship 2027 is open for applications until 21 September 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CEST. MARIHE, the Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education, is a two-year, full-time, 120 ECTS Erasmus Mundus Joint Master delivered by a consortium spanning Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, China and India. Every selected student receives full tuition coverage plus worldwide health and accident insurance, and the strongest candidates win the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship itself, worth €1,400 a month toward travel, visa, installation and living costs. The programme starts in September 2027, is taught entirely in English, and accepts graduates of any discipline who hold a first degree of at least three years.
Those are the facts, and every other post about MARIHE has them too. What follows is the part that decides whether you actually win one: the two tiers of funding hiding behind the word “funded”, what this unusual programme is really for, and what a competitive application looks like when most applicants had never heard of the degree a week before they applied.
MARIHE 2027 at a glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Programme | Master in Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE) |
| Type | Erasmus Mundus Joint Master, 2 years, full-time, 120 ECTS |
| Coordinator | University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria |
| Consortium countries | Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, China, India |
| Language | English |
| Funding for all selected students | Full tuition coverage, worldwide health and accident insurance |
| Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (top candidates) | €1,400 per month toward travel, visa, installation and living costs |
| Extra awards | Two consortium scholarships per intake for students from deprived backgrounds or first-in-family students |
| Who can apply | Graduates worldwide, any field, first degree of at least 3 years (180 ECTS) |
| Deadline | 21 September 2026, 10:00 a.m. CEST |
| Programme start | September 2027 |
| Official website | www.marihe.eu |
What MARIHE actually is
MARIHE is a master’s degree about universities themselves, rather than about anything universities happen to teach.
Higher education studies is a genuine academic field, and a growing one, because universities everywhere are under the same pressures: internationalise, digitalise, commercialise research, manage global partnerships, respond to labour markets, and prove their social value while budgets tighten. Somebody has to run that transformation, and running it well is a profession. MARIHE trains for that profession, covering higher education systems and policy, research and innovation management, university governance and institutional change, internationalisation, entrepreneurship in education, and the leadership and analysis skills that ministries, quality assurance bodies and university managements hire for.
It is the only Erasmus Mundus Joint Master aimed squarely at future leaders and change-makers in higher education, which does two things to your application maths. The field is niche, so the applicant pool is smaller than for the famous Erasmus Mundus programmes in engineering or data science. And the selection committee can spot borrowed motivation instantly, because a candidate who actually cares about how universities work writes a very different letter from one who found the programme on a scholarship list on Tuesday.
The funding, tier by tier
Selection into the programme and winning the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship are two different outcomes, and most summaries of MARIHE blur them together. All selected students receive the tuition fee scholarship, meaning participation costs and tuition are covered, along with worldwide health and accident insurance, and Erasmus+ mobility funding may be available depending on the individual case. That alone removes the largest cost of a European master’s degree.
The €1,400 monthly allowance sits on top of that, and it goes to the strongest candidates in the ranking as the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship proper. It is described as a contribution toward travel, visa, installation and living costs, which is accurate: €1,400 a month funds a modest but genuinely workable student life in Krems, Tampere or Aveiro, and stretches further in the consortium’s Asian locations.
There is also a quieter third pot. The consortium awards two additional scholarships per intake specifically for students from deprived backgrounds and for first-in-family students, meaning applicants who are the first in their family to attend university. If either description fits you, say so clearly in your application rather than leaving the committee to infer it, because two named awards exist precisely for you.
The practical takeaway: apply for the programme, and the funding decisions cascade from the strength of your file. There is no separate scholarship form to hunt for. Your admission application is your scholarship application.
Where you will study
MARIHE is coordinated from Austria and delivered across a seven-member consortium:
| Institution | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|
| University for Continuing Education Krems | Austria | Coordinator |
| Tampere University | Finland | Partner |
| Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences | Germany | Partner |
| Eötvös Loránd University | Hungary | Partner |
| University of Aveiro | Portugal | Partner |
| Beijing Normal University | China | Partner |
| Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology | India | Partner |
Mobility is the point of an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master, so expect to study in more than one of these countries over the two years rather than settling into a single campus. The mix matters for this subject in particular. A student who has sat inside the Finnish, Austrian and Chinese higher education systems in the same degree has compared governance models most policy analysts only read about, and the consortium builds the programme around exactly that comparison. Check the current mobility tracks on marihe.eu when you apply, since the sequence of countries is set by the consortium rather than chosen freely.
Who can apply, and who should
The formal requirements are easy to meet. What MARIHE actually selects on is much harder.
Formally, you need a first university degree of at least three years’ duration, equivalent to 180 ECTS, from anywhere in the world and in any field. Education, economics, social sciences, public administration, business, humanities, engineering, management, international relations and development studies are all named as welcome backgrounds, and the list is illustrative rather than exhaustive. You also need English strong enough for a fully English-taught international master’s, evidenced by IELTS, TOEFL or an equivalent certificate, and the capacity to commit to two years of full-time study across several countries.
Beyond that, the programme wants motivation you can defend. MARIHE says openly that a degree alone is insufficient: it looks for applicants who can explain why higher education matters, how institutions need to change, and what they personally intend to do about it. If you have worked in a university registry, taught, run student programmes, done education journalism, built an ed-tech product, sat on a students’ union, or watched a ministry mangle a reform up close, that experience is your application’s spine. Without any of it, and with only the wish for a funded European master’s behind you, your letter joins a hundred others the committee has already read, and it loses to the applicant who has something specific to say.
A useful self-test before you invest the effort: can you name one concrete problem in your own country’s higher education system and sketch how you would study or fix it? If that question excites you, apply. If it bores you, a different Erasmus Mundus programme will serve you better, and Erasmus Mundus rules generally cap how many joint masters you may apply to in one round, so spend your applications where your story is strongest. Check the current cap on the Erasmus+ pages when you plan your applications.
Documents you will need
- Academic transcripts and degree certificates
- A curriculum vitae
- A motivation letter explaining your interest in higher education, research and innovation
- An English proficiency certificate (IELTS, TOEFL or equivalent)
- Two letters of recommendation
- A copy of your passport
Two of these deserve early starts. Recommendation letters take longer than applicants budget for, and a referee who understands what MARIHE is will write a sharper letter than one who receives the request cold, so send your referees the programme description along with the ask, and do it in July or August rather than September. The English certificate is the other slow item: test dates fill up, results take time, and a valid score sitting in your drawer beats a booking confirmation every time. Check the exact score thresholds on marihe.eu rather than assuming a generic bar.
How to apply for the MARIHE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship
- Confirm your eligibility: a first degree of at least three years (180 ECTS), sufficient English, and the ability to commit to two full-time years across several countries.
- Gather the documents listed above, starting with referees and the language test.
- Go to the official website at www.marihe.eu and create an account on the application portal.
- Complete the personal and academic sections and upload every required document.
- Write the motivation statement. Budget more time for this than for everything else combined; the section below explains why.
- Submit before 21 September 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CEST. The cut-off is a morning, Central European Summer Time, so applicants in the Americas and Asia should translate it into their own time zone and aim for days early, since late applications are simply not accepted.
- Wait for the consortium’s review. Shortlisted candidates may be contacted for an interview, and results go out from the consortium directly.
- If selected, accept the offer, then start on visas, travel and accommodation for a September 2027 start.
The motivation letter is the competition
For a niche programme with generous funding, the transcripts get you considered and the letter gets you funded, so treat it as the real examination.
Anchor it in something true. A specific reform you watched succeed or fail, a job that showed you how a university actually makes decisions, a problem in your country’s system you keep arguing about at dinner. Then connect that anchor to what MARIHE specifically offers, naming the themes and the consortium structure rather than praising “this prestigious program” in terms that would fit any scholarship on earth. Close with a direction rather than a destination: committees know career plans change, but they fund people whose trajectory makes sense, whether it points at a ministry, a quality assurance agency, an international organisation, a consultancy, an ed-tech venture or a PhD in higher education studies.
And write it yourself, in your own register. Selection committees for a programme about education read hundreds of letters a year and have developed extremely good instincts for text that no human being ever said aloud.
Careers MARIHE actually leads to
Graduates head into universities themselves, as managers, internationalisation officers and institutional researchers; into ministries and public agencies that steer higher education systems; into quality assurance bodies; into international education organisations and university alliances; into research agencies, think tanks and consultancies that analyse education policy; into start-ups building for the sector; and into doctoral research, since a 120 ECTS research-oriented joint master is a strong platform for a PhD in higher education studies.
That range is unusual for a master’s this specialised, and it follows from the subject. Every country has universities, every university has the same transformation problems, and the number of people trained professionally to work on them is still small. A narrow field with demand everywhere is a decent place for a career to start.
Frequently asked questions
Who can apply for the MARIHE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship 2027?
Applicants from anywhere in the world who hold a first university degree of at least three years’ duration, equivalent to 180 ECTS, with English strong enough for a fully English-taught programme.
Does my degree need to be in education?
No. Backgrounds in education, economics, social sciences, public administration, business, humanities, engineering, management, international relations, development studies and other fields are all welcome, provided you can show serious motivation for higher education, research and innovation.
What does the MARIHE scholarship cover?
All selected students receive full tuition coverage and worldwide health and accident insurance, with Erasmus+ mobility funding possible depending on the case. The strongest candidates additionally win the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship of €1,400 per month toward travel, visa, installation and living costs.
How much is the MARIHE monthly stipend?
€1,400 per month for Erasmus Mundus Scholarship winners. Students selected without the stipend still receive the tuition scholarship and insurance.
Are there extra scholarships?
Yes. The consortium awards two additional scholarships per intake for students from deprived backgrounds and for first-in-family university students. State it in your application if either applies to you.
When is the MARIHE application deadline?
21 September 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CEST, for the intake beginning September 2027. Late applications are not accepted.
Which universities are in the MARIHE consortium?
University for Continuing Education Krems (Austria, coordinator), Tampere University (Finland), Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), University of Aveiro (Portugal), Beijing Normal University (China) and Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (India).
Is MARIHE taught in English?
Yes, the entire programme is taught in English.
Do I apply separately for the scholarship?
No. One application through the portal at marihe.eu covers admission and all funding decisions. The consortium ranks applicants, and the Erasmus Mundus stipend goes to the strongest files.
What careers does MARIHE prepare for?
University management and administration, ministries and public agencies, quality assurance bodies, international education organisations, research agencies, think tanks, consulting, education start-ups and PhD research in higher education studies.
Two months is more time than it feels like
The deadline sits in late September, which sounds comfortable in July and stops being comfortable the moment you count backwards: referees need weeks, language tests need booking, and the motivation letter needs drafts rather than a draft. Contact your two referees this week, book the English test if you lack a valid score, and start digging out your one concrete story about higher education, the reform or failure or job that made you care about any of this. The applications that win are usually written in the quiet weeks, by people who understood that the letter was the exam.
I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.
