European MSc. in Photonics is build on 5 well thought corner stones offering an excellent combination to prepare students for a flourishing professional path: 

  • Core and advanced photonics courses complemented with electronics, physics, optics and engineering
  • Strong focus on hands-on projects in highly equipped research labs
  • International experience and exchange opportunities with over 20 university partners
  • Training of social 21st century skills and digital skills
  • Dynamic link with industry through lectures and valuable internships

Vrije Universiteit Brussel is an internationally oriented university in Brussels, the heart of Europe. Through tailor-made high quality research and education, VUB wants to contribute in an active and committed way to a better society for tomorrow.

Application deadline

We accept and review applications on a rolling basis, and aim at sending the decision within three weeks from the receipt of the complete application.

Applications can only be submitted through the online application form, we advise candidate students to apply as soon as possible, even if they have not yet obtained their degree.

All non EEA students and EEA students need to apply before 1 June. We recommend all candidate students to apply as early as possible, most certainly  for non EEA students this is important with regards to VISA administration.

Admission Criteria

The programme is open to applicants with a bachelor or master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, (Applied) Physics, Materials Sciences or equivalent. Students in their last year of such programmes will also be considered. Applicants holding a bachelor or master degree in another field of engineering are welcome to join the programme through a personalised preparatory programme. This preparatory programme can be combined with a specific bachelor or master programme. 

Belgian Bachelors in IR Architecture, Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, industrial Science – Electronics/ICT, Engineering Science or KMS Polytechnical Department can apply for the preparatory programme of 30 ECTS. Here you can find the details of the preparatory programme in Dutch leading to the Master of Science in Fotonica or the European MSc. in Photonics. 

Language requirements for international students: 

  • a TOEFL-TEST, taken as recently as within the last two years, showing a score of at least 570 (paper-based) or 87 (internet-based)
  • an original “test report from” (TRF) from IELTS, issued as recently as within the last two years, with a minimum overall band score of 6.0
  • Cambridge-ESOL: First certificate in English (FCE)
  • Holders of a diploma of secondary or higher education by a recognised institution in the Flemish Community are exempted from submitting a proof of language proficiency.
  • You are also exempted from language test when you ave successfully completed a minimum of 1 year (60 credits), be it secondary or higher education, where the medium of instruction was English (an official certificate must be submitted).
  • Note: if the proof of English proficiency or APS certificate is not ready before the deadline, you can always submit it later instead of missing the deadline.

Scholarships

For the academic year 2019-2020 the Vrije Universiteit Brussel will grant several full scholarships of 10 000,00 EUR per year to students of the European Master of Science in Photonics at VUB. This scholarship is foreseen to cover cost of living inherent to studying in Brussels. 

All candidates who wish to enroll at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel will have the opportunity to show proof of their technical knowledge during the application interview preceding the final admission.  Every application for scholarships will be screened on the basis of excellence and motivation, after acceptance to our programme.

VUB B-PHOT Excellence Scholarships 
B-PHOT, Brussels Photonics Research group at VUB, offers also scholarships to knowledgeable students on a competitive basis. All students who register for the MSc. in Photonics at VUB are eligible to be awarded a B-PHOT Excellence Scholarship by the researach group without separate application procedure.The candidates who receive the B-PHOT Excellence Scholarship must commit themselves to do a MSc. thesis at VUB. Students who graduate with honours and show excellence in knowledge and applications, will be invited to apply for a PhD at VUB B-PHOT.

The B-PHOT Excellence Scholarship scheme is as follows:

  • three Entry Scholarships  of 1000 Euro , at the beginning of the first semester of the first year of the MSc.. The recipients are the 3 best ranked students according to our selection criteria.
  • three Continuation Scholarships  of 1500 Euro , at the start of the second semester of the first year of the MSc. will be awarded to the top 3 students according to the academic performance after semester 1. Also students who didn’t receive the Entry Scholarship will be considered for the Continuation Scholarship.
  • one Excellence Scholarship  will be awarded, worth 5000 Euro , at the start of the the second year of the MSc..

Tuition fees

The general tuition fee for the master program is €922.30/year. A detailed overview of the tuition fees can be found here 

For more information,please visit http://www.vub.ac.be/en/study/european-master-of-science-in-photonics#application-fee-&-scholarship

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