Specialised education programmes or modules in key capacity areas

1.Summary and purpose of the call

The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – Barcelona TECH (hereinafter “UPC”) is soliciting applications for scholarships grants (hereinafter “scholarships”) to support students of the master's degree program “Artificial Intelligence for Connected Industries” (hereinafter “AI4CI Master”) taught at UPC Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering (hereinafter “EETAC”) in Castelldefels, Spain

The UPC- AI4CI scholarships is granted by the “Artificial Intelligence for Connected Industries” (hereinafter “AI4CI project”). The AI4CI project is co-funded by the European Union within the under the Grant Agreement No. 101123524 funded under the topic DIGITAL-2022-SKILLS-03-SPECIALISED-EDU - Specialised education programmes or modules in key capacity areas.

The maximum funding available under this call is €167,500 and may be awarded until the available budget is fully exhausted, provided that this occurs within the overall implementation period of the AI4CI project.

The indicative total number of scholarships to be awarded is approximately 49 ranging from 2,000 EUR to 4,500 EUR.

The aim of the scholarships is that recipients benefit from AI4CI project's high-quality education in digital areas and to promote equality and excellence in the field of computer science and AI, as well as to increase the accessibility of master's studies developing advanced digital skills and promote the growth of higher-level skills, equality and diversity in computer science.

Converging towards gender equality in ICT fields in EU and the socioeconomic status of the applicant are factors that will be taken into account in the selection process but everyone is welcome to apply regardless their gender and/or socioeconomic situation

This call covers the cohorts 2025-2027 and 2026-2028.

2.    Characteristics of support

The scholarship will be awarded to persons (hereinafter referred to as applicants) who are citizens of the European Union, listed EEA countries or of countries associated to Digital Europe Programme and who are currently studying in the AI4CI project master's degree program “AI4CI Master” at “EETAC” in Castelldefels, Spain; as well as those students who have already been pre-admitted to the “AI4CI Master” (2026-2027) and are expected to complete their enrolment in the coming weeks and those who will be admitted to the “AI4CI Master” for the course 2027-2028.

This call offers 4 different support modalities, as described below. Applicants may apply for a combination of different support modalities. However, regardless of the combination of modalities requested, the maximum aggregate scholarship amount that may be awarded to any eligible student is 4.500€.

The maximum amount specified for each modality applies only to that specific modality. Therefore, while different modalities may be combined, the total scholarship amount awarded to any individual student shall not exceed 4.500€. Consequently, no student may receive the maximum amount available under all four modalities simultaneously.

_{2.1 Reimbursement of tuition fees}

Reimbursement of tuition fees includes:                         

1. The enrollment tuition costs for the full master's program which must be paid before the end of the project.
2. Administrative and support fees.
3. The cost of issuance of the official title (if paid before the end of the project)

Each EU beneficiary can be reimbursed up to a maximum of 3.400€. Supporting documentation for the costs incurred will be required.

_{2.2 Contribution to living and transportation expenses}

The scholarship supports living and/or transportation expenses. In particular, it covers a monthly allowance of 100 € for a maximum of 6 months between the resolution of the concession and the end of the project.

Each beneficiary can receive a maximum of 600€. Supporting documentation for the costs incurred will be required towards reimbursement purposes.

2.3 Contribution to expenses for mobility stays related to the master program

The scholarship supports expenses for in person mobility stays not covered by the Erasmus+ Program related to the AI4CI master program. They must be incurred while the student is enrolled in the program and before the end of the project.

In particular, it supports living, transportation and accommodation expenses related to study collaboration visit to another institution, academic stay at another institution for the master thesis or attendance to courses taught at another university within the framework of the master program.

Each beneficiary can receive a maximum of 500€. Supporting documentation for the costs incurred will be required towards reimbursement purposes.

2.4 Other study-related expenses

The scholarship supports expenses for the purchase of hardware and/or software necessary to study; for the acquisition of additional training or information sources, improvement of the necessary competencies and for other study-related expenses. The maximum amount for this modality is up to 1.100€.

3.    Requirements for applicants

1.  Candidates must have been already admitted to the AI4CI master at UPC EETAC or applied to be admitted for the academic year. This means that to be considered for the scholarship, applicants must apply concurrently to the master's program for the cohort 2026-2028 or be already enrolled in the program from the cohort 2025-2027.

2.  Being a full-time degree-seeking student in the AI4CI master's degree program (corresponding to 30 ECTS per semester).

3.  To be an EU citizen or a citizen of one of the listed EEA countries or of one of the countries associated to Digital Europe Programme – provide a copy of the identity document indicating nationality;

4.  For modality 2.2, having monthly rental expenses of at least 200€ or living at a distance of UPC Castelldefels of at least 20 km.

5.For modality 2. 3, the expenses have to be related to the AI4CI master program.

6.  For modality 2.4 a justification letter together with the corresponding quotation(s) dated within the previous 15 days to the application and final related invoices and proof of payments.

4.    Applications

Applications may be submitted according to the following cut-off dates, provided that the maximum available budget has not been exhausted:

1. 8^th September 2026 (23:59h Brussels time).
2. 5^th February 2027 (23:59h Brussels time).
3. 5^th July 2027 (23:59h Brussels time).

The application must be submitted through the UPC Electronic Office filling in the UPC-AI4CI scholarships form. The link is as follows: https://seuelectronica.upc.edu/.

The following documentation has to be attached to the application form:

1. Cover letter stating the following: presentation of the candidate detailing their academic merits, the motivation and plans, how the received scholarship will be used, how it will contribute to the student’s upskilling in advanced digital skills, and the description of their socioeconomic situation (personal, social, economic, work, etc.) that may be relevant to obtaining the scholarship (mandatory for all modalities);
2. Documentary evidence of the situations described in the previous point (mandatory for all modalities);
3. A copy of the identity document showing the date of birth and nationality of the applicant (mandatory for all modalities);
4. For modality 2.2 also provide documentary evidence of meeting the rental or distance requirements established in point 3.4.
5. For modality 2.3 also provide information about the mobility stay, letter explaining the purpose and relationship with the master program and budget.
6. For modality 2.4 also provide information about the hardware or software purpose of study plus a quotation dated within the previous 15 days to the application and the corresponding invoices and proof of payments. The same will apply with regard to the acquisition of additional or information sources towards the improvement of the necessary competencies or other study-related expenses not covered by modalities 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3.

5.     Selection criteria

The selection committee (please refer to clause 7) will evaluate the applications taking into account the academic merit of the candidate as well as the gender and socioeconomic disparities in engineering and computer science.

For modality 2.3, the relationship of the expenses with the AI4CI master program will be checked.

In particular, per each modality, a formula of 8 points based on academic merit and 2 points for gender and socioeconomic situation (1 point if female and 1 point if last year annual income has been less than 21.000€ per year) for a total of 10 points will be assigned to each candidate based on the information candidates provide to the committee. Both the master's program application documents and the additional documentation provided for this scholarship application will be taken into account.

Applications that fulfill the eligibility criteria but are not awarded because of budget limitations will be included in a reserve list (one per each modality). In case one of the awarded candidates can’t accept or refuses the scholarship or loses the financial support, the first candidate in the corresponding reserve list will be automatically re-considered for assessment.

6.    Resolution

Applications for modalities 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 will be continuously assessed.

Within 5 working days after the reception of applications, the selection committee assesses the received applications, their suitability, award points according to the criteria set out in clause 5 and thus rank the applicants. The selection committee selects the best-ranked applicants, but only those who fully meet the Scholarship requirements described in this call.

Scholarship resolutions related to this call will be published through UPC’s Electronic Notice Board (https://seuelectronica.upc.edu/ca/etauler/e-tauler), “e-Tauler”. and will be communicated to all candidates by the selection committee by e-mail on the same day the resolutions are published. All information about awarded scholarships will be published at the UPC-AI4CI Scholarship website.

7.    Payment conditions

Payments related to each modality will be done according to the following schedule, namely:

1. Awarded students coming from the cohort 2025-2027:

1. 1st Instalment: 30^th September 2026.
2. 2^nd Instalment: 29^th February 2027.
3. 2^nd Instalment: 30^th July 2027.

2. Awarded students coming from the cohort 2026-2028:

1. 1^st Instalment: 29^th February 2027.
2. 2^nd Instalment: 30^th July 2027. 

8.    Selection committee

The selection committee will be integrated by the members of the Master’s Committee of the AI4CI master program, which currently are:

1. Prof. Cristina Cervelló-Pastor.
2. Prof. David Rincón Rivera.
3. Prof. Carles Gómez Montenegro.

9.    Obligations for applicants

Students who have received Scholarships, within 5 working days upon notification, must present to the selection committee the following documents:

a.      A signed scholarship award agreement, which also specifies the consent to the processing of the student's personal data, for scholarship management and marketing purposes and a series of legal obligations that apply to students receiving the support such as respect of ethics, record-keeping, etc.

b.      Provide the bank details necessary for the transfer of the scholarship.

c. Provide a written declaration, justifying the absence of EU double funding in forms of scholarships.

d.      Document demonstrating that the applicant has successfully completed a minimum of 22.5 ECTS per semester (~75 %).

10. Right of appeal

Students have the right to appeal about the results of the assessment, presenting aspects that they consider inappropriate in their assessment, factual errors in the assessment of the data provided. In the case of an appeal, the following procedure shall apply:

·Appeals are accepted by the study programme committee within 10 working days from the date of notification of the results of the assessment;

1. The appeal must be submitted in writing, indicating the specific places where the student's score was improperly assessed;
2. The study program committee must evaluate the appeal within 14 working days and inform the applicant about its results;
3. If the inaccuracies indicated in the appeal are confirmed, they must be corrected and, accordingly, the order of award of the scholarship is updated.

In the event of a refusal of the scholarship, disagreement with the conditions or failure to provide the necessary data in a timely manner, the applicant is not included in the list of scholarship recipients, and for the occupation of this scholarship, the next priority applicant who is on the reserve list is contacted.

11.  Incompatibilities

This scholarship is incompatible with any other scholarship, grant, or financial support covering the same eligible expenses in order to avoid multiple funding for the same purposes.

12. Payment arrangements

Funds will be disbursed directly to the scholarship recipients upon verification that all eligibility conditions have been met. Recipients of scholarship financial support for all modalities will provide the eligible expenses actually incurred and presented (corresponding invoices and/or tickets and their corresponding proofs of payment) after the completion of each semester.

For modality 2.1, scholarships will cover the tuition fees of any semester’s courses until the end of the project as described above.

For modality 2.2, scholarships will cover the allocated monthly amount corresponding to the number of months in which the student is enrolled to the program between the awarding of the scholarship and the end of the project.

For modalities 2.3, scholarships will cover the actual expenses incurred up to the established maximum.

In case of non-continuation of the Master Program by the recipient no further support will be given. Supporting documentation for the incurred costs will be required. Costs will be eligible if declared eligible in the agreement and if they fulfill the general eligibility conditions established for the EU Funding Programmes 2021-2027.

13. Data protection

Applicant’s personal data will be processed by the EETAC of UPC, as data controller, will process your personal data in accordance with the provisions of General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR), and Organic Law 3/2018 of 5 December on the protection of personal data and guarantee of digital rights.

The personal data processing activity being carried out is “F01.6 Management of scholarships and study grants”, for the purpose of managing this call, as well as any actions derived from it. The legal basis for processing is the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6.1.e of the GDPR) and compliance with legal obligations (Article 6.1.c of the GDPR).

In compliance with the principles of publicity and transparency, and in accordance with the aforementioned regulations and administrative procedure legislation, applicants are informed that the identifying data of candidate (both beneficiaries and those on the waiting list) may be published on the website of the call, on the UPC Transparent portal, and UPC’s Electronic Notice Board (e-Tauler), in accordance with the provisions of Section 6.

The personal data provided will be retained for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose for which they were collected, to determine any potential liabilities that may arise, and in accordance with archive and document regulations. Notwithstanding the foregoing, personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes, or statistical purposes, subject to the implementation of the appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.

Data subjects may exercise their rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, or objection to the processing of their data, under the terms provided by current legislation, through the Electronic Office (https://seuelectronica.upc.edu/ca/tots-els-tramits/Exercici_drets_relatius_proteccio_dades_personals) or by writing to the data controller at the postal address c/Jordi Girona, 31 – 08034 Barcelona. If they consider that their rights have not been properly addressed, they may notify the UPC Data Protection Officer (DPO) at the postal address Plaça Eusebi Güell, 6, Vèrtex building – 08034 Barcelona, or via the following email address: [email protected]. They may also lodge a complaint with the Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT) through its website.

In compliance with current regulations, the UPC guarantees that it has adopted the technical and organizational measures necessary to maintain the required level of security, taking into account the nature of the personal data processed.

14. Ethical principles and rules of conduct

In accordance with the provisions of Article 55.2 of Law 19/2014, of December 29, on transparency, access to public information, and good governance, the beneficiaries must align their actions with the UPC Code of Ethics and Good Practices, approved by the Governing Council through Agreement CG/2022/02 of February 22, 2022.

15. Acceptance of the terms and conditions and disclaimer of liability

Participation in this call implies full acceptance of these terms and conditions and the provisions set forth herein. UPC EETAC reserves the right to extend or modify these terms and conditions, and even to cancel or render it void, provided there is a justified cause. Any modifications to the terms and conditions will become effective the day following their publication.

UPC EETAC shall be exempt from any obligation or compensation to the candidates if, due to force majeure, legal mandates, or other criteria of the organization, the call has to be cancelled or suspended.

UPC EETAC shall not be held liable for internet errors or the malfunction of the server where the application form is hosted. The organization reserves the right to exclude from the all any candidate who commits fraud, disrupts the proper and normal course of the call according to the regulations.

1.     Further information

Regarding questions, related to the call and AI4CI Master programme at UPC, the main contact is Prof. Cristina Cervelló: [email protected].

2. Disclaimer

This call (as well as the financial support that will be provided through it) is NOT an EU action. This call is launched solely by UPC. The financial support to the selected successful applicants will be provided directly by UPC in its own name and under its own responsibility. UPC’s own responsibility includes the preparation and drafting of this call as well as the selection of successful applicants that will receive the said financial support. The publication of this call in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal is made solely for information purposes with the aim to increase the visibility of this call to the general public, including to potential applicants (i.e., students). The said publication shall not be construed as direct or indirect approval of the content and conditions of this call by the relevant EU authorities or as any form of waiver from the above-described responsibility of UPC.