Application & Admission to AFEPA
Admission requirements
To be admitted to the Master’s Programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis candidates must provide:
1.
Bachelor's degree
A Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent academic degree of minimum three years of undergraduate study corresponding to 180 ECTS credits with a grade of at least an overall average “B”, or equivalent grade. Students in their final year of their Bachelor’s degree may be provisionally admitted on the condition that their Bachelor’s degree is awarded prior to enrollment in the programme.
2.
A solid background in Economics
A minimum of 24 ECTS credits in economics gained in the Bachelor’s degree – including one course in microeconomics and one course in statistics. An additional introduction to agricultural, environmental or food sciences is recommended.
- For an entry in AFEPA at SLU:
A minimum of 90 (ECTS) in economics (potentially including BSc thesis and courses in econometrics) - For an entry in AFEPA at UBonn:
A minimum of 42 (ECTS) in economics or business management (equivalent to 1260 hours workload, potentially including the BSc thesis if it has an economic focus), as well as:
(a) a minimum of 5 ECTS in microeconomics and
(b) a minimum of 5 ECTS in statistics - For an entry in AFEPA at UCLOUVAIN:
No additions to the general AFEPA requirements. - For an entry in AFEPA at UCSC:
A minimum of 32 ECTS covering the following four areas:
(a) mathematics/statistics/informatics,
(b) microeconomics/macroeconomics,
(c) business/management/marketing,
(d) agricultural food and environmental economics and policy
3.
English proficiency
English proficiency test results (not older than two years):
- Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): 90 on the Internet-based Test (IBT), with a minimum of 20 on the written part.
- International English Language Testing System (IELTS): an overall band IELTS score of at least 6.5, and no section below 5.5.
A test deemed equivalent by the AFEPA Management Board (if you want to submit test results other than from the TOEFL or IELTS tests please obtain our confirmation of that particular test prior to sending your application package). - Applicants from English speaking countries must provide an official letter from their university from which they graduated attesting that English is the medium of instruction. It is upon the consortium’s decision whether an English Test as described above must be submitted additionally.
Applicants from China, India and Vietnam require the APS certificate in order to receive the admission to study at the University of Bonn. It does not matter whether you are studying in the first or second year of the AFEPA programme at the University of Bonn.
Application
01.
Download application form
Please download the application form and enter your details.
02.
Tuition fees
Be familiar with the first- and second-year administrative and tuition fees. Details you can find here.
03.
Add application documents
Required application documents:
- Proof of nationality e.g. copy of ID, passport
- CV
- Copy of academic transcripts and diploma (including copy of original and translated certified copy if original is not in English, attach a diploma supplement that explains the credit point system of your university if it is not according to the ECTS credit point system)
- Copy of school-leaving certificate, e.g. high school certificate (translated certified copy if original is not in English)
- Copy of language certificate (see requirements)
- Motivation letter (no more than 300 words)
04.
Send application form
Complete your application form and send it together with the other necessary documents before the deadline to: afepa.application@ilr.uni-bonn.de.
Please send your application documents (application form, transcripts, certificates etc.) as one single pdf-file. This file must not exceed 5 MB.
Please note
If you do not meet our admission requirements or if the application documents are incomplete or do not comply with the formal requirements your application will be rejected.
Individuals from all countries can apply for the AFEPA Master’s programme. However, before considering an application, please verify on the programme website that your profile fits into what we are looking for. In this regard, your academic background is especially important.
Application deadlines for current programme admission are available here.
It is a university entrance qualification, a certificate awarded from the high school attended (e.g. high school diploma).
To be admitted to the ERASMUS Mundus Master’s Programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Policy Analysis candidates need to have an English proficiency test results (not older than two years). Please read the guideline in the admission section.
We use the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). ECTS is a standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union and other collaborating European countries. ECTS credits are awarded only when the course has been completed, all requirements have been fulfilled, and examinations have been passed successfully. One academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS-credits that are equivalent to 1800 hours of study. Accordingly, 1 ECTS credit equals 30 hours of study.
Please note that ECTS is a system based on workload, not on contact hours. For administrators working with a contact hour-based system, the transcript also lists the number of contact hours for each class. More information on ECTS can be found here.
You should submit a scanned copy of your university degrees, including a translation into English for those certificates/documents which are not in English. Please note that only pdf files can be accepted.
Complete your application form and send it together with the other necessary documents before the deadline to: afepa.application@ilr.uni-bonn.de.
A Letter of Motivation (no more than 300 words) is a letter which accompanies your application and introduces you to the programme coordinator and the admissions committee. The letter should contain information about why you think that you should be given a place in the AFEPA programme. You should detail your skills and explain the reasons why you are a good fit for the programme. This letter allows you to talk directly to the AFEPA admission committee and to make yourself stand out from among several similarly qualified candidates for the programme.
Please note that the current funding period by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) has ended. You can read more on general avenues to pursue a scholarship here.
The AFEPA consortium offers the following scholarships to support talented students for the 2025 intake:- 2 Scholarships: €1,400/month for two years (24 months)
- 2 Scholarships: €700/month for two years (24 months)
Complete your application for the AFEPA Master Programme and express your interest in the scholarship during the application process before 15th of February 2025.
UCSC offers the opportunity to be fully or partially exempt from paying full tuition thanks to a scholarships awarded directly by UCSC and Fondazione Invernizzi (https://www.fondazioneinvernizzi.it/it/site/about). More details you can find here.
Information on the EMJMD scholarships can be found here
All four partner universities in the programme are first-year and second-year universities. Thus, you are free to choose among the four based on your academic interest and/or language abilities (English is the teaching language everywhere). First-year students will be asked in December of their first year to voice their preference for their second year. The ultimate decision about is made by the AFEPA consortium considering the universities’ minimum requirements with regard to ECTS in economics, academic performance, its research interests and a fairly even distribution of students among partner universities in addition to the student’s preference. For further information on student mobility read the AFEPA handbook.
How and when do we select our students?
- The coordinator will conduct a pre-selection based on the minimum requirements and submit the remaining applications for consideration and evaluation by the Consortium committee. The evaluation includes the minimum requirements, academic performance and experiences. At the end, a selection meeting will be organised by the Consortium committee to discuss the candidates. A final list of students will be established in accordance with the admission requirements.
- The final selection will respect the principles of Euraxess “European Charter for Researchers” and the “Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers” including non-discrimination, equal treatment, transparency, recognition of qualifications, lifelong development and mobility experience.
- The Consortium will allocate the students among the four universities for the first semester based on students’ preferences and university-specific admission criteria.
- The result of the evaluation process will be sent to each applicant via email: for non-Europeans in March, for European applicants between April and June. The following outcomes are possible: accepted, not accepted.
Do you wish to appeal against our decision?
AFEPA applicants have the right to appeal against the selection decision. The procedure is as follows:
- Applicants should fill in an appeal form and send it to the AFEPA coordination office (info@afepa.eu) together with supporting documents (if necessary), within a period of 15 days starting from the day after the notification of selection results.
- The AFEPA Management Board will evaluate the appeal and decide what, if any, action is required.
- Applicants will be notified via email regarding the outcome of their appeal no later than one month after the appeal has been received.
Before appealing, please note that new evidence or additional information (e.g., additional certificates) not included in the original application cannot be taken into account at this stage of the process.
Contact
AFEPA Coordination Office
University of Bonn
Institute for Food and Resource Economics
Nussallee 21
D-53115 Bonn
Email: info@afepa.eu
