ERASMUS TRAINING PROGRAM image and video processing with a specific emphasis on machine learning and deep learning techniques. The third family is devoted to quantum science and technologies, for which photonics is a core enabling platform. QuanTEEM and QUARMEN offer comprehensive programmes in quantum technologies, covering their current applications and exploiting a wide range of industrial cooperation. They aim at training students in the key concepts and technologies of quantum devices and quantum information, photonic-based technologies being a central part of their programmes. Most of these consortia have been renewed several times, some running over fifteen years( Figure 2), illustrating both the model’ s sustainability and the team’ s accumulated experience. Latest update: three new photonics-related EMJM were selected in 2026, showing that the dynamics accelerates, SMARTLight( Smart Lightwave Technologies for 6G Telecom Systems; United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France), MICROSCOM( Advanced Microscopy with Artificial Intelligence; Spain, Ireland, United Kingdom) and QuanTEEM Plus( France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, as a renewal of QuanTEEM).
STUDENT EXPERIENCE In the 2019 Erasmus Mundus alumni survey, when asked to explain their decision to pursue EMJM studies, students cited principally their academic aspiration, the EMJM scholarship, the opportunity to live and study in various European countries, and the multicultural academic and social environment. EMJM scholarships help to bring together
Figure 3. Life as an EMJM student: laboratory visits, cultural discovery, winter, spring or summer schools, and participation in international conferences.
students from very different social backgrounds, even though, in some countries, access to higher education often requires students to come from a certain level of means. Each cohort is characterized by a large number of nationalities. While changing campuses every semester, students are exposed to different teaching and evaluation methods. They also learn local language skills needed for everyday life. They are mingled in class with local master students, and are members of the local Optica, SPIE and IEEE student chapters. Out-of-class activities are proposed: laboratory and company visits, astronomical observation events, seminars, annual thematic schools and, depending on the programme, conferences. As international students, they are also offered cultural excursions organised at the master, Faculty or University level. They make the most of their Schengen visa by visiting other European countries. EMJM students need to be highly adaptable, as this exciting experience also has its challenges. On top of their demanding studies, while being far from their family, they need to organise their everyday life( immigration procedures, accommodation, healthcare and banking services), and that changes every semester. As a result, the cohorts are very cohesive, with strong moral support between classmates, thereby building a network for their future careers. These proactive students have no trouble finding internships and master’ s theses internationally, making the most of opportunities, both academically and socially. Always planning their next career path, they have a competitive streak yet are just as strong at teamwork. All our alumni agree:“ It was a life-changing experience.” Indeed, these two years of very intensive professional and personal development leave an indelible mark on students: open-mindedness, sociability, intercultural, multinational relations, self-confidence, independence, a deep and broad understanding of photonics, and a wide range of career options.
INDUSTRY INTEGRATION AND EMPLOYABILITY Employability is a defining feature of these programmes. Five of the eight consortia currently collect structured alumni data( EUROPHOTONICS, iPSRS, IMLEX, QUARMEN and QuanTEEM). In all of them, between 90 % and 100 % of graduates are employed or enrolled in a doctoral programme within six months of graduation. The balance between academia and industry varies with the positioning of each consortium: quantum-oriented programmes send up to 88 % of their graduates to doctoral training, whereas imaging- and engineering-oriented ones place up to 80 % directly in companies. Internships follow a comparable pattern. Graduates also tend to stay in Europe: depending on the programme, 55 % to 100 % of alumni currently work in the European Union, a direct return on the European investment in these scholarships( Figure 4). Together, the consortia that report figures have already trained 463 graduates. They join large industrial groups,
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