2022 EIT Fellowships – Call for applications

The EIT Fellowships are KIC-specific schemes, accredited under the EIT Label model, that equip learners with a similar experience and learning outcomes as the EIT-labelled degree programmes while enabling greater learner centredness and individual learning pathways including recognition of prior learning.

In practice, EIT Fellowships are focused on schemes of shorter duration than degree programmes. The Fellowship may include inter-sectoral and cross-organisational mobility and/or an opportunity to attend an EIT Labelled Summer/Winter School which focus on solving societal challenges on the KIC thematic area and developing and putting ideas into action through entrepreneurial competencies.

The following call for applications has the purpose of awarding the EIT Label to the KIC-specific Fellowship schemes, designed and submitted to the EIT by the KICs, after successful completion of the EIT Label application and evaluation process.

Basis for awarding the EIT Label

EIT Label is awarded to KIC Fellowship programmes which comply with the application and quality indicators and requirements established by the EIT Label Handbook for EIT Fellowships. In this sense, the system applied for the assessment of the fellowship programmes is the EIT’s Quality Assurance and Learning Enhancement (QALE), which evaluates a set of quality indicators (Qi1-Qi4) to ensure that EIT Label Key Principles and Overarching Learning Outcomes (OLOs) are addressed by the labelled programmes. For the purpose of this call, applicants shall report on the following quality indicators:

• Only two indicators – Qi1 and Qi2 – that are used for the labelling of new programmes.
• The first quality indicator (Qi1) differs in that it addresses a number of compulsory requirements on a yes/no basis whereas the quality indicator Qi2, is evaluated on a four-grade scale.

Submission of applications: general rules

All submitted applications shall comply with the provisions and requirements set by the EIT Label Handbook for EIT Fellowships. Please make sure you read the handbook before and during the preparation of your application.

Applications and proposals can be submitted through the designated Innovation Community's Single Point of contact (S.P.O.C.).

1. Each application consists of:
   • applicant details,
   • a factsheet for communication purposes,  
   • contextual information,
   • a self-assessment report, in line with the requirements of this Handbook,
   • a list of attachments for supporting evidence, and
   • the attachments which document fulfilment of requirements.
   • The applicant details comprise: (a) the title of the Fellowship, and its level (master’s, doctoral, other, specify what) (b) the name of the KIC, (c) administrative information i.e., identification of the submitting partner (leading HEI, KIC) and the names of the partner organisations, each followed by the country code and a link to the website, and (c) contact details of the applicant.
3. The factsheet for communication purposes shall cover (a) Aims and objectives of the Fellowship, (b) themes, priorities, and market needs, (c) vision and philosophy pertaining to innovation and entrepreneurship (d) partners’ roles and their capacity, and (c) structure and content.
4. The contextual information shall cover (a) the long-term vision and envisaged impacts of the Fellowship; (b) the financial model, and (c) a risk analysis and mitigation plan. See below for details.
5. The self-assessment report shall be structured according to the EIT requirements for the EIT Label. The main working tool to develop the self-assessment report are the templates (Qi1 and Qi2) which outline the EIT requirements. Applicants must address all requirements by providing a sufficient narrative answer as well as supporting documents as evidence. All compulsory requirements in template Qi1 must be met as a precondition for the full evaluation. 
6. The selection of the supporting evidence is based on the portfolio principle: the applicant should select the necessary documentation for the self-assessment report in order to give sufficient evidence for each requirement. This selection is guided by the questions in the templates, along with the non-exhaustive list of examples of possible supporting evidence, usually official documents from the KIC and/or from the KIC partner universities. In addition to text documents, the supporting documents may consist of different visuals such as figures, infographics, video materials, infographics, YouTube testimonials, photos etc. The supporting documents and evidence must be concise and limited to briefly document how particular requirements are achieved.
7. Applications shall include a list of the attachments. Applicants shall clearly indicate where the relevant supporting information can be found in the annexes and rename each supporting document in a consistent way. Where appropriate, hyperlinks can be used.

The assessment process and responsibilities of the parties

• The EIT Label application for KIC fellowship Scheme is produced by the KIC together with their education partners (normally Higher Education Institution (HEI).
• The EIT Label application must include a self-assessment report, produced by the KIC, in accordance with the requirements stipulated in this Handbook and in line with the provisions foreseen in the EIT Label Framework that sets the general guidelines.
• The application file should be structured according to the quality indicators (Qi1 and Qi2) and accompanied with relevant supporting evidence. The main working tool for both processes are the templates. The templates include a list of the assessment fields which represent requirements for a programme to be awarded the Label.
• Annual application rounds are established by the EIT, and the applicants are expected to submit their applications by the deadlines announced by the EIT.
• The EIT Label application, including the accompanying documents, is submitted through the available online tool (EIT Cloud or other online form decided by the EIT).  
• The EIT selects a panel of independent experts to review the applications for the award of the EIT Label. KICs’ representatives in the EIT Education Panel are informed about the selected experts in advance. The review team is briefed and instructed by the EIT. EIT makes sure that experts have access to the application files and all accompanied evidence as provided by the applicant(s).
• The evaluation of the application is conducted remotely. However, the EIT might – after consulting with the KICs who submitted the applications – suggest an online discussion(s) (hearing) involving the representatives of the applicants, the KIC and the review team. In such case, the review team will submit specific question for the discussion in due time (ideally not later than one week before the meeting) as a basis for the discussion. They can be also held online.
• The review team first confirms the compliance by answering “Yes” to all Template Qi1 criteria before proceeding to the review based on the Templates for Qi2.
• The review team submits their individual as well as consolidated evaluation reports to the EIT through the available online tool (EIT Cloud or other online), and the EIT forwards them to the respective KIC for information.
• After having considered the evaluation reports of the review team, the EIT Director decides on the initial award of the EIT Label for each Fellowship.
• The EIT reports on the outcomes of the EIT labelling process to the KICs, informing any conditions underlying the granting of the EIT Label provisionally.
• In case of awarding provisional Label (Option 2), requirements for specific improvement measures are forwarded to the relevant applicant(s). Applicant(s) shall submit the status report addressing the requirements at latest 3 months before the expiry of the duration of the provisional Label set in the awarding decision (up to 2 years). The EIT Officer in charge of the Label, having consulted the review team, reports on the progress in addressing the requirements to the EIT Director who consults with the EIT Education Panel and decides whether to the award the full Label, or not.
• The EIT updates the information on the EIT’s website regarding the EIT Label awards on the basis of the outcome of the given evaluations.
• All learners graduating/being admitted within the validity period of an EIT-labelled Fellowship (irrespective of whether the period of study was commenced prior to/completed after the validity period) can be awarded an EIT Label certificate.

Timeline and deadlines

Guidelines and supporting documents

For further description of the EIT Label and the awarding procedure, see the EIT Label Handbook for EIT Fellowships, and the EIT Label Framework.

Submission Templates

• Applicant details & Communication factsheet template
• Contextual information template
• Qi1 template (self-assessment)
• Qi2 template (self-assessment)

Recording of personal data

All personal data are processed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.

To find out more about data protection, please visit our page at: eit.europa.eu/who-we-are/legal-framework/data-protection.