FAQs UNEP/UNESCO/BMUKN courses

Successful participants must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Age between 25 and 45 years
• First university degree related to environment and/or course main focus
  (equivalent to Bachelor)
• Origin and current employment in a developing or emerging country,
  Meaning countries listed in the currently valid version of the OECD's DAC List of ODA Recipients.
• Ability to communicate actively and efficiently in English
  (at least reference level B2 according to the CEFR).
• Environment-related professional background
  with at least three years of work experience in a course related field.
• Provable future professional engagement in fields of sustainable environmental management and development
• Employing institution must endorse the application and release the candidate from his/her professional obligations for the duration of the course.
  Courses are full-time and attendance of lectures and excursions is compulsory. It is not possible to pursue regular employment at the same time

The application periods are different for each course and are announced at the beginning of each year on our homepage and also on our Facebook page. You can find our upcoming courses, their periods and application deadlines here.

You can apply online on our application portal as soon as the application phase for the particular course has started. After registering with a valid email address, you can log in and start the application process. The application periods and the link to the application portal can be found in the respective course description of the upcoming courses, they are also announced at the beginning of each year on our homepage and our Facebook page.

Further information on required data and documents can be found here.

For candidates who fulfill all the admission criteria, the chance to be admitted is very good. Candidates who meet the minimum requirements are strongly encouraged to apply for the program.

An application is of course still possible. However, the prospects of success are rather low if the minimum requirements are not met.

The International Steering Committee assumes this group has many opportunities to acquire the desired specific knowledge through the international contacts of their universities. Only in exceptional and well-justified cases, fellowships can be granted as well.

Priority is always given to highly qualified applicants who have not yet participated in the course program. Therefore, we advise CIPSEM alumni to allow some time to pass before reapplying for course participation.

For reasons of fairness to all applicants, we generally do not accept applications submitted after the deadline.

Six-month long course

The fellowship includes a non-reroutable economy air return ticket from a major international airport in the country of residence to Dresden; accommodation in a single study bedroom; health, liability, and accident insurance during the stay; registration and tuition fees for the course; public transport ticket in Dresden city, monthly allowance of approx. EUR 550.-/month, sufficient to cover all basic living expenses during the course (depending on the individual lifestyle). The participant should consider the monthly stipend as an individual allowance for local living expenses in Dresden for the duration of the course.

Short courses

The following two types of scholarships are currently available for short courses:

• 16 full scholarships: They include accommodation in single studio apartments, local public transport ticket, all tuition fees, round-trip flight tickets from the participant's country of origin to Dresden and back, health, liability, and accident insurance during the stay, and a contribution of €550 towards livelihood expenses.
• Five partial scholarships: These include accommodation in single studio apartments, tickets to local public transport, health insurance, and tuition fees. They can be awarded to applicants who can cover the costs of flight tickets and living expenses on their own.
  Applicants currently residing in a non-DAC country are eligible for these partial fellowships if their origin and (prospective) area of professional engagement are in a DAC country.

Please note: The health insurance does NOT cover any costs associated with diseases or injuries present prior to departure, as well as costs related to pregnancies and childbirth. 

This is not possible due to a variety of reasons. The UNEP/UNESCO/BMUV course program does not include financial or organizational support for bringing family members or other accompanying persons along. Our apartments may not be occupied by more than one person due to insurance and tenancy law reasons.

No, the topics of the short courses change every year. However, most topics are offered again at a later date, in most of the cases every two years. If you do not find the course you are interested in, try again next year.

The employer has to:

• Facilitate the fellow’s departure for the study program
  (i.e. not prevent selected participants from joining the course, allow the fellow to sufficiently focus on the course content by releasing the participant from "major" work duties, etc.),
• Assist the fellow to meet personal and family responsibilities during the period of the fellowship
  (if necessary by the continuation of the whole or part of his/her present salary. The participant is responsible for agreeing with the employer about this issue).
• Ensure the employment of the fellow upon completion of the fellowship
• Certify that the candidate possesses sufficient knowledge of the English language
  to successfully follow a postgraduate course held in English which includes attending lectures, writing reports, making oral presentations at seminars etc.
• We need to know if your institution is sufficiently backing your application and is also welcoming the knowledge, skills and - likely - the motivational boost you will gain into the institutional environment. Therefore, we need to receive from your institution a nomination form and a letter of support on your behalf. More information at: Hints on Application

During the data entry process in the application portal, you will be asked to upload a number of files as either image file (for the portrait picture) or PDF (all other files). If you have other file types, please convert them. Various free software is available for such conversions.

In exceptional cases, we may add individual missing documents to your application documents even after the deadline has expired. However, a well-founded justification as to why the timely transmission of the document was not possible is necessary.

If you have completed the submission of your application, you can be sure your application will be fully considered. You will not receive an additional confirmation email. 

To see the status of your application please log in to the application portal. After logging in, you can see the information you have submitted to CIPSEM.

CIPSEM informs only successful applicants via email. However, you can check the status of your application at all times by logging in to the application portal. We kindly ask you to refrain from contacting us for further enquiries. Given the large number of applications we receive each year, it is unfortunately beyond our capacity to provide detailed feedback on individual applications.