The Balsells Graduate Fellowship was created to help Catalan students with excellent academic records and the potential to outstanding contributions to the engineering profession. The fellowship includes all fees and tuition, health insurance, and a monthly stipend of approximately $2,700.  The fellowship also provides $1,000 to cover travel expenses in the first year. Only students applying to the PhD (including those who must first complete the M.S. at UCI) are supported. Students applying only for an M.S. degree are not supported.

You may apply for a Balsells Graduate Fellowship if you have Spanish citizenship, have legally resided (registered to vote or empadronat) in Catalonia for at least 12 months, fluently speak and write English, Catalan and Spanish, and have received or will receive a 4-year (Bachelor’s) degree in Engineering or related field from a recognized Catalan university. You must have received your degree within the last five years or plan to graduate by the end of summer of the year you are applying.

Application process for the Graduate Balsells Fellowship:

The academic year at UCI starts around the last week of September and ends around the third week of June. It is divided into 3 quarters (Fall, Winter, Spring) that each lasts 11 weeks. There is also a Summer term. Admission as a Balsells graduate fellow is only for Fall quarter. A student wishing to start the graduate program at UCI in September (Fall quarter), should start the application process at least eleven months ahead of time. This means, in October of the previous year. The process can be divided into two major steps:

Step 1: Preparing for and submitting your application for admission to UC Irvine.  To apply for admission into The Henry Samueli School of Engineering or The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, you need to submit the following:

  • A completed online application which includes a Statement of Purpose (SOP)
  • English scores (TOEFL or IELTS), general-test GRE scores (some programs no longer require the GRE)
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Original (hard copy) or official electronic version submitted directly from your school to UCI in English (or Original in Catalan or Spanish accompanied with an official English translation) academic transcript from the University you attended. Note that not all departments accept electronic transcripts. A transcript must include the most recent (or final) overall GPA on the scale of 10. A minimum GPA of 7/10 in the B.S. degree is required.

IMPORTANT: Contact the Balsells program at balsells@uci.edu several weeks before you submit your application so that you can receive proper advice regarding your specific questions.

It is recommended that the TOEFL (or IELST) and GRE (if required; most programs waive it) exams be taken in November or December at the latest. Some programs have deadlines as early as December 1 (see DEADLINES below). For further details on admission requirements see Applying to UCI.

Notify the Balsells Program at balsells@uci.edu immediately after submitting your electronic application.

It is very important that all your supporting documents listed above be received by the department you are applying to at UCI no later than the posted DEADLINES for Fall Admission. These deadlines vary by program. In order to be able to apply for the Balsells Fellowship, UCI must receive all of your supplementary documents (TOEFL, GRE, transcripts, letters) no later than February 1 (or earlier if required by the program you are applying to). You will be notified of admission in March.

Step 2: The recipients of the graduate Balsells Fellowship will be chosen from among those Catalan students admitted into UC Irvine’s School of Engineering or the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. Once you have received notification that you have been admitted, you will be asked to submit a two page PDF document to balsells@uci.edu. The first page of this document is a description of how you expect to contribute to the scientific or technological development of Catalonia after your complete your studies at UC Irvine. The second page is an official certification of residence in Catalonia (certificat d’empadronament) verifying that you have been a resident of Catalonia for at least 12 months.

All Balsells fellowship awards are normally announced in May.