Berklee College of Music’s Campus in Valencia Has Allocated $4 Million in Scholarships for Graduate Programs Since 2012

By Lucía Burbano January 9, 2017

The campus has allocated $4 million in scholarships for graduate programs since 2012. Photo by HIsteria Producciones.

The mission of Berklee College of Music is to educate, train, and develop students from all over the world so they can excel and pursue a career in music. For those applicants who stand out but don’t have the resources to pay for a program, Berklee’s campus in Valencia awards merit and need-based scholarships which cover a percentage of the tuition fees of the four graduate programs available in Spain: Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration), Global Entertainment and Music Business; Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games and Music Production, Technology, and Innovation.

The available budget for scholarships is $1.5 million per year, of which approximately $1 million gets allocated, totalling around $4 million since the campus opened in January 2012. “Around 80 percent of the students currently enrolled in our master’s degree programs have received financial support,” says Pilar Vicente, director of enrollment of Berklee’s campus in Valencia.

“In recent years we have seen more scholarship applicants for the Master of Music in Performance (Production Concentration) and for the Master of Music in Scoring for Film Television, and Video Games,” says Vicente. Since the campus opened until fall 2016, the number of students with scholarships has increased by 40 percent.

In 2015, 43 percent of scholarships were awarded to beneficiaries from North America, 25 percent from Europe, 16 percent from Asia, 13 percent from Latin America, and 3 percent from the Middle East and Africa.

Applying for a scholarship

In order to qualify for a scholarship, candidates must first submit the Berklee Graduate Scholarship Application. The information provided on the form, together with the supporting material and the audition and/or interview results, are then evaluated. Applicants receive an answer after being accepted to a master’s degree program. “The Financial Aid Committee and the Board of Admissions evaluates each applicant holistically, taking into account the candidate’s musical and academic merits demonstrated at the audition together with their financial needs,” says Vicente.

Although recipients receive their scholarship to study in one of the four graduate programs exclusive to Valencia, they can begin their studies on one campus and continue at another one, thanks to the First Year Abroad program and the Berklee Study Abroad program “as long as they maintain the academic and musical standards outlined in the Berklee’s Scholarship Conditions and Renewability Guidelines,” Vicente says. Beginning in fall 2017, a selected group of entering students can start their academic journey in Valencia through the First Year Abroad program and then continue the second year of their studies in Boston.