Proposals under this action should detail a European Master programme in HPC that aims to develop a quality-controlled educational master programme for HPC that targets to train future HPC experts according to the needs of the European labour market.

The action will deliver a master programme of pan-European reach for 100+ students per annual intake, equivalent to 120 ECTS and targeting advanced and cutting edge skills required for research and industrial HPC. Four cohorts of students should complete the Master programme during the duration of the project.

Proposals should address the following aspects:

Framework, curriculum, content

• Outline a framework of a European joint master programme including learning outcomes, academic content, teaching and talent development, achieved and sustained among all partners in the consortium. Proposals should explain how the suggested programme will establish excellence including the necessary visibility and reputation in academic and private labour markets, to attract talents and  partners from the public and private sector.
• Propose a general curriculum for a master programme building on the curriculum developed by the pilot project EUMaster4HPC. The curriculum should focus on advanced HPC and contain modules on, for example, the design and engineering of HPC platforms, HPC adoption in industry, expertise in HPC environments and applications using HPC, also including AI and quantum computing with an HPC focus. Generic courses to bring students up to the same level should be covered outside the curriculum in extracurricular activities, e.g., during lecture-free periods.
• Ensure a modular design of the curriculum, with clear identification of scientific disciplines, industrial applications and HPC usage profiles (designer, developer, administrator, user), that facilitate full or partial adoption of the modules into new or existing MSc programmes. Furthermore proposals should explain how the project contributes to the standardisation and certification effort of the EuroHPC Virtual Academy, e.g., the master programme should establish a feedback loop on the design of a modular curriculum in HPC.
• Develop substantial content, teaching materials and online courses to complement on-site courses, which should also be provided to a broader community under an open license using a coherent structure and format to support the adoption by other education programmes. The teaching material and content developed or used within the MSc programme should embrace the micro-credential based “Skill Tree” developed by the EuroHPC Virtual Academy, and contribute the material in the required format to the Academy’s repository.
• Explain how students will be immersed in relevant research and industry activities throughout the curriculum e.g., by using leading and emerging European HPC systems and technology as part of the MSc programme.
• Create a quality assurance strategy and implementation plan to ensure consistent and reliable course delivery, thereby guaranteeing that the master programme upholds high academic standards.

Certification and collaboration

• Describe the details of the awarded master degree, which academic institutions at pan-European level will award it and in what form (e.g. joint or multiple degrees). The consortium should ensure that joint or bilateral collaboration agreements are in place to ensure mobility of the students between the universities. It is expected that the collaboration agreements are signed by the awarding universities, at the latest, at the moment of the signature of the grant agreement. The proposal should outline exactly which mobility paths are envisaged, e. g., a global mobility scheme or mobility within tracks. In addition, letters of commitment of the university administration for the collaboration should be attached to the proposal. This letter should include the intention to waive tuition fees for student participating in the European master programme for HPC.
• The awarding universities should be composed only of universities that can comply with the collaboration requirements (e. g. student mobility, tuition fee waiver, compatible ECTS scheme) and are compatible with the proposed activities and the suggested academic calendar.
• The proposal should suggest a mechanism to include, during the implementation of the activities, additional awarding universities to the pan-European master programme that fulfil the necessary requirements such as an established collaboration agreements and course mapping.

Student mobility

• Set up a scheme to facilitate student mobility between European universities designed as a part of the study programme. Proposals should also explain how mobility will be achieved and will contribute to the academic excellence of the education programme. Due to the European orientation and internationalisation of the master programme, students must study in two different European countries during the master programme. In addition, to ensure a high mobility, students should change university and country in the first year.
• Provide financial support to third parties in the form of mobility grants for the students. The mobility grants should cover the additional costs incurred by moving to another European country and are bound to reallocation of the student. The proposals should reason the amount of mobility funds, by e.g., taking into consideration cost differences between the place of origin and destination.
• Overall, a minimum of €3.000.000 of the requested funds should be allocated to financial support of third parties (students). It is expected that the financial support will be in the order of €5.000 – €15.000 per party and it should include performance-based elements and incentives.

Selection Process and Intake

• Define and publish, with the launch of the first admission process, one common set of eligibility criteria which should be agreed between all awarding universities within the consortium. Further, the consortium must define clear requirements for the qualification of students (not limited to a formal degree). The qualification requirements and admission procedure must ensure that skills of the admitted students are sufficiently coherent that the programme will focus on HPC from the beginning and will not repeat courses on fundamental aspects, such as mathematics, which are covered in BSc programmes. Any efforts to prepare students/harmonise skills should be limited to extracurricular offers.
• Define a transparent, effective, scalable and competitive selection process for the admission of students, addressing the requirements of European stakeholders. A selection committee should jointly agree on the selected students for the master programme. The students should be chosen based on academic excellence by an independent panel of external experts. Universities hosting students are expected to provide the number of available places in advance and respect the preference of the students, geographical balance and results of the assessment of external experts. The process must be agreed in accordance with the funding authority to ensure compliance with the rules regarding financial support to third parties.
• The intake of students from participating universities must be balanced within the consortium The proposal should explain how students from universities outside of the consortium are attracted to the masters programme.
• Outline how a balanced intake of students regarding geographical origin and underrepresented groups will be achieved. In addition, the proposal should ensure that financial benefits provided through the project are only attributed to students that are national of one of the EU Member states, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye or United Kingdom and enjoy full rights as citizens.
• Describe how the students will be allocated within the awarding universities. The students should be grouped in each cohort such that there are at least ten students allocated at the same university.

Industry involvement

• Address the requirements and needs of relevant European industry players (supply and user industry). Expectations and commitment of industry partners, e. g. in mentorship programmes, should be described in detail and the added value clearly identified. The proposal should describe how the requirements of SMEs will be taken into account in the education programme.
• Ensure the connection of the students with related industries. The project should organise together with industry partners within or outside the consortium activities to support a seamless entrance in the private labour market after graduation. The proposal should demonstrate an action plan on related activities using existing links to industry, entrepreneurship centres, business incubators, academic partners and other European initiatives.
• Include industry in the design and execution of courses and the development of cutting edge teaching paradigms of HPC. A lecture or similar activity of at least 3-6 ETCS should be given by industry representatives.
• The programme should provide for the possibility to write the final master thesis with an industry partner or research institution. The consortium should implement appropriate measures to ensure a high quality and comprehensive supervision of the students from academic and industry side (clear work plan, personal supervisor, monitoring and on-site visits by coordinator, feedback loop etc.). The proposal should contain a list of relevant established links and cooperations with industry partners and where external master thesis could be hosted for each beneficiary.

Outreach and dissemination

• Detail a credible dissemination strategy to ensure a high visibility for the target groups, especially students, of the project and its master programme in Europe.
• The proposal should provide a list of specific events and activities that the project plans to attend to reach out to new students, e.g., student fairs, career days etc.
• Promote the programme across Europe and specifically in countries where HPC adoption is low to increase diversity, participation by underrepresented groups and to support a broad geographical coverage of applicants.
• Every consortium partner should state in a commitment letter that they agree to promote the master programme and disseminate it through their own networks and publication offices.
• Include a strategic sustainability plan for a European master programme for HPC that will be part of the portfolios of academic programmes at as many European universities as possible. The JU considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to €10 million and a duration of 6 years would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately.  Only one proposal will be selected.

Financial support to third parties is allowed in this call under the following conditions:

• the calls must be open, published widely and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality
• the outcome of the call must be published on the participants’ websites, including information on the number of received applications, awarded grants, gender and geographical distribution.
• the calls must have a clear European dimension.
• the consortium must set specific objectives, guidelines and acceptance criteria before payment for each supported third-party project and ensure appropriate monitoring, quality checks and reporting with qualitative and quantitative KPIs.
• the consortium must establish fair and transparent assessment criteria for the success of the supported third party projects
• financial support is limited to citizens of an EU Member state, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye or United Kingdom and with their primary place of residence and employment in a EU Member state, Iceland, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye or United Kingdom.