FAQ

No.

No. It is necessary to accredit Spanish or Portuguese nationality.

No. It is necessary to accredit Spanish/Portuguese nationality.

Yes.

You cannot apply for this fellowship if you pursued your bachelor studies outside Spain (Spanish candidates) or outside Portugal (Portuguese candidates).

You may only pursue this master if you can change the itinerary and avoid this country.

No, you can’t.

You can submit your application as long as you do not hold a doctoral degree or are in no position to obtain it before the fellowship period ends.

No.

The language proficiency level should be accredited by any of the certificates specified in the entry requirements.

You can only be exempt from submitting a language certificate if you pursued postgraduate studies (minimum of 2 academic courses) in the same language as the chosen studies applied for, as long as the language of instruction for these postgraduate studies was the official language in the country where they were pursued.

No. The language proficiency level should be necessarily accredited by any of the certificates specified in the entry requirements, except for the exemption in section 3.3.3.

No. Except for the exemption in section 3.3.3., the language proficiency level should be necessarily accredited by any of the certificates specified in the entry requirements, and these certificates should have the minimum level required.

No.

No. The documentation can only be attached to the application using the on-line application platform.

No. The documentation can only be attached to the application using the on-line application platform.

No. Request and receipt of letters of recommendation can only be done using the on-line application system for a ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowships.

Letters of recommendation are requested by filling in the mandatory fields on the application form, particularly on the “Reference letters” section. Once it has been completed, ”la Caixa” Foundation will contact the individuals who you listed via e-mail. In the e-mail, we will provide them with a webpage address where they can fill in and send the letter using an on-line form.

Contact is immediate. ”la Caixa” Foundation automatically sends them the e-mail as soon as you have provided the requested information.

No. Some evaluators participating in the selection processes may not understand Catalan/Spanish/Portuguese. The reference letters must be written in English.

The Diploma Supplement (DS) is a document issued by the university where you pursued your studies, which grants EU-wide recognition to your academic curriculum. It consists of an annex to the academic qualification, detailing the subjects covered, languages used, credits obtained, competencies acquired, academic results, and professional qualifications of the graduate from the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree programme, with their name(s) and surname(s), among other reliable accreditations all over Europe.

Yes, provided that, as stated in the programme entry requirements, all subjects and grades, year by year, as well as the total credits of the qualification and the credits awarded, are specified. In addition, your name, the name of the university, and the name of the qualification should clearly appear.

In the “Documents” section of the application, attach your transcript of academic record for your bachelor’s, licenciatura, or diplomatura degree. You can also include the transcript of academic record for other studies that you have pursued, provided that you only upload one single pdf.

In the “CV” section of the application, state your bachelor’s, licenciatura, or diplomatura studies first, although they may not be the most relevant to the studies that you wish to pursue. If you have two or more bachelor’s, licenciatura, or diplomatura degrees, then state the studies that are more relevant to the studies that you wish to pursue first.

Attach the transcript of academic record up until the present.

No. You can only include what you can accredit with original documents in your application. Should you get the fellowship and be unable to accredit any of the achievements mentioned in your application, the fellowship will be withdrawn.

Yes. The requirements to apply for a ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowship have nothing to do with the universities’ admission requirements for students.

Yes. The requirements to apply for a ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowship have nothing to do with the universities’ admission requirements for students.

You can attach a “screenshot” showing your qualifications, provided that your name can be clearly seen. Should you get the fellowship, you must submit the original document to us.

Not necessarily. We will accept your language accreditation despite the fact that it has already expired, but you should bear in mind that the host universities will require a valid certificate for your admission to them.

Only if you pursued postgraduate studies (minimum of 2 academic courses) in the same language as the chosen studies applied for, you will be exempt from submitting a language certificate, as long as the language of instruction for these postgraduate studies was the official language in the country where they were pursued.

No. An additional deadline has already been considered for all programmes, beyond the deadline for applications, to submit this accreditation.

No. Each and every one of the requirements and deadlines must be duly complied with. Any incomplete application on the deadline for applications will be disregarded.

No, the committees’ decision is final and unappealable. The submission of an application for a ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowship implies the applicant's express acceptance of both the programme entry requirements and the decisions made during the preselection and selection processes for applications.

No. ”la Caixa” Foundation fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis, which means that the individuals evaluating the applications make their decisions by choosing those who, in their opinion, are the best among those applying. Every year, ”la Caixa” Foundation receives a very large number of applications for all the fellowship programmes for postgraduate studies. For this reason, the fact that an application has not passed either the preselection or selection process does not necessarily mean that it has weak points or mistakes, but instead, there were other applications that received more favourable consideration than those that were finally rejected based on the criterion of the panels of professors evaluating them.

No. According to standard practice in the selection processes using the peer review system, applicants are not informed of the identity of the individuals who will evaluate their application or of the composition of the selection boards who will interview the applicants. Nevertheless, once the selection processes have ended, a list of all the professors and researchers who took part in them will be made public.

The applicants who pass the preselection process will be called in for a face-to-face screening interview.

The face-to-face interview seeks to:

• Delve into the information provided in the application, particularly with regard to the applicant’s academic and personal project.

• Ask about matters that were not included in the application and which the committee considers particularly relevant to evaluate the suitability of the applicant in pursuing the studies proposed.

• Evaluate the applicant’s academic and professional potential.

• Evaluate their all-round training, interests, concerns, and curiosity for the social, scientific, economic, cultural, or artistic context, although this is not directly related to their studies.

• Evaluate, if the committee deems it necessary, their foreign language proficiency level.

• Evaluate their personal and academic maturity, their motivation to complete the proposed studies and project, and their capacity to clearly express their ideas and firmly defend them.

During the interview, the members of the selection committee may ask for clarifications and pose the academic, personal, or professional questions that they deem appropriate with the aim of selecting—among all the individuals interviewed—those who, in their opinion, are deserving of the fellowship.

Yes. You will find this information in the Evaluation guide, available on our website.

The strength of your academic record is just another aspect, among others to be evaluated to determine whether an application passes the preselection or final selection process or not.

No, the selection and preselection processes are exclusively governed by the criteria of academic excellence, and no quotas that take any other factors into account are in place.

Approximately twenty minutes.

Yes. The interview will be conducted wholly or partly in English and in the medium of instruction of the studies to be pursued.

No. The on-line form through which the application was made already provides for the possibility of attaching audiovisual files and links to on-line content; therefore, documentation of this type should only be submitted using the on-line form.

No, under no circumstances.

To activate the account as an applicant, it is necessary to click on the link that you receive in the registration e-mail. If your e-mail account disables the links (e.g. Hotmail accounts tend to do this), you should copy the link to your browser’s address bar. Your access codes will not be activated until you have completed this step.

Send a scanned copy of your National Identity Card to [email protected] so that we can verify your information and make the necessary corrections.

The on-line application platform only allows a limited number of sections. You should select the aspects of your curriculum which you consider to best support your application. In the on-line form, you have a text field at the end where you can add additional information that you consider worthy of mention.

The documents have a size limit, beyond which the system rejects them and prevents them from being attached to the application. The on-line form specifies the limits for each case. Most of the time, file sizes can be significantly reduced by creating a pdf document and optimising compression settings:

• a resolution between 90 and 120 ppp,

• black and white or greyscale printing.

Most likely, you don't see the updated file because of your computer’s cache. You can clear your browser’s cache or delete all temporary files to see the right document.

It is possible that the letter has been finished but has not been submitted yet. It is necessary for the referee to submit it for the system to include it in your application.

No. You should be able to accredit that the studies that you want to pursue are actually taught in English and that you have the language proficiency level specified in the programme entry requirements. However, in this case, knowledge of—no matter how basic—the local language of the host country is a point in the applicant’s favour when evaluating an application.

You should accredit your knowledge of English with a valid certificate to apply to either of these countries.

It will only be accepted if the school or university also issues a certificate attesting that a minimum B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages was reached.

It is not possible to use the fellowship for studies other than those stated as the first choice. However, this possibility may be considered should the fellow be refused admission to the studies mentioned. On an exceptional basis, the possibility of using the fellowship for a different study programme may be considered, in the same country or in another country, provided that the requirements of the terms and conditions are still being met. The alternative studies must be closely related to the project written in the application and the fellow must explain the academic reasons that justify that change.

Fellowship holders who want to pursue studies in an EHEA country or in North America must begin the study programme in the host country in the Fall Term (academic year 2023-2024, in the first case, and academic year 2024-2025, in the second one), unless the programme for which the fellowship was awarded is only offered during another period in the academic year. If the master you want to pursue only starts in January, the start of the fellowship will be delayed until then.

On an exceptional basis, and only for predoctoral research stays in centres or universities in these countries, some flexibility may be allowed with regard to when you start at your host institution or university. For all other cases, the start of the fellowship must coincide with the dates stated in the entry requirements of the programme.

The fellowships to pursue postgraduate studies in North America start in the Fall Term of the year following the call for applications.

The fellowships to pursue postgraduate studies in the Asia-Pacific region start between January and December of the year following the call for applications.

You should ask the university to put your admission on hold until your fellowship begins.

No. Applications to pursue a master’s degree that already started before the fellowship was awarded will not be accepted.

Should you get the fellowship, the normal procedure for fellowship holders is to send several applications for admission to different universities. Therefore, it is certainly possible to be refused admission to the studies originally specified as the first choice. In any case, all applications made to the different universities or to different programmes should be closely related to the study project written in the application.

You may only do this if you can accredit, with a certificate issued before the deadline for submission of the language certificate, the same language proficiency level that should be accredited by applicants who choose a university in that country straight away.

Yes, you do fulfil them and you would be eligible to apply, as you have completed some of the studies enumerated in Section 3.2 of the programme entry requirements in the indicated period of time.

No, in this case you would not be eligible because you cannot accredit bachelor’s or licenciatura studies, or any of the studies enumerated in Section 3.2 of the programme entry requirements, which have to be completed in the indicated period of time.

If the studies last more than one academic year, you should request an extension to obtain funding for the second year. Fellowship renewal is conditional on the results obtained during the first year and the submission of a letter of support from the university or centre where the studies are being taken up.

There is no problem with applying to any of the countries included in the call for applications. However, you must comply with the foreign language knowledge for the country of destination contained at the programme entry requirement 3.3. and you have to take into account the start date of your fellowship, according to the country of destination.

You will be reimbursed the cost of a maximum of 5 applications fees, regardless of the date on which the payments are made, as long as they are for study programmes of the academic course in which the fellowship begins.