Astromundus is a 2-years Erasmus Mundus masters course in Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is offered by a consortium of 5 partner universities of four different European countries. Partner universities are University of Innsbruck in Austria, University of Padova and University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy, University of Gottingen in Germany and University of Belgrade in Serbia. Belgrade is a third country partner of this consortium.
Main objective of this masters course is to provide students from all over the world with a state-of-the-art background in Astrophysics which would be useful in their future research career. Also, as typical of all other Erasmus Mundus programs, it encourages cultural exchange between different countries. The first edition of AstroMundus officially started on September 22, 2010 in Innsbruck. The welcome reception was held at Claudiasaal, a historical landmark of Innsbruck.[1]
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Courses offered by Astromundus are mainly on these topics. They span throughout almost all the branches of Modern Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology.
University of Innsbruck is the coordinating university of this programme. So prospective students need to send their application package there. First semester of the programme is also held at this university. So all the students come here for the first semester which usually starts during winter. Innsbruck offer introductory graduate courses on various fields of Physics, Mathematics and Astrophysics so that students from different background can come to an equal standard and be ready for the next semesters.
Courses offered by the University of Innsbruck are: Advanced Mathematical Methods for Astrophysicists, Concepts of Physics for Astrophysicists, Concepts of Galactic Astrophysics, Concepts of Extragalactic Astrophysics, Introduction to Radio Astronomy, Galaxy Groups, Basic Concepts of Astro- and Particle Physics, Astrophysics Laboratory etc. Among these first four courses are compulsory. Each of the compulsory courses carry six credits. In total a student need to cover 30 credits in one semester of Astromundus.
University of Padova is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It hosts two (second and final) of the four semesters of Astromundus.
University of Rome Tor Vergata is the second public university of Rome and hosts all of the last three semesters of Astromundus. A student can spend 3 semesters here but it is encouraged to change institutions.
More specialized courses are offered here. Such as, Extragalactic Astrophysics 1, Relativity and Cosmology, Stellar Astrophysics, Experimental Solar Physics, Extragalactic Astrophysics 2 (Observational cosmology and Galaxy clusters), Space Physics, Planetology, Astrobiology, Physics of Gravitation Radiative Processes in Astrophysics etc. Jonathan Lunine, an planetary scientist and physicist from the United States, is currently working here as a visiting professor who offers lectures in Planetology.
University of Belgrade is situated in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Students can go there for the last two semesters. The best master thesis made by Astromundus students is published in the Serbian Astronomical Journal of the astronomy department of Belgrade.
Like all Erasmus Mundus programmes, Astromundus is funded by European Commission. Two categories of scholarships are awarded to the selected students: category A for non-European students and category B for European students. For the first edition, the students who were awarded the "category A" scholarships came from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States. European students came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Italy, Macedonia and Spain.
Scholarships for scholars are also available in Astromundus. These are short term scholarships awarded for teaching or research for a maximum period of three months[1]