Collaborating on a new Master's programme on islands and sustainability
The University of Iceland, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the University of the Aegean in Greece, and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain jointly announce the new Erasmus+ Mundus Joint Master Degree Programme in Islands and Sustainability (acronym: ISLANDS). This partnership of the four European universities was selected by the European Union under the Erasmus+ scheme involving funding of EUR 3.6 million for the implementation of the programme.
Islands are special cases for sustainable development. Within the current global economic and social system islands in many cases face economic, social, political and cultural marginalisation; unless they cooperate. Cooperation is needed in research and education on the ways to manage islands and raise capacity building in island communities. Understanding the problems and finding effective ways to develop the potential of small islands requires international academic cooperation that looks beyond the specifics of individual islands. There is clearly a demand for a high quality Master's programme on sustainable development on islands that can enhance much required training and expertise in this field. This is why the the University of Iceland, the University of Groningen , the University of the Aegean and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have joined forces to launch a high-level integrated study programme on islands at Master level.
Study organisation
The ISLANDS programme combines thorough training in scientific research with a thematic specialization on Islands and Sustainability. It also provides multi-faceted training of research skills for social science and environmental research, including Individual Research Training by senior staff and training to work in a multi- and interdisciplinary research group. It also involves taking a series of qualitative, quantitative and multi-method courses, as well as, courses on Scientific Reading, Debating and Reflecting, Scientific English Writing and Research Process. ISLANDS students will be required to study at the University of Groningen in the first semester and the first half of the second semester of the first year of the programme. During the second half of the second semester of the first year they study at one of the island-based universities of the consortium where they undertake a research internship module. Then, they return to Groningen for the first semester of their second year before going again to an island-based university to undertake their Master thesis project in the second semester of the second year. ISLANDS graduates receive a double-degree from the island-based University of their Master thesis and the University of Groningen, including an acknowledgement that this is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master degree involving all partner universities. The ISLANDS programme is also supported by six associated partners comprising academic institutions, a research institute, an SME and NGOs, including Katla and Reykjanes Geoparks in Iceland.
Scholarships
More details on the ISLANDS programme and the call for applications will be posted on the programme’s new website in early 2022. Scholarships from the EU will be available for on average 15 students every year, with students being invited to apply for the programme and associated grants. The grant covers the tuition fee, and also provides a travel and living allowance. The call for applications will open in February 2022 and the deadline for applications will be on March 15, 2022.
Further information is available on the ISLANDS website.
Further information
This new international master programme is led and coordinated by Prof Dimitris Ballas from the University of Groningen, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, working closely together with Dr Frans Sijtsma, Dr Paul van Steen and colleagues at the partner universities: Prof Thanasis Kizos at the University of the Aegean in Greece, Dr Rodrigo Riera at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain, and Prof Benjamin Hennig at the University of Iceland. The programme builds on long-standing discussions and collaboration between these partners which also includes their establishment of a new summer school series on Islands as Laboratories for Sustainability.
