Overview

MASS is a 2-years Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM) course in Astrophysics and Space Science. It is funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union and is jointly delivered by a Consortium of four Universities (Rome “Tor Vergata”, Belgrade, Bremen and Côte d’Azur). A number of Third Parties, including public research institutions, National Space Agencies, small and medium enterprises and space industries contribute actively to the program. Because of this, MASS is an intersectoral, research-oriented Master program, covering state-of-the-art knowledge and research in six main pillars: Gravitation and Cosmology, Stellar Astrophysics, Exoplanets, Astrophysical Techniques, Astrostatistics and Big Data, and Space Science.

MASS is a full-time program open to top-ranked students of any nationality. Its official language is English, with the possibility for students to learn the languages of the host countries. It leads to a Master of Science degree in Astrophysics and Space Science that in the first course edition (2022 – 2024) will take the form of a multiple degree. The degree will be complemented by a Diploma Supplement to facilitate the degree recognition in other countries.

The goal of the program is to provide students with knowledge and skills tuned to continue their career in PhD programs, but also desirable to the private sector.

MASS will offer its students a number of academic paths to help them to choose how to move among the four Consortium Universities depending on the chosen field of specialization. In the end, MASS students will be exposed to the theoretical aspects of modern astrophysics, to the knowledge/use of observational facilities and/or to the data reduction and science exploitation of big data sets coming from current/forthcoming ground-based or space-borne experiments.