IMSOGLO is a joint Erasmus Mundus Master programme, organized by Faculty of Bioscience Engineering (FBE) of Ghent University, Aarhus University, University of Göttingen and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna). The first semester is taken by all students at UGent, depending on the specialization, students will either go to Vienna and Göttingen or to UGent and Aarhus University in the 2^nd and 3^rd semester. The 4^th (thesis-)semester is at one of the 2 Universities that organize the specialization. Additionally, two Associated partners are the Joint Research Centre (JRC, Ispra, Italy) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, Nanjing, China). JRC co-organizes the summer school in the second semester, while CAS organizes a field work in the second semester. Both institutes are also partner for thesis research.

For IMSOGLO, a Consortium Agreement (CA) has been compiled. This CA will be finalised and signed by all Partners during the Academic Year 2018-2019, before the start of the programme. The CA contains chapters on:

• Objectives, structure and content of the programme;
• Organisational structure and responsibilities;
• Educational responsibilities, specifying the role of the Partners in education and the invitation of scholars;
• Administrative organisation of IMSOGLO, including application and selection procedures for academic admission, specification of the academic enrolment at the Partners, participation cost, scholarships, mobility and insurance. It also describes the credit transfer and exam rules. Furthermore, it specifies how the quality assurance is organised;
• Costs and financing of the programme;
• Specification of Intellectual Property rights, confidentiality and liability and of procedures to activate and terminate the agreement and to settle dispute.

General admission requirements

The following Bachelor’s degrees qualify students for admission to the Master’s degree programme in Soils and Global Change:

Academic Bachelor degree (minimum 180 ECTS credits) in pure or applied sciences (e.g., chemistry, biology, geology, civil or agricultural engineering, environmental or agricultural sciences, etc.) or an equivalent level from a recognized university or Engineering College.

Sufficient academic knowledge (at least 40 ECTS in total) in Natural Sciences is required, where Natural Sciences are specified as: physics, chemistry, mathematic, ecology, biology, geography, environmental sciences and agricultural sciences.

English language requirements:

Official language test (English language test with minimum requirements below)

TOEFL IBT 90

ACADEMIC IELTS 6,5 overall score with a min. of 6 for writing

ESOL CAMBRIDGE English CAE (Advanced)

The master’s programme is completed with a master’s dissertation - the study load of which equals 30 ECTS credits.

Access to further study

The Master degree qualifies students for a professional career and scientific work e.g. for a doctorate or the PhD (ph.d.) degree.