Global-MINDS Master Programme in Psychology of Global Mobility, Diversity and Inclusion in Society

Global-Minds is an Erasmus Mundus master's program meaning that it's a master's funded by Erasmus+ and hosted by different European universities. The University of Limerick is one of them. As part of the program, you move between the semesters and study at different universities. The program created many great opportunities for me. I got to focus on social and cultural psychology - there's only a few master programs in Europe that focus on those topics. I got to learn about psychological concepts like social identity, intersectionality, coping, resilience, sense of belonging and about societal structures like xenophobia, racism and sexism. Overall, I gained understanding in societal processes, barriers to social justice, possible interventions and social-justice-oriented psychological research. With its staff, alumni/ae and students, the program has created a great network of passionate psychologists. Students have the opportunity to connect with diverse researchers which can create future career opportunities. Especially in the second year of the program, students have a lot of freedom and individual responsibilities to create learning opportunities. So I would say the program requires individual responsibility and self-initiative as well as the ability to cope with stress because moving across countries, applying for visas, joining new universities, interacting with more or less open-minded professors, organising an internship by yourself and writing a master's thesis in a foreign language can be very challenging. On the other hand, it also means that the program creates a lot of space to learn about yourself, test your boundaries, try out new hobbies, meet new people, gain new perspectives, make friends and develop new coping strategies. Therefore, despite the challenges within the program, it can be a great experience, like it was for me. I've learnt a lot and I've grown a lot throughout the program which is why I would recommend it to many people. However, students should be aware of the challenges they might encounter cause the program isn't for everyone.