General

Governance

* What is the Board of Education (BoE) / Management Team (MT) / Coordination Office ?

The Board of Education is the main decision-making body of the Neurasmus programme. It gathers the local coordinators of the Neuroscience programs of each University of study. They select students, supervise and ensure the education and training, elaborate strategies for the future of the programme, and decide on joint procedures and financial aspects with the help of the Management Team. The members of the Management team can be members of the Board of Education or members of the International Relation Units of the Universities. The Management Team also help the students when they arrive in the University of study. On top of these two bodies, the Coordination Office is based in Bordeaux. Prof. Agnès Nadjar (Neurasmus coordinator) and Ms Florina Camarasu (Neurasmus Manager) are in charge of managing the network and its activities following decisions taken jointly with the other members of the BoE and MT.

* What will the Board of Education (acting as Selection Committee) ask me during the interview?

Interviews are conducted by a video-conference system (Skype, Messenger, etc.) in English. Applicant are informed of the connection procedure a few days before by the selection committee member in charge of the interview.
The aim is to evaluate the background, general knowledge about neuroscience and assess the candidate' motivation, as well as to check the proficiency in English. The interviewer is free to raise a few questions (not linked to Neuroscience or scientific Background) to check the candidate capacity to answer questions under pressure and assess the personnality of the candidate.
Any interviewer has reviewed the candidate application before the interview and has access any time to the application material.
The questions of the interview are not communicated to the candidate before the interview.

* What is the Student Board?

The Student Board mission is to advise the Board of Education with regard to the interests of the enrolled students in order to contribute to the quality assessment of the Program.
It's also the opportunity for all students to discuss together other general questions (alumni, career development, networking activities, etc.).

* What is EMA?

The Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA) is a network for students and alumni of all Erasmus Mundus Joint Programs. Since its establishment through an initiative of the European Commission in June 2006, EMA has been working constantly to advance the Erasmus Mundus programme, and to offer a platform where students and alumni can exchange information and experiences. Register now at http://www.em-a.eu/

Curriculum

The Neurasmus programme accepts up to 20 students per edition.
During the two-year Master Program, the students will have to attend at least two of the partner institutions in two different European countries.

* Year 1 curriculum

Just after the selection decision, the student is informed about the track attribution.
Please note that the Track offer is reviewed each year by the Board of Education.

During the first year, students will enroll for a 1-year curriculum: in Amsterdam (up to 8 students), Berlin (up to 5 students), Göttingen (up to 4 students) or Coimbra (up to 5 students).
1-2 students may integrate Track 5 (Semester 1 Amsterdam, Semester 2 Bordeaux) in order to study at Laval University during year 2.

* Mobility

As part of the student's Personal Training Plan (PTP), the subspecialty choice, which defines the partner university(ies) for the 2nd year, is made at the end of the first semester. Students have up to the end of 1st year / start of 3rd semester to choose the subject of their Master Thesis. The Personal Training Plan's goal is to tailor an interdisciplinary education and training in the research field he is interested in and to prepare his thesis work for the best.
PTP Handbook

Laurie personal comment: After 2 years of program implementation, I can only advise students to stay a full year in one university and try not to move from one university to another each semester, especially for non-European students (multiple visa applications, time-consuming and stressful).

Visa

Before starting the programme, what should you do from your country of origin:

* Track 1 students: Obtaining a Visa for the NL

  • VU University Amsterdam will apply on your behalf for your visa and/or residence permit after you have been (conditionally) admitted and have accepted the admission offer for a Bachelor, Master, or Exchange programme. You need to contact Neira to know how to start the procedure.
  • Immigration formalities upon arrival: Non-European students must go pick up your student residence card at the IND office, you will be given directions. All students must also register at the municipality of where they are renting a place. NOTE: You will have to de-register when you leave but you will have several reminders for this from the municipality.
  • Particular cases: Cuba recently changed its laws so this is in case any other country would have a similar procedure where you would need to also have a personal invitation letter aside from the student visa to leave the country. Said invitation letter would need to be from a friend or acquaintance in the Netherlands and you need about a month for the process.

* Other Tracks: Obtaining a Visa for Germany or Portugal

  • Type of Visa: Schengen, national visa for study purpose (> 3 months), Type D

—> For Germany: Citizens of the countries of Andorra, Australia, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Israel, Japan, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand, San Marino, South Korea and the United States of America may also enter Germany without a visa and apply for a residence permit within three months. EU nationals or citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland do not need a visa to study in Germany.

  • Immigration formalities upon arrival:

—> For Germany: Your entry visa in Germany is only valid for 90 days - within that period you must obtain a proper residence permit at the Foreign

Charité may apply for your residence permit on your behalf but they tend to do it in November so some may choose to do the process themselves so that the permit is ready in time for holiday travels in December. If you do it yourself, you can either show up at 5am and wait in a long line or make an appointment about 3 months in advance.

  • Particular cases:

Once you're in Europe and you move from one university to another:

* Obtaining a Visa for France

  • From Germany: / Consulat Général in Frankfort ,
  • From Portugal: / Consulat Général in Porto
  • From the NL: / Consulat Général in Brussels !! You will also have to contact Maison Descartes in Amsterdam in charge of delivering one of the required papers. Know that you will have to travel to Brussels twice, once to deliver your papers and take a picture and the second for them to put the visa sticker on your passport. Its about a two week interval between when you go give in the papers and when you are given the appointment to bring your passport for the sticker.
  • Immigration formalities upon arrival: Within the 3 months, you need to send back the OFII form to the OFII with required documents. You will be helped by Laurie. You will receive an appointment for the medical visit to validate your visa. If you had a medical visit before, be sure to come with your radiography or any medical paper that would enable you to skip the radiography. You will then get a sticker on your passport.
  • Particular cases: For the medical visit, even though you get an appointment its first come first served so you can get there early to not go through a big cue and leave early. You go to the welcome desk to say who you are then you wait to be called for the radiography, then you wait for the nurse to call you, then for the doctor to call you and finally the Immigration officer.

* Obtaining a Visa for Germany

* Obtaining a Visa for the NL

  • VU University Amsterdam will apply on your behalf for your visa and/or residence permit after you have been (conditionally) admitted and have accepted the admission offer for a Bachelor, Master, or Exchange programme. You need to contact Neira to know how to start the procedure.
  • Immigration formalities upon arrival:
  • Particular cases:

* Obtaining a Visa for Canada (in case of Mobility to Laval University)

  • From France:
  • Immigration formalities upon arrival:
  • Particular cases:

Insurance

Respecting Health, the insurance you have from the programme covers pretty much everything except: some "risky" sport activities (look at that section), preventive medical care, pre-existing conditions and non "urgent" dental care (where urgent means that it cannot wait until you return to your home country). Nevertheless, read carefully what is included or not so that you can ask specific questions during Orientation Week!

To be reimboursed you need to download a claim form from the following site: https://www.sipinsurance.eu/wia/cleva/be/sip/claimforms.php
Fill it out with your bank details etc. and send it to them along with the original receipt from the doctor and they reimbourse you within about 1 month.

The same insurance can also be acquired for spouses of the student at your own cost. Make sure they give you THEIR Insurance Number as it is not the same as yours.

Bank

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