Level:  master academic studies

Upon end of the studies student will receive a title: master in astrophysics

„Erasmus Mundus Joint European Master in Astrophysics ‐ AstroMundus ” (ЕМ‐АМ) is a a two-year (120 ECTS) joint international Master Course in Astrophysics, accepted and supported by the educational project of the European Comission „Erasmus Mundus“. This Course is based on the expertise of four leading European Universities of Innsbruck, Padova, Roma “Tor Vergata”, and Göttingen, and the University of Belgrade as a Third Country partner. The programme coordinator is the Universities of Innsbruck. The Master study programme is closely related with institutions such as: Asiago Observatory, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica -Osservatorio Roma, Belgrade Astronomical Observatory. The programme lasts for two years. Students will earn a minimum of 120 ECTS during their master studies. During the first semester the students attend courses at the entrance university (University of Innsbruck). The second semester is spent at a second University of choice among the 2 Italian partner Universities (Padova and Rome). The third semester is spent in one of the three partner institutions at Rome, Göttingen, or Belgrade depending on the astrophysical branches which the students will select to specialise on. Although the students can choose their mobility path through the consortium universities from the second semester onward, in order to ensure an excellent quality of the course a maximum fraction of students per site is allowed (see below table). Therefore, at mid-course of each semester students will be asked to give their preference(s) for the subsequent semester. The Selection Committee may re-direct some students to sites different from their chosen ones when the maximum capacity of one or more sites is reached. Finally the fourth semester is mainly devoted to the Master’s thesis (30 ECTS) that can be accomplished in any of the partner institutions, with the possibility of joint supervision by a member of another of the partner universities. Students are given the possibility to attend additional advanced courses/seminars during the 4th semester, especially on topics related to their thesis work. The first semester is focused on basic learning in Astronomy and Astrophysics, while the subsequent ones offer to the students the possibility to specialise in different branches. Students who successfully complete the requirements of the programme will be awarded a Joint Master Degree by the Consortium universities, issued by the partner University where they have defended their Master thesis and signed by other partners where they accomplished the various parts of their Master studies. In addition they will receive a Diploma Supplement.

The main aim of the Erasmus Mundus AstroMundus master study programme is to provide a high level multinational research‐oriented education in Astronomy and Astrophysics, in close relation to the research activities of the partners. The combined and harmonised teaching and research of the five partner universities offer a great variety of competence in the field. A special emphasis is put on the application of the modern techniques in the fields of observational, theoretical and computational astrophysical research. The Masters Course is organized according to three basic objectives; give a solid background in Astronomy and Astrophysics, initiate the students in scientific research and offer applied training in experimental and computational techniques oriented towards Astronomy and Astrophysics. Moreover, the students will have a unique opportunity to have access to various high technology instruments, supercomputers, specific techniques developed locally (e.g. hydrodynamic simulations) or to specific pathways (i.e. different branches of the three main domains, observational, computational, and theoretical astrophysics and/or combinations of these). Such a wide choice can only be offered at the European level.

By completing the study programme, students will obtain the following general skills:

• traditional and modern methods of multidiscipline research and writing scientific papers;
• inclusion in the scientific research activities;
• development of the critical opinion and original scientific approach;
• communication and collaboration in the international

In order to apply for the Erasmus Mundus AstroMundus master programme students are required to have a Bachelor’s degree in Physics or Mathematics or equivalent diploma (180 ETCS). The selection will be based on their academic qualifications and achievements. The accepted students will have to sign the Student Agreement.

Modules on this study program:

Subjects lectured on this study program: