The Université libre de Bruxelles is coordinating the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems – TROPIMUNDO, for which the European Commission offers a certain number of fully covering scholarships for EU and non-EU students (project approval pending). Selected scholarship holders will have their tuition fees and mobility covered in addition to receiving full insurance and monthly subsistence allocations. TROPIMUNDO is co-financed by VLIRUOS ICP-Connect for Mundus tropicalis, the Trajectories running through Kenya and the Philippines, for which scholarships have already been secured.

Confirmation of the VLIRUOS Scholarships for the first ranked applicants will be known in January 2026, but for the European Commission only in July 2026 (to start the programme in September 2026). There are no country restrictions whatsoever. As Erasmus Mundus is the educational excellence brand of the European Commission, we use excellence criteria to select the scholarship holders (such as prior education, professional activities, referee forms, knowledge of languages). 

TROPIMUNDO is the first International Master in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems (2 years, 120 ECTS) that allows students to delve into the interlinked ecosystems under threat by spending a full second semester of course work and field schools in the Amazonian tropical rainforest, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific tropical islands, the Central-African rainforest, the East-African Great Lakes, terrestrial and coastal ecosystems, the Malagasy forest ecosystems, and the Asian terrestrial, aquatic and mangrove forests, and a fourth semester dedicated to thesis work related to tropical biodiversity and ecosystems. The other two semesters are covering basic and specialized courses in Belgium, Italy, France, and French Guiana.

For the 2025 call, VLIRUOS provides several full scholarships whereas the European Commission might do the same through Erasmus Mundus scholarships for EU and non-EU students. Confirmation of the VLIRUOS Scholarships for the first ranked applicants will be known in January 2026 and in July 2026 for Erasmus Mundus (to start the programme in September 2026). Selected scholarship holders will have their tuition fees and mobility covered in addition to receiving full insurance and monthly allocations. VLIRUOS scholarships for Mundus tropicalis have, however, been secured for the next academic year. 

The first call for applicants seeking a scholarship intending to start in academic year 2026-2027 is now open and the deadline for application is 30 November 2025.

 Further information on the TROPIMUNDO programme and the application procedure can be found at https://www.tropimundo.eu/ and https://www.mundustropicalis.be/