Recruitment cycle Cohort 2026

About ARISE

Advanced Realities for Cultural Innovation in Europe (ARISE) aims to train the next generation of specialists and innovators in Human–Computer Interaction and Design with a focus on Extended Reality (XR) in Europe. ARISE will achieve this goal by designing and delivering a double-degree master’s programme (ISCED Level 7, 120 ECTS) in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) and Extended Reality and a minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

About the scholarships

ARISE provides eligible students the financial support to take part to the education programme and offers scholarships to promote diversity in terms of gender, age, social and economic background. ARISE’s scholarships allow the greatest number to have access to high-quality education in digital areas and increase diversity among students and future digital experts.

The students awarded a scholarship will be financially supported during their two years of studies in the double-degree Masters’ programme offered by ARISE.

Types of scholarships available

Three types of scholarships are available:

1.    half tuition fee waivers which cover 50% of the tuition costs. These funding schemes are designed to reduce financial barriers and support talented students in accessing high-quality education in key digital technology domains, 

2.    full tuition fee waivers, covering the entire tuition cost for both years, and 

3.    scholarships of excellence, which include a full tuition fee waiver and a monthly living allowance adjusted according to the cost-of-living index of the host country.

The 2026-2028 fees are available here: https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/admissions/fees

How to apply

To apply to a ARISE scholarship, candidates must enrol into ARISE master’s programme. Only students enrolled and accepted in ARISE Masters’ programme are eligible to financial support.

Enrolment is done via a single application portal. When enrolling to the master’s programme, applicants are given the opportunity to select 3 options as Entry University and 3 options as Exit University with order of priority. It gives students a wider choice: applicants who would not be accepted to their preferred education institution might still be accepted by another education institution. At the same time, as the capacity of each education institution is limited, the multiple-option offer ensures that a high number of applications is processed.

To apply to the ARISE Master’s programme, candidates are required to upload into the application portal the following documentation:

1.    Degree Certificate/Diploma in its original language and translated into English (If your university does not provide this service, the translation has to be done by an authorised translator and his/her credentials, signature and stamps must be visible in the translated document). In case of ongoing studies, a statement certifying that you are in the final year of your studies. The statement must be written by the degree administration office (or equivalent department) confirming that you are enrolled on the final year of your education and giving your expected completion date. Note: If applying to Aalto as entry, your bachelor degree must be completed by July 31, 2026. 

3.    Mandatory technical prerequisites for admission to the programme: https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/admissions/relevant-field-of-studies

4.    Official and stamped transcript of records in original language and translated into English. All courses taken must be included. Please scan the front and back of every document- all stamps and signatures must be fully visible. 

4.    Proof of English proficiency. The requirement of English proficiency will vary depending on the higher education institution/country selected by the applicant. Please refer to EITD Master School website ‘Admissions’ tab for more information. 

5.    Curriculum Vitae including details on your academic and professional career. 

6.    A letter of motivation (maximum 3 pages) to prove the innovative potential of the applicant and their need for financial support. In this letter applicants will be required to discuss and/or propose an entrepreneurial idea and to explain their financial situation and need for financial support. 

7.    Supporting documents regarding the applicant’s financial situation (e.g. credit report). 

8.    An official ID, such as passport or National ID.

Master School Scholarship allocation process

Applicants apply for the scholarships directly in their application for the Master School. The highest-ranking applicants are offered scholarships and are informed of the outcome at the same time as the Letter of Acceptance is sent, or within one week if a waiting list logic is applied. In this case, the first round of scholarships are announced at the time of the study offer, and the second round of scholarships are offered eight days later, when the deadline to accept/decline the offer has passed for students included in round one. The order of the waiting list is based on the applicants’ ranking as described below. 

The applicants go through several stages in the evaluation:

·      Pre-screening: performed by the Admission Officer at the Master School Office (KTH). Includes confirming that the university is recognised/accredited, GPA (Grade Point Average) of at least 70%, and Bachelor's degree is relevant

·      Evaluation and ranking by programme selection committee (see detailed description below). The selection committee for ARISE consists of 9 members.

·      General requirements check: performed by the KTH admission office under the lead of the Admission Officer at the Master School Office. Includes confirmation of documents provided by the applicant. 

Selected students eligible to financial support will be required to sign an agreement with the EIT Digital Master School outlining their rights and obligations under the scholarship scheme. Failure to comply with the terms of this agreement may result in the termination of financial support and/or recovery of funds. In line with the provisions of the EU Digital Europe Programme Model Grant Agreement, the ARISE project operates under the standard terms and conditions applicable to EU-funded projects, set out in Articles 12 (Conflict of Interest), 13 (Confidentiality and Security), 14 (Ethics), 17.2 (Visibility), 18 (Specific Rules for Carrying Out the Action), 19 (Information), and 20 (Record-Keeping) of the ARISE Grant Agreement apply equally to all selected students eligible to financial support.

Eligibility requirements

ARISE scholarships are available to nationals of one of the eligible countries:

1. EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
2. Listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (associated countries)

Only students enrolled and accepted in ARISE Masters’ programme are eligible to financial support. When receiving their letter of acceptance and study offer, students will be notified of their scholarship allocation.

Evaluation and ranking by the programme selection committee

The selection committee for each programme consists of the local programme responsible from each participating university. One member is appointed the role of Programme Lead. All evaluation is noted in the application portal, administrated by the Master School Office. 

The Programme Lead assigns applicants to the selection committee members in the portal, based on the applicant’s university preferences stated in their application. Each member evaluates their assigned applicants and gives them a grade for each criterion. Based on the evaluation result, the Programme Leads assigns each applicant an entry university and an exit university as well as a final quantitative grade based on the two universities ranking of the applicant. 

All applicants are placed on a single, unified merit-based ranking list after the evaluation process. No separate ranking lists are created for women, RIS applicants, or any other subgroup. Gender and RIS status are used only as priority conditions in cases of equal final merit score. This ensures the process remains strictly merit-based while still supporting the diversity objectives of the programme.

Selection criteria

The criteria used when evaluating which candidates should be nominated for a scholarship, is the following:

The evaluation range for each criteria is 1 – Non-satisfactory, 2 – Borderline, 3 – Admissible, 4 – Very good, 5 – Excellent. 

The initial merit score value will be an average of the two merit scores assigned by the two Local Programme Coordinators accepting an applicant (the Local Coordinator at the Entry University and the Local Coordinator at the Exit University). The merit scores assigned by Local Programme Coordinators will be reviewed by Programme Leaders to ensure uniformity between the scores given by Local Programme Coordinators from different universities and different countries. A final meeting including the Programme Leaders, all Local Programme Coordinators and the Quality Assurance Manager of the ARISE project will be set at the end of each Recruitment Period to agree and deliberate on the final merit score of each applicant.

Students given an average grade of 3 are considered admissible, unless other objections were put forth by a partner university. The Master School Office makes a proposal for distributions of each category of scholarship per Master programme, according to the ranking lists provided by each Master programme’s selection committee and distribution of scholarships per entry universities as decided upon by the consortia. Other factors taken into consideration when there is a tie between two applicants based on their ranking are: Gender (female applicants are favored as they are a minority), Citizenship in RIS countries.

Promotion of diversity in terms of gender, social and economic background

Supporting students while promoting diversity, the scholarship programme will promote diversity in terms of gender, age, social and economic background. To achieve this objective, the ARISE scholarship programme will include different scholarship opportunities, including: 

·       an overarching scholarship programme - available to any applicant from any EU country or EU associated country, 

·       a scholarship programme for women - available only to female applicants from any EU country or EU- associated country, 

·       a scholarship programme for participants from RIS countries - available only to applicants from country included in the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS). 

The scholarship programme for women aims to increase female participation in master’s programmes in Computer Science and Engineering in Europe. ARISE has the target to reach at least 50% of female scholarship recipients. The scholarship programme for participants from RIS countries is aimed to support the participation of students from countries with moderate or modest innovation score and with lower gross domestic product.

Applicants submit only one scholarship application and are automatically considered for all available scholarship types. The diversity-promotion schemes for women and RIS applicants do not create separate ranking lists. Instead, all applicants remain on the single master ranking list, and gender or RIS status is applied only in cases of equal merit score. This ensures that the chances of a woman from a RIS country are not altered or reduced, since she competes on the same merit ranking as all other applicants and benefits from priority only when relevant.

Scholarships are distributed with the aim of meeting specific KPIs — namely, 50% of recipients from RIS countries and 30% female participation. However, since underrepresentation from a specific group may result in some qualified candidates not receiving a scholarship despite their merit, the selection process allows flexibility: in such cases, the remaining scholarships will be allocated to other qualified applicants based on merit to ensure fair and efficient use of available resources.

Countries eligible to take part to the RIS include: 

·      EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories — OCTs)

·      Non-EU countries: listed EEA countries and countries associated with the Digital Europe Programme (associated countries).

The official list is available here:

 List of eligible countries for participation in the Digital Europe Programme (PDF)

ARISE has the target to reach at least 40% of RIS countries scholarship recipients.

Appeal

Applicants may appeal if they believe there has been an error by contacting the Master School Office ([email protected]) without any official deadline. The Head of Master School Office (who is responsible for allocating the scholarships) will review the appeal together with the Head of Education Programmes, the Admission Officer and the Programme Lead by confirming that the applicants ranking assigned by the committee members is correct, that no administrative errors has been made in the portal and that the scholarship allocation order has been correct and fair. If errors are found, the applicant will be assigned the correct scholarship. 

Payment arrangements

Scholarships within the ARISE Master’s programme are applied directly as tuition fee discounts, meaning that the awarded financial support is reflected in the net tuition fee communicated to each selected candidate after deduction of the applicable scholarship amount. 

Scholarships are composed of two distinct components: 

§  Tuition fee waivers (half or full), which are not paid directly to students but applied as a reduction of the tuition cost. The value of the waiver is determined before the start of Year 1 and covers both academic years of the Master programme. Students are invoiced for tuition fees twice per academic year - once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester. For students receiving financial support, the invoices will reflect the reduced tuition amount, and this is the moment when the support is formally materialised.  

·       Monthly allowances (only for recipients of the Scholarship of Excellence), which are paid directly to students to support their living costs. The base reference for the allowance is set at EUR 900 per month, adjusted according to the Eurostat Country Correction Coefficients (CCCs) applicable to the country where the student carries out their studies. The official Eurostat coefficients can be accessed publicly at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tec00114/default/table  The cost-of-living coefficient is captured at the time of the scholarship award and remains fixed for the entire duration of the two-year study Master programme; it will not be recalculated or adjusted on a monthly or yearly basis. 

For the Academic years 2026-2028, the nominal values for the three types of scholarships are the following: 

·       Half tuition fee waiver – The nominal value of the granted scholarship is EUR 3,000 per academic year. 

·       Full tuition fee waiver – The nominal value of the granted scholarship is EUR 6,000 per academic year 

·       Excellence scholarship – This includes a full tuition fee and a monthly living allowance (see above for details).

Number of scholarships available and scholarship allocation logic

Students submit a single scholarship application and are automatically considered for all three types of scholarships (Excellence, Full Tuition Fee Waiver, and Half Tuition Fee Waiver). The allocation of scholarships follows a merit-based ranking system, assessed on the basis of academic excellence, motivation, and eligibility criteria established for the Master programme. 

Scholarships are assigned by following the order of the single unified ranking list. The highest-ranked candidates are awarded Scholarships of Excellence until the allocated number is reached. Once these have been assigned, the next candidates in the ranking receive Full Tuition Fee Waivers, and subsequently Half Tuition Fee Waivers, until the planned distribution for each category is achieved or the available budget is fully consumed. Since applicants are not divided into separate lists, the allocation mechanism does not alter the chances of eligible women or RIS applicants, who benefit from both their merit position and the applicable priority rules in case of tie.

Scholarships are awarded on a rolling basis, continuing until either the available budget is fully consumed or the maximum planned number of scholarship recipients for the recruitment cycle is reached, whichever occurs first. 

The total number of scholarships ultimately awarded may be lower or higher than the indicative cap indicated below, depending on several factors, including the cost-of-living coefficients of the host universities, the tuition fee waivers assigned (excellence, full-waiver, or half-waiver), and the remaining available budget at the time of allocation. 

If a selected applicant declines the scholarship offer or withdraws, the opportunity is offered to the next eligible candidate on the reserve list, following the same ranking and distribution principles. This ensures that all available funds are used efficiently to support the most deserving candidates across the participating institutions. 

Indicative cap: With this call ARISE will make available 40 scholarships (including excellence, full waiver and half-waiver) to be distributed among the two Master’s programmes, following the above principles.

Indicative split: with this call, ARISE aims to split the scholarships across the three categories as follows:

·       Scholarships of Excellence: ~ 8

·       Full Tuition Fee Waivers: ~ 24

·       Half Tuition Fee Waivers: ~ 8

[i] Future success is predicted on the basis of past performance during latest studies.

Application information: https://28digital.eu/eu-collaborations/arise

The application process can be started here: https://academy.eitdigital.eu/

Information on Master programme fees: https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/admissions/fees

Required documents for application: https://masterschool.eitdigital.eu/admissions/required-documents

Web link for further information: https://www.eitdigital.eu/eu-collaborations/emai4eu

Email address for further information: [email protected]