Full Program Details
Every AI product you use sits on top of something less glamorous: pipelines that move data, databases that store it, and engineers who keep it clean enough for a model to learn from. A new Erasmus Mundus master's is built for people who want to master both halves, the data engineering and the AI, and it pays its scholars to study across Europe.
The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence (DEAI) welcomed its first students in autumn 2026. Applications for its next cohort, 2027 to 2029, open on 20 October 2026, and the deadline for scholarship applicants is 11 January 2027 at noon GMT.
A full DEAI scholarship covers 100% of your participation costs, including full insurance, and pays €1,400 a month for up to 24 months.
Details at a glance:
- Programme: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Data Engineering and Artificial Intelligence (DEAI)
- Partners: Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), TU Wien (Austria), University of Padua (Italy) and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France)
- Length: two years, four semesters
- Scholarship applications open: 20 October 2026
- Scholarship deadline: 11 January 2027, 12:00 GMT
- Reference letters due: 18 January 2027
- Self-funded route: opens 1 March 2027, closes 15 May 2027 for non-EU applicants
What the Scholarship Covers
DEAI offers two kinds of award:
- Full DEAI Scholarship: 100% of participation costs, including full insurance, plus a monthly stipend of €1,400 for up to 24 months
- Partial DEAI Scholarship: 100% of participation costs, but no stipend, living or travel costs
Without a scholarship, tuition is €9,000 a year for partner country students and €4,500 a year for programme country students. DEAI says scholarship places are limited.
Where You Will Study
- Semester 1: Fundamentals I at ULB in Brussels
- Semester 2: Fundamentals II at UPC in Barcelona
- Summer of year 1: the European Data Engineering and AI Summer School (eBISS), then a Summer of Code run by all partners
- Semester 3: a specialisation at TU Wien (Knowledge-Driven Data Management and Intelligence), Padua (Business, Economics and Financial Data Science) or Lyon (Data and Intelligence for Heterogeneous Systems)
- Semester 4: your master's thesis at any partner
Depending on your path, you graduate with a joint diploma or multiple degrees from three partner universities. DEAI notes that its joint degree will be issued once accreditation is complete; each partner's own computer science degree is already nationally accredited.
Who Can Apply
- Holders of a bachelor's degree worth at least 180 ECTS from a university listed in WHED or in the Times Higher, ARWU or QS rankings. Final-year students can apply before they graduate.
- English at CEFR B2 level, for example IELTS Academic 5.5 or TOEFL iBT 72.
- Applicants from any country, inside or outside the EU. No more than 10% of selected students may share the same nationality.
- If you have already held an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master scholarship, you cannot get a full DEAI scholarship.
Computer science or mathematics graduates are preferred. Physics, statistics, telecommunications, civil engineering and automation graduates can also apply if they have solid computer science and maths. DEAI expects knowledge of databases and SQL, algorithms and data structures, statistics, linear algebra and multivariable calculus, but you do not need to tick every box to apply.
How to Apply
- Read the DEAI application manual on the programme website.
- Fill in the online application form on the DEAI portal between 20 October 2026 and 11 January 2027 (noon GMT).
- Add your academic results, other studies, professional experience, a cover letter and your English certificate.
- Make sure your referees upload their letters by 18 January 2027.
- Upload proof of your bachelor's degree by the deadline for your applicant group.
- If you are a non-EU applicant and you are selected, post your paper documents within the window given in your email.
A joint committee scores every application and ranks them. The ranked list goes to the European Commission for scholarship approval. DEAI does not mention interviews.
GizPulse Verdict
Who this is for: Computer science, maths and engineering graduates from Nigeria, Kenya, India, Latin America and elsewhere who want to become data or AI engineers and would like to live in three European countries on a funded scholarship.
Who should pause: If you have never worked with databases, SQL or algorithms, or you already used up an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, your chances are slim. Also note that the joint degree is still awaiting accreditation. For other funded Erasmus Mundus options, see our guides to Mundus MAPP and GLOCAL.
One tip to stand out: Applications are scored on your academic results and experience, so make your cover letter concrete. Describe one data pipeline, database project or machine learning system you actually built, the tools you used and what went wrong, then name the third-semester specialisation you want and why.
Read the admission rules and start your application on the official DEAI admission page.
