Rhea Bhansali is the prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship recipient, which is given by the European Union Commission, for a dual master’s degree in Hydro Informatics and Water Science Management.
The two-year courses are scattered in four universities in Europe – UPC Spain, Newcastle University in England, Germany BTU and UNS France.
But Bhansali’s joy began his journey to disappointment as his country entered the EU – Spain – not processing a student visa application because India was on the red list faced by members of the European Union.
“Scholarships are a life opportunity for life to study my choice First of the New York University, said.
He returned home to Mumbai last year when the Covid-19 pandemic made everything difficult for Indian students in America.
His class began in September and involved a lot of laboratory work, which made it impossible to start online.
Divya Sinha has also received a scholarship from the EU to study in Spain under the Erasmus Mundus mobility program for cohort 2021-2023, but now it cannot plan its journey due to travel restrictions.
“Because most European universities are preparing to return to direct learning in 2021, we tend to skip registrations to our courses and lose scholarships – which are mostly set to start around August-end and September – without any provisions to suspend them,” he said.
Sinha is a graduate in Pharmacy from the University of Delhi, and will join the University of Barcelona for a Master’s degree in Vaccinology in September 2021.
Although the European Union Board has recommended that “traveling for study purposes” as a free category of travel prohibitions, entry requirements including vaccine regulations and The postponement of visa processing hurts students from India.
“We have been chosen through strict and very competitive procedures, and have invested a lot of time and efforts to secure opportunities, loss is a big blow for future prospects and career,” said Sinha who was worried.
Many beginner researchers who have received jobs and funding at universities throughout Europe also cannot start work because of travel prohibitions, he added.
Some European countries began processing student visas in India in a limited way.
The German Embassy in New Delhi, for example, has begun to accept the application and process several student visas.
Indian students who want to pursue a doctoral study, post doctor or master and have a binding receipt letter, unconditionally from the University of Germany or has been awarded a full scholarship by the official German institution can now apply for German national visa directly providers of global VFS services, so they spend time Wait for an appointment of interviews in the German mission.
The French Embassy also allowed a trip to France for vaccinated Indian students.
“You can travel to France only if you provide proof of a complete vaccination schedule.
Only vaccines authorized by the European Commission or the French National Agency for Medicines and Safety of Health Products (ANSM) are accepted for this purpose,” a spokesman for the Embassy France in New Delhi said.
“The vaccination schedule is deemed to have been completed 28 days after administration of one dose of Janssen vaccine and seven days after administration of the second dose for another vaccine (Pfizer / Comirnaty, Moderna, Astraxeneca / Vaxzevria / Covishield).”