An application platform may use additional screening rules, but those rules are not automatically part of the funder’s eligibility requirements. The cited Erasmus+ guidance does not explain whether third-party platforms may add conditions; it states instead that each master’s own website contains the entry requirements and application steps.
Where applicants should check the requirements
For Erasmus+ joint master’s programmes, Erasmus+ directs applicants to two connected sources:
- The chosen programme’s own website for the entry requirements, participating universities, course information, and application steps.
- The institution running the chosen programme, which Erasmus+ says students should apply to directly.
This means that a condition shown only during an application-platform workflow should not, by itself, be treated as an official programme requirement.
How to handle a platform-only condition
The relevant comparison is between the platform’s message and the programme’s published materials. A platform-only condition remains unverified if it does not appear in the entry requirements published on the programme’s own website.
Applicants should also check whether the institution running the programme has separately communicated that condition. If the sources conflict or the platform asks for something the programme website does not mention, the applicant should seek confirmation from the institution before treating the requirement as decisive.
The cited Erasmus+ page does not state that platform-imposed conditions are prohibited, nor does it define when such a condition would count as part of the official eligibility framework. It therefore supports neither automatic acceptance nor automatic rejection of an extra platform rule.
What still needs confirmation
Before relying on any additional condition, the reader must confirm:
- whether it appears in the chosen programme’s published entry requirements;
- whether the institution running the programme has issued it;
- whether it is an eligibility requirement or merely a platform screening, workflow, or document-upload rule; and
- whether the programme or institution has expressly clarified any discrepancy.
Until that confirmation is available, a platform-only condition should be recorded as unverified—not as an official funder requirement.