This is the third part in a series of FAQs regarding Erasmus Mundus IMIM (International Master in Industrial Management) programme. In this part, I will cover the questions related to pre-departure phase. If you have decided to join IMIM, this information will be very useful for you. And if you haven’t already, please click here to read the first part, and click here to read the second part.

Q. When should I leave India? How many days ahead of the commencement should I reach Madrid?
A. This depends entirely on you. Even just a day before commencement is fine in theory. But it is better to arrive around a week before start of programme so that you get enough time to acclimate, meet with your classmates, and find accommodation (if you haven’t done that before leaving India) etc. If you are a working professional and thinking about resignation date, I would say working till August 31 is definitely possible. The only drawback is that it will be slightly difficult to complete formalities such as Apostille process along with job, and also shopping and packing will have to be well managed. But there are other Indian students before you who have successfully managed this so no need to worry if you need to work till end of August.

Q. Can you provide information about finding accommodation in Madrid?
A. There are two ways to find accommodation. Either via an agency or on your own. For the first, Aluni is a good option. UPM probably has already suggested you that. It is a bit more expensive than finding an apartment on your own, but unless you know someone in Madrid or you speak Spanish well, or are ready to arrive in Madrid without an accommodation and start searching upon arrival, it is not easy to find one on your own. So I would suggest you Aluni as a safe option. When I say safe, I would like to also point out that couple of people in my class did not have a good experience with this agency, but overall the impression has been positive.

Regarding which area is preferable to live, of course areas around centre are better but are also more expensive. Luckily Madrid has amazing public transport so it does not really matter where you stay as long as it is not too far from the university. The monthly transport pass was around 55€ in 2013. But just to be safe, I would suggest you to stick to say 3 km radius from university. Otherwise you have to wake up earlier to travel longer distance to get to university, it takes longer to get back home after any events/parties etc.

Note: Beware of frauds happening related to renting a place. DO NOT transfer money to some individual’s bank account unless you are absolutely sure about his or her authenticity. There have been a lot of cases of people pretending to have a room to rent and then vanishing with deposit money.

Q. How much should I expect to pay for a room in Madrid?
A. A private room in a shared apartment can be found for around 300€ a month, but normally close to 400€ including utilities and internet etc. A double room (room shared with one other person) will be (or rather should be) cheaper. To give you an example, I rented a room via Aluni, close to Cuatro Caminos metro station. The rent was 380€ a month, and utilities were around 40-50€ a month (variable, depending on actual usage). So in the end I was paying on average 425€ a month for my room, in a 3-bedroom apartment.

Q. Should I take a double room to reduce expenses?
A. It totally depends on you. If it is really cheaper than private room alternatives, then it sounds like a good idea. Also if you know the person you will be sharing your room with, then it is easy decision. But otherwise remember that different people have different habits and sometimes it may not be easy to get along, or you may not have enough privacy.

Q. Is it good idea to live with Indians or to live with people from different countries?
A. Depends on what you are looking to gain from this experience. I would say it is better to live with people from other countries. This way you get to learn about new cultures, and make friends from other countries. And your non-Indian flatmates will probably introduce you to their friends, who might be from multiple different countries. Compared to this if you stick to Indian friends and have already formed a nice group, you are now in your comfort zone and there will be less incentive to make friends from other nationalities.

Q. Can you suggest things to buy and carry from India?
A. You can buy literally everything in Madrid. So try not to carry too much stuff. The only things that are considerably expensive are shoes. So make sure you carry few pairs with you. Winter in Madrid is not that bad, and it rarely snows. So depending on your sensitivity to cold, carry winter clothes with you. Do not worry too much what to wear in second winter because by then you will know where to buy appropriate jacket from winter/summer sales in Europe.

Although it may seem that you are saving a lot by buying everything from India, keep in mind the cost of carrying all that stuff around for two years. Let me give you an example. In Madrid you can go from the airport to city centre for 5-7€ with metro. But this will not be possible if you are carrying two big bags, and a small hand luggage, and a laptop bag etc. So you will probably take a taxi. Now this taxi will cost you 30€. When you move to Milan, again you will have to pay 30€ to get to airport, pay extra 50-100€ for luggage along with your flight ticket, and take similar taxi in Milan. So just within the first year you will end up spending more than 100€ carrying this stuff around, and you still have to move at least one more time. Not to mention the time spent packing and unpacking it every time. Now to make it all worth, you should be carrying things that cost at least few hundred Euros. But if all you are carrying is Indian food, cooking utensils, and some such similar things that can be purchased in Europe within 100€, it does not make sense to go through all that trouble. So keep this in mind when you are shopping, and packing your bags in India.

Tip: In some apartments in Europe you will find gas stove, while in others there will be electric/induction stove. So if you are planning to carry utensils (such as a pressure cooker) from India, make sure you carry the ones that work on both type of stoves.

Q. Is there any discount for students on flight tickets?
A. As far as I remember, there was a student offer on Jet Airways and British Airways of one extra piece of luggage. So normally for European routes they offer one piece of 23 kg bag. But as a student you could carry another 23 kg bag. I chose Jet Airways because I got a cheaper ticket with them.

Note: You may have heard of your friends going to USA carrying 3 pieces of luggage as a student. But that is because (as far as I know) on USA routes it is normally allowed to carry two pieces of 23 kg. So the “student offer” of one extra piece of luggage is the same in both cases.

Tip: Avoid flights with two stops even if they are cheaper. It is just too much headache. Stick to one stop tickets and if you are able to get a direct flight, of course that will be perfect!

Q. So I can carry one extra piece of luggage till Madrid, but how does it work for moving to other cities every semester? Are there similar discounts for students in Europe?
A. As far as I know, there are no such discounts that are actually cheap. I remember a Brussels Airlines student offer of 199€ or something similar when I was searching for tickets from Madrid to Milan. But luckily in Europe there are so many low cost airlines that you do not have to worry about this if you plan your trips well. For traveling from Madrid to Milan, I would suggest easyjet because of their cheaper rates for luggage. If you book the ticket well in advance, you can travel within 100€ with even 3 pieces of luggage.

Tip: Buy the ticket to Milan couple of months in advance. You will be able to get the approximate semester end date from coordinators by that time. And then you can add luggage to your ticket till a day before flight so you do not have to invest the whole amount at once and have a lot of flexibility.

Q. Which bank is better for opening account in Spain: Santander or Barclays, or some other?
A. I have an account in Santander Bank. So I can give you first-hand experience regarding this. I am very satisfied with the service so far. The bank officials were always helpful, their helpline also was always helpful and had option of English, they have lot of ATMs in Madrid, and very good internet banking facilities. As a result I am still using the account even though I have already graduated and left Madrid long back. In fact their exchange rates for non-Euro currencies in Europe are so good that I was using the debit card for transactions during my trips to Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

I do not have any experience with Barclays except visiting their office in Madrid once to inquire about opening a bank account. That experience was as good as my visits to Santander office. So I am assuming the overall experience would be similar to Santander. Apart from these two I have no idea about other banks in Spain but you do not need to look further anyway.

Tip: In Milan, the International Student Office of Polimi may suggest you to open a bank account in Banca Popolare di Sondrio. But from my personal experience, I was not satisfied with the customer service and they had very few ATMs in the city and in Italy in general. So overall I would suggest to check other options.

Q. How did you carry money for initial expenses in Spain?
A. Due to scholarship I did not have to transfer much money so I am not the right person to ask this question. But for my first month’s expenses, I carried with me Axis bank’s EURO card. I transferred money in Rupees to Axis bank and received Euros in my card based on the exchange rate of day of transfer. Using card for transactions (swiping) was free but withdrawing cash had some charges, something around 2.5€ flat if I remember correctly. Overall I was quite satisfied with the service of Axis bank although I used it for only 1 month.

Q. Is it easy to manage life in Madrid without Spanish?
A. It is not very easy, but you can manage. Many people working in shops or restaurants will not speak English at all or will have very basic knowledge of English. So in such cases you will face problem in communication. But luckily most Spanish people are very nice and friendly so it is possible to manage with hand gestures and minimum talk. But I would encourage you to learn basic Spanish before/during the semester because that makes it easier to mix with locals and have better experience. Also later when you travel to different places in Europe, you can use your knowledge of Spanish to interact with new people you will meet from Spanish speaking countries.

Q. How does the first semester look like? How should I prepare for it?
A. First semester is relatively hectic due to a lot assignments and group work, some of which will start maybe even from day one. So be prepared to start working from first week itself. Of course you will still have time to attend parties and travel on weekends if you wish to do so, but you will have to manage your time well.

Tip: If you are looking for a part-time job, I would suggest not doing it for first couple of months since it takes time to adjust to new environment. And anyway it is not easy to find a part-time job in Spain unless you speak Spanish well.

Q. Any tips to cut down expenditure? And where can I buy Indian food?
A. The cheapest supermarkets in Madrid are: Mercadona, Dia, Lidl, and Ahorramás. Carrefour will be a bit more expensive. For mobile sim-card, Tuenti and Yoigo are supposed to be good cheap options. I was personally using Tuenti and was happy with their service and rates. Indian food can be found in Lavapies (near metro station), along with Indian restaurants.

Important Suggestion: If you want to work in Europe after finishing IMIM, I cannot stress enough how important knowing at least one European language is. So when you start your first semester (preferably even before that), pick one language that you think will lead you to the kind of job you wish to have, and start learning it seriously. So that by third semester you will be at least at B1, preferably B2/C1, level. And that will help you with search of internship, and subsequently with full-time job.

Good luck!

The post Erasmus Mundus IMIM: Pre-departure FAQs appeared first on Rohit Karmarkar.

This is the second part in a series of FAQs regarding Erasmus Mundus IMIM (International Master in Industrial Management) programme. In this part, I will cover the information relevant to Spanish student visa application such as Apostille on degree certificate, and also Declaration of Value (DoV) required for Italian student visa application. If you have decided to join IMIM, this information will be very useful for you. And if you haven’t already, please click here to read the first part.

Q. How is the student visa process for Spain? How long does it take to get the visa?
A. The actual visa processing (from the day of your interview till you get visa in hand) takes about two to three weeks. But before you apply for the visa, you need to have certain documents ready with you, and that may take a few weeks. The most important and time consuming steps are: Apostille on degree certificate, and Declaration of Value (DoV) for Polimi enrollment and Italian visa. Apostille process will take around two weeks, and you cannot start DoV process until that. But since DoV is not connected with Spanish visa, you can apply for Spanish visa as soon as you have Apostille ready. Still as you can see, Apostille + actual visa processing in total take 4-6 weeks to finish. And sometimes depending on the volume of applications, visa appointment given to you by Spanish consulate might be 1-2 weeks from the day you apply.

Q. When is the best time to start visa process?
A. The orientation in Madrid is normally in second week of September. So assuming you need to have visa ready before beginning of September, and 1.5 months for the whole visa process (including Apostille), you should begin the Apostille process latest by mid-July, preferably in mid-June to have sufficient buffer period.

Q. Can you give me information about the documents required for visa application?
A. You can easily find the latest information on the Spanish embassy/consulate website. So I would suggest you to refer that.

Q. What is this Apostille?
A. Apostille is essentially a long process for getting your degree certificate (and consolidated transcripts in some cases) verified from Ministry of External Affairs according to Apostille Convention. Such documents with Apostille (basically a stamp) are considered internationally recognized as valid documents for legal purpose in more than 100 countries part of this treaty (which thankfully includes the whole European Union). The process basically involves 3 parts: first at the university level, then at the state level, and then national level. It depends on your scenario whether you need to do all 3 steps or not. Refer this for more information. The whole process, if you do it on your own, takes about 2-3 weeks, and travel to different cities, depending on where you live and where the state/national government offices are.

I will now explain the process I followed (Note that some parts may differ in your case). After receiving authentication on my degree certificate from Pune University, which was step 1, I went to regional Mantralaya office in Mumbai. Once I got the sign from Education department and Home department (if I am remembering it correctly) I was able to send my original degree certificate to Ministry of External Affairs, Delhi. Getting those signatures took more than one trip to Mumbai due to the whims of our beloved Government officers. Fortunately I did not have to go to Delhi in person to do the third step. I gave it to VFS, one of the designated third-parties, and paid some ₹500-600 and they got it done on my behalf and mailed the degree certificate with Apostille stamp to my home address within a week. I did not have to do the process for consolidated transcripts (marksheets), but I know some other Indians in later editions of IMIM who had to do it. So check the required documents in your case and follow the process accordingly.

If you take help of some agent, he/she will charge you anywhere between ₹2000-5000 for this whole process. In some cases, the money and time you will end up spending by doing everything on your own might be more than what the agent would ask for. But at the same time it can be a bit risky to hand over your degree certificate to a stranger and then have to apply for a duplicate copy if he/she loses the original.

Tip: If you have received admission and have decided to join the programme, you can start this process even in May/June. That way you can finish this part without any tension or hurry.

Q. What is Declaration of Value? And why do I need it?
A. Declaration of Value is a piece of Italian bureaucracy that you need to have in order to enrol in second semester at Politecnico di Milano, and of course to apply for Italian visa (from Madrid towards the end of first semester). Once you have your degree certificate with Apostille ready, you should get it translated into Italian from one of the authorized translators (Italian Consulate has the details of that, check their website or ask them) and then along with DoV form, submit the degree certificate and translation at the Italian consulate and they will give you DoV in few days. The translation cost me ₹1000 for my degree certificate in 2013. So expect somewhere around ₹1000-1500 per page.

Tip: If you have to travel to another city for visa process, you can combine the second trip to Spanish consulate (to collect your visa) with submitting DoV application in Italian consulate. And since the Italian consulate provides the option of sending your DoV by mail to your home address, this way you will not have to make multiple unnecessary trips.

Q. Do I need Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) or medical certificate for Spanish student visa?
A. I did not have to do it and the other Indians enrolled in IMIM that I have talked to did not have to do it. So most probably you too will not have to do it. But since I am not 100% sure about this as the rules may have changed recently, I suggest you to confirm it with Spanish consulate just to be safe.

Q. For your visa purpose, did you show the accommodation proof provided by the university or the actual accommodation that you found?
A. I used the accommodation proof provided by the university.

Q. Do you have any idea on how much money they are asking as financial proof for issuing Spanish visa?
A. I am not aware of exact amount, and you can refer the embassy website for details. But to give you a rough idea, the amount will be around 700€ a month, or around 4200€ for the six month visa.

Q. What did the visa officer ask you during the interview?
A. You do not have to worry about this part. Interviewer asked me basic questions such as: why am I going there? What will I study? When does the program start? What is the duration of the program? etc.

To read third part of this series, covering pre-departure FAQs, click here.

Good luck!

The post Erasmus Mundus IMIM: Spanish visa, Apostille, and Declaration of Value appeared first on Rohit Karmarkar.

In the past two years, I have received a number of questions regarding Erasmus Mundus IMIM (International Master in Industrial Management) programme. And with every passing year, the interest among Indian students is only increasing. So I have decided to collate all the questions I have received so far and make my own version of IMIM FAQs (you can find the official FAQs here). Although some answers are specific to Indian applicants, the information is useful to anyone who is interested in IMIM.

Note: If you have any question(s) apart from the ones already discussed here, feel free to post a comment below.

Programme

Q. Is the programme well known in Europe?
A. Not really. Even Erasmus Mundus (or Erasmus+ now) is not as famous as it should be. I am not sure if it’s the lack of marketing budget or poor marketing efforts, but not enough people know about this even within EU. And that is surprising considering the unique features of the programme, and of Erasmus Mundus in general. But things are improving and with each passing year, IMIM brand is getting bigger. And if you decide to join this programme, in job interviews you can differentiate yourself with points such as experience of living and studying in different countries, studying in an extremely diverse, multi-cultural environment etc.

Q. Is it worth to invest ₹20 Lacs and join this programme?
A. It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking at it as a life experience, this is as good as it can get. You will get to study in 3 different universities, live in 3 different cities (and countries) with people from all around the world. And on top of that, option of traveling to 25+ countries due to Schengen visa and the flexibility it offers. And if you get a full/partial scholarship, the decision becomes easier. But if unfortunately you are not able to get any scholarship and spending ₹20 Lacs is a huge burden on you and your family, then I would say it is risky. Because as explained in other answers, getting a job in EU depends on many factors. So if you have to return to India, are you comfortable with repaying the loan with a job in India? You need to think about this worst case scenario and then decide based on your risk appetite. On the other hand if money is not an issue, I would suggest you to go for it!

Q. How easy is it to do the third semester at TU Munich?
A. This option was not available in my class (IMIM 10th edition). So I cannot answer the question. Please contact IMIM for clarification.

Q. What is the typical class strength of IMIM?
A. I can only comment on my class size. There were 32 people in my class from 21 different countries.

Q. Is it possible to find part time jobs or university assistantships during the studies?
A. Due to the relatively high unemployment rates in Spain and Italy, finding a part time job is not easy, especially if you do not speak the local language. So the chances are higher if you find a job where knowledge of English is enough. But it is not easy to find such jobs. And there were no assistantships during my time, although the IMIM website now mentions this option. So you can contact them for further information. But beyond that, assume you are going to pay for all expenses on your own, and consider it as a bonus if you find a part-time job.

Expenses

Total expenses can be divided into two broad categories –

Monthly living expenses

Rent: expect to pay on average 450€ a month including utilities, internet etc. (in Madrid, Milan, Edinburgh, and Munich). Of course there is a possibility that you may find a cheaper room, but while estimating expenses it is better to use average values instead of best case scenario. Still to give you an idea, it is possible to find a private room starting at around 350€ a month (including all expenses) and shared room from around 250€.

Food: depending on your lifestyle i.e. vegetarian or not, cooking every day at home or eating out often etc., expect to spend between 100-300€. So let us consider 150€ as average, assuming you will cook at home on most days. A meal in a basic restaurant will be between 8-15€.

Local transport: if you opt for a monthly travel pass, expect to spend between 35-60€ per month depending on the city. Other option is to buy a second hand bike for 50-100€. At the end of the semester you can sell it for more or less the same price depending on the condition of bike. So in terms of money, it is a much cheaper option. But consider factors such as distance from university, weather etc. that may make it difficult to use bike for extended periods. So to be safe, let us add travel pass into your monthly expenses, with average amount of 50€.

Misc. expenses: there is really no limit for this category, but let us assume that you will keep it at 50€ per month on average.

So the total is: 450 + 150 + 50 + 50 = 700€ a month. Now on some months I have lived on even 500€ and it is possible to live on such amount for many months depending on the variables explained earlier. But when you are estimating expenses it is always better to consider normal or worst case scenario. Hence I would prefer to use 700€ as the average amount, though you may end up spending less.

The programme lasts for 22 months. So 700 * 22 = 15,400€

Misc. expenses
This includes visa cost, moving from one country to another at the end of each semester etc. I would say it will be between 1000-2000€ for the whole 2 year period, again depending on the situation i.e. flight tickets, amount of luggage etc. So let us consider 1500€ to be safe.

So the total cost of programme will be somewhere around 15,400 + 1500 = 17,000€ + tuition

This calculation does not include the cost of traveling to India during vacations if you plan to do that. So add around 700€ for each trip. Again, it is possible to find a return ticket for as low as 500€ if you are lucky. But from my experience, 700€ is a good average price.

Important suggestion: While estimating the expenses in INR, assume fluctuation of 10% in exchange rate and adjust your final number accordingly on the higher side. During my two years of this Master’s, I saw INR fluctuate against Euro in the range of 65 to 85, which is 30% change. But of course since you will pay tuition fee every semester, you may not see such steep change in exchange rate. But it is important to be mentally prepared for such a situation because even 10% change will be equivalent to adding 1700€ more to our calculation above.

Scholarship

Q. Can I email the university requesting for further scholarships? Does it work that way?
A. I am not sure if it works that way because I did not try this approach. If you are talking about the Erasmus Mundus scholarship, then you do not need to do anything after you submit your main application. You will receive the notification sometime in March, or at least that is how it happened in my case. If you are talking about other partial scholarship opportunities, you can try to contact IMIM. The coordinating staff is very helpful. But remember that they receive a lot of emails and are busy with other responsibilities as well. So do not bombard them with emails. Wait for at least couple of days if you do not get any reply.

Q. I have X years of experience, have studied Y, have done Z… can you let me know my chances of getting Erasmus Mundus scholarship?
A. Unfortunately, I am not on the admissions committee of IMIM so I do not know the criteria they use for selection. So I cannot comment on this. But to give you some idea, most (not all) students in my class with EM scholarship had few years of work experience. And then of course they had good grades etc. And in my strictly personal opinion, having a good GMAT score may help you stand out.

Q. I have X rank in the waiting list of Erasmus Mundus scholarship. What are my chances?
A. In my personal opinion, the probability of someone rejecting this scholarship is very low. So if there are say 5 scholarships and your rank is in 50s or 100+, clearly there is almost zero chance of so many people rejecting the scholarship before you. So unless you are in first 10 of the waiting list, start looking for other means to support your expenses.

Internship / Master Thesis

Q. Will the students receive a stipend during the fourth semester for doing thesis at university or internship in company?
A. It depends. In the university (academic thesis) it will be unpaid unless you find some research work for which professor is ready to pay you. Although this second scenario is theoretically possible, I have not heard of any such case yet. On the other hand if you end up doing an internship in a company, then depending on the company you may or may not get stipend. But of course probability of getting paid is very high. And in many cases the stipend will be enough to cover your monthly expenses.

Q. Without any contacts in Europe how am I supposed to do the Master Thesis in a company? Does the university help me in finding an internship?
A. Universities do help you in finding an internship in the sense they have contacts in many companies or have formed relationships through which they will help you get interviews. But it depends on the company, their requirements, and whether your CV/profile matches with that. If you do not find an internship for thesis, you can do always do an academic thesis in one of the universities. For that you can either suggest a topic of your choice, or select one of the topics provided by the professors.

Q. Where did you do your internship?
A. I chose to do academic thesis with a professor in Politecnico di Milano. Although I enjoyed the experience thoroughly, I would suggest you to go for an internship if you have the choice, unless you are aiming for an academic career. Because an internship is your first step into a company and your performance in those six months may lead to a full-time offer.

Job Opportunities

Q. What are the job prospects after completing IMIM?
A. Obviously it depends on your skills, knowledge of local language, job market situation at that point etc. So I cannot say anything concrete. If you are fluent/good in any major European language, you stand a better chance in those regions where that language is spoken. Especially because (I am assuming) you will be applying for jobs into business/management area that involves frequent interaction with customers/clients. And these people obviously prefer to speak in their own language. On the other hand getting a job in technical area with just English is easier. Please note that this information is not valid for every case, of course there are many exceptions. But this is the general trend. The only big exception is jobs in start-ups, where English alone is suffice in most cases. To summarise, along with work visa, lack of knowledge of local language will be the second most frequent hurdle you will encounter during your job search.

Q. How to find a job after graduation?
A. It depends completely on you. Career services of each university can and will help you to a certain extent (which involves arranging career fairs, sending your CV to companies on your behalf etc.) but beyond that you have to apply on your own and “network” on your own. In some cases you may get an internship opportunity through the university and then you stand a higher chance of converting that into a full-time job because you have six months to show your skills and talent to the company. But do not expect any placement events similar to how it works in India.

Q.  How many international students manage to get a job in Europe?
A. This is hard to answer as I do not have any statistics. But from what I know (and what I researched on LinkedIn during my application) there are many who were able to find a job in EU. But I am not sure how many of them speak the local language well. Because that is a big factor if you are looking for a job profile that involves customer/client interaction, which most roles in management/business area will involve. So unless you find job in a start-up or some such scenario where knowing English language is enough, it is difficult if you do not speak the local language at a minimum B1 level, preferably B2/C1 level.

Q. Which are the companies where students generally get a job? How is the scenario for jobs and internships in XYZ industry?
A. Please check on LinkedIn and/or contact IMIM. I do not have this data.

Q. Will you be able to tell the salary range upon employment in Europe? Especially for people with X years of experience in Y industry?
A. Salary depends a lot on your experience, industry, and country. And then the gross and net salary will vary a lot also depending on the taxes in each country (which generally will range in 40-50%). So it is very difficult to give a number. It is better to check salary ranges on websites such as glassdoor or PayScale.

Q. Have all Indians in your and previous editions of IMIM got a job? Not necessarily in Europe, but found a job after this course?
A. I guess so. I am not in contact with Indians from previous editions so cannot comment on that. But based on LinkedIn profiles, it seems like everyone has received a job after graduation. But I would like to repeat that you should not expect to easily land a job. Especially if you don’t speak the local language at a minimum B1 level. It will be different for each industry and country, and maybe it will be very easy for you to find a job for your specific profile so take this information with a grain of salt. The best advice I can give you is to talk to some people from your industry, and talk to people who are studying/working in EU. That will give you a realistic picture of current scenario.

Q. I am afraid and worried about the ₹20 lakhs (2 million Indian Rupees) loan repayment. I can get a job in EU after Graduation, right?
A. There is no 100% guarantee of that. Of course chances are much higher if you speak a European language at near fluent level. Or chances are higher in countries whose economy is doing well such as Germany. But there is no guarantee because you cannot predict what the economic / political situation will be in two years. Or which visa rules may change. So you have to also think about a plan B before taking the plunge. Of course in life you have to take risks, but you have to also think about your action plan in case things don’t go the way you planned. So talk to your parents, friends, ask for opinion of other people who are studying/working in EU at the moment to get different point of views and then decide what you think is the best.

To read second part of this series, covering Spanish student visa process, click here.

To read third part of this series, covering pre-departure FAQs, click here.

Good luck!

The post Erasmus Mundus IMIM (International Master in Industrial Management) FAQs appeared first on Rohit Karmarkar.