Exciting Erasmus+ exchange in Europe: what is it and how to apply

Hi all! In this post, I will tell you more about Erasmus+, my own Erasmus experience, and explain how to participate in the program.

Erasmus (or Erasmus+ as it is officially called) is a program of the European Union for education, youth, and sport. There are a lot of different programs and possibilities under the Erasmus umbrella: short-term exchanges in high schools, research projects about education, etc. Nevertheless, Erasmus is probably the most known for its higher education study mobility side. That’s what I’m going to tell you more about.

The mobilities of the program take place between the participating countries. All EU countries are part of Erasmus. In addition, some non-EU countries participate in the program. These third countries are North Macedonia, Serbia, Liechtenstein, Island, Norway, and Turkey. Students from those countries can participate in Erasmus equally to EU citizens and EU citizens can do Erasmus in those countries. How nice! The only limitation is that students usually do Erasmus in their department’s partner universities. The department in their home university and the department in the partner university have an Erasmus agreement between them, and they agree to cooperate in organizing the exchanges.

The mobility period can last from a couple of months to a year. However, it is common that the exchange is for one or two semesters depending on the student’s wishes and the placements. To finance the exchange, the students will get an Erasmus scholarship. The amount of the scholarship depends on the destination. For more expensive countries (read northern) the scholarship is more than for cheaper countries.

My own Erasmus experience

In the spring semester of 2022, I did my own Erasmus in France. I wrote a separate post about what it was likely to do an exchange in France.

Since the beginning of my studies at university, I wanted to do an exchange. Erasmus was a clear choice because it was easy and affordable. I knew there were no extra expenses for residence permits or such, nor tuition fees. At the same time, I was guaranteed to get the scholarship, which was nice. My department had an Erasmus agreement with a small university in France and I chose it because I had studied French beforehand and imagined I could survive there. Well, it did not go as well as hoped, heh, but I stayed alive!

Pros

  • Erasmus is a known program. Even if there are some problems at the university level, the system is quite stable. So from a student’s perspective, everything should work smoothly. This makes the program easy to participate in.
  • Erasmus Student Network is one of the biggest student organizations in the world. Many universities in Europe have their own ESN organization (however, not in small universities such as the one I was in France) which organize events and trips for students. More information: Erasmus Student Network (esn.org)
  • The scholarship. Did I mention this already?
  • You are guaranteed to transfer your Erasmus credits easily to your home university. European universities even have the same ECTS system with credits, so super convenient!

Cons

  • The options. The program is only in Europe, which is, of course, a bit of a limitation. In addition, the agreements between the universities limit the options. If you have a dream university in mind where you would like to do an exchange, it may not be possible to do Erasmus there.
  • The byrocracy. Yes, you need to fill some papers and it can be a bit of a hustle.
  • Okay, even though the scholarship is nice, it is not a big one, and you get all the money before the exchange. Financially there are better EU-funded options to go abroad than Erasmus (*cough cough* volunteering *cough cough*).
  • In general, studying abroad is hard. Studying is not supposed to be easy in any way, but imagine doing it in a system you do not know well and in a language that might not be your strongest… It becomes almost impossible!

But you can do it!

How to apply for Erasmus?

Okay, so if you have decided to do Erasmus, what should you do next? Here are super detailed instructions:

1. Prepare mentally to write many many emails and be patient

I do not know why, but for some reason, all international offices I have been in contact with are very slow to answer my emails. Very annoying and stressful! So be prepared to wait wait wait for days and then write reminder emails when it’s been over a week without an answer!

2. Research

I think this is quite obvious, but to get started you need some information about how Erasmus works in your university. Your university probably has something on its websites and, at least in Finland, many universities use a platform called Mobility Online for exchange applications, where there is also some information.

Your university should have an international coordinator with whom you can talk about your plans. Also, your university may organize information sessions for students interested in exchange abroad. Don’t miss them!

There is also the Erasmus+ App where there are guidelines on how to start your Erasmus journey: Erasmus+ (erasmusapp.eu)  

And what do you need to know? Well, the requirements of your uni for exchange, the steps you need to do to be accepted to exchange, and most importantly, what is the schedule to apply for the program. For example, in my university, the students need to apply almost one year before the exchange. Even though the schedule may not be the same, I would still advise you to start planning your exchange early!

Another important thing to research is the destinations: which universities your department has Erasmus agreement with? These will be your best options for exchange. To find out the best for you, you should visit the exchange universities’ websites to get to know what kind of universities they are and what you could study there. 

3. Languages

I had a fun time with languages during my exchange, so to make your life a lot easier, I will reveal the truth: not all universities offer courses in English for exchange students. I would recommend choosing only a country in which language you have studied before or double checking that you can truly study in the language you prefer.

That said, you should, in any case, start studying the local language as soon as you can and as much as you can. Even if your studies aren’t in that language, the more you know, the easier it will be to navigate the host society.

As part of Erasmus, you will get access to Online Linguistic Support (OLS) which is a platform to help you learn the language of your destination country. There is an option to do a language test before and after your mobility to see what is your starting level. You can do another test at the end of your mobility to see how your language skills have developed. More information: Online Language Support | Erasmus+ (europa.eu)

4. Fill out the application for your home university

The application process for Erasmus has two parts: first you need to apply for an Erasmus placement at your home university and later to apply to be accepted to the receiving institute. This is because the Erasmus agreements have only a limited amount of places for students to exchange between the partner universities. You need to apply to be one of those students to leave your university and to go to the partner one.

While filling out the application, there are a couple of things to consider:

  • Because of the limited places, you may not be able to go to the university you choose first. You may want to have options.
  • My university asked me to list courses I was planning to take in exchange for the application. They were not my final choices, but you may want to be prepared for this question.
5. Research about the housing options

You cannot go abroad without accommodation there. This can be a bit tricky because there are probably other exchange students coming but not enough apartments for everybody. So while you wait for your uni to approve your application or just the next steps, you should search for the accommodation options. Then you will have all the information you need the second you get confirmation of exchange from the receiving university and you can start applying for the accommodation.

Start with the receiving institute’s website. There should be information about dorms for exchange students or associations for student housing near the campus. Even if the quality of housing in student dorms may not be as high as you have used to, the main thing is that you will have a roof over your head. Check also the travel reports of the previous students doing exchange at the same receiving university. They may have written tips and recommendations for housing.

Some universities may have organized special housing for the exchange students (which is great!) but in many cases, finding housing can be the hardest part of your exchange process.

My host university offered this house for the exchange students
6. Research the needed documents

Your exchange university may ask you to send them some documents. You should probably check them beforehand because getting some of them may take time:

  • Passport or for EU-students ID card
  • Credit or debit bank cards and possible international online banking options if you think you cannot use the bank card of your own country. In the EU, there should not be a need for that.
  • If needed: visa and residence permit (this can be a mess, so good luck!)
  • For EU students: European Health Insurance Card a.k.a. EHIC-Card
  • Possible insurance (for non-EU students, this is a must, but EU students may need for example travel insurance, too)
  • Not a document, but some universities may demand an official language test! (this should have probably been in the language part, heh!)
7. Wait for the contact of the exchange university (the most frustrating part!)

After your home university has selected you to go exchange (congrats!!), they should inform the exchange university that you have gotten the place. Some universities may expect you to contact them first, but most likely they should contact you and send you the instructions for the next steps.

It depends probably a bit on the university and how your exchange works, but this can take some time. I got the first email from my exchange university almost at the end of October and I had been waiting for it since the beginning of September. Maybe I am a bit impatient, but waiting for this email was the most stressful thing in my exchange preparation (what if there is something wrong and they never send me the instructions???? I can’t go!!!). With waiting for answers to all my emails that followed this one, of course. How hard it is to answer!

8. Fill out the application for the receiving university and send the requested documents and stuff

When the magical email finally arrives, the next step is, of course, filling out the application as instructed. With the actual application, they will probably ask you to send copies of your documents which you have already – thank God! – because you researched them early. How clever you are! In addition, some universities may ask you to send them a personal statement or something similar.

Depending on the university, this might be the critical moment to apply for the accommodation. Do what you must! If it’s not now, it’s in the second your application is approved. Be ready!

In any case, this is a good time to email your receiving university a list of questions you must have. Some example questions to ask:

  • If they ask for strange documents or insurance, what are they?
  • Which courses are available for exchange students? Could somebody give you more information about the courses (content, level, etc.)?
  • In which language will the studies be?
  • Are there any language courses for exchange students?
  • Can you take courses outside of your department?
  • Which day do you need to be at the university?
  • Is there going to be an orientation? Do they organize tutoring or something similar?
  • If you get the accommodation through the university, will the apartment be furnished? And if yes, what is included in the furniture? Dishes? Bed sheets? A router?

These were almost all the questions I asked after getting the first email and I really really hope that you can get the answers without asking. As you may notice, some of the questions are a bit silly and the information should be found without asking. For example, you would assume that on the website of the university, there would be information on whether they organize language courses for exchange students or not. Or at least when they sent me a list of courses to pick. In my case, there was no information about the language course, so I, of course, assumed they did not organize such a thing. You can imagine my surprise when, after asking for confirmation, I found out that there actually was a language course. And it was compulsory for exchange students!

What can we learn? There are truly no stupid questions when preparing for an exchange. Ask everything!

9. FILL THE LEARNING AGREEMENT AND GET IT SIGNED

With the application, they will most likely send you the Learning Agreement. Filling it out is a very important and very scary part of the application process. Here is how to survive this operation:

  1. The first part is the table of your information (name, birthday, stuff like that), the information of your home university, and the information of the receiving institute: Fill in your own information! You can leave the other parts empty. Somebody else can fill them.
  2. Before the mobility (table A): Study program at the Receiving Institution: they ask about the planned period of the mobility, a list of courses you are planning to do, and in which language you are going to study -> This is the important part but you should have all the information received. Now is the time to plan what you are going to study. Fill those to the table! But no stress! If you are feeling overwhelmed, you can still change your mind later when you get to the exchange.
  3. Recognition at the Sending Institution (Table B): List of home university courses you can substitute with the courses you are going to do in the exchange if you can substitute something. This is something you should/could talk about with your study coordinator. I did not and had no idea how to fill this, so I left it empty. Our international coordinator filled it with: “All completed courses will go to optional studies”. Easy peasy.
  4. Commitment: the signatures of you, the international coordinator of your home university, and the responsible person from your receiving university -> sign yourself and then email the people whose signatures you need. This may require a bit of printing and scanning.
  5. During the Mobility (Table A2): Exceptional changes to Table A: if during the mobility, you change some of the courses you chose before the exchange (table A), you need to fill in the information here -> Before the mobility, ignore this part!
  6. Exceptional changes to Table B (if applicable) (Table B2): Similar to the previous one, if there are going to be changes to your courses and their substitutes during your mobility, you need to fill them here -> Before the mobility, ignore this part too! 
  7. Commitment: If there are any changes during the mobility, you need to get the signatures of everybody again. -> Again, just ignore this before mobility!
This is how the list of courses looked on my Learning Agreement

When all the “Before Mobility” parts are filled and you have the signatures of all parties, you need to make sure both the sending institution (your home university) and the receiving institution have the version with all the signatures.

10. It’s time for the grant agreement!

After you have done the Learning Agreement and sent it to everybody, it is time for the grant agreement. Depending on your sending institution, there might still be some steps to do this. For example, I needed to do the OLS language test before getting the grant agreement, but it was pretty straightforward. The most tricky thing was to guess the exact dates I was going to be in the exchange. I did not guess correctly so I needed to return some of the money after returning home.

11. Congratulations! You can book your flights now!

When you have successfully done the previous parts and are allowed to go, it is time to book your flights! How exciting!

12. Just before leaving

There are a couple of things you should still take into consideration (and maybe ask if something is unclear) just before stepping onto the airplane:

  • Is there something you need to do before arriving at the receiving university? Some universities may demand you to do the registration beforehand, or you may get access to activate your account (email and stuff).
  • Does your home university ask you to get any documents signed during the mobility? Do you have them already?
  • How to get from the airport to the city where you are studying (if it is not the same as where the airport is located)?
  • How to get to your apartment? And most importantly, how to get your keys? Is there somebody (tutor or another student) coming to accompany you to your apartment? If yes, contact them and agree on the details of meeting them.
  • Can you contact other exchange students before arriving?

That’s it! With these instructions and the ones you find on the website of your university, you should be able to figure out how to apply for Erasmus. But what about then?

During mobility

  • Your exchange hopefully starts with an orientation program where they tell you a lot of useful stuff. Participating is advised!
  • If there is no orientation program, you probably still need to go to the international office of your receiving university to inform them that you have arrived and make sure everything is well (and with everything, I mean paperwork and things like that). This is what I needed to do.
  • When the courses start, you may notice that some of them are not what you expected, and you want to change them. This means you need to change your Learning Agreement. Do you remember the “During the Mobility” parts we ignored previously? They are for these kind of situations. If you need to change anything in your Learning Agreement, just remember to get the signatures of everybody again.

These are all official steps during the first days. Next, you should be able to concentrate on living, studying, and exploring the new country (which is a lot!) until your departure.

A couple of things to consider at the end of your exchange

Going home!
  • Before leaving, check that you have all the signatures for your final Learning Agreement. In addition, get a signature for your Letter of Confirmation, etc. if your home university asks for it.
  • Also, you should find out how to get your grades and transcript of record from the exchange university, especially if you leave before all your grades are announced.
  • When you are leaving your apartment, clean it well! This should be self-explanatory, but somehow, I have arrived at apartments where the previous people could have done a better job cleaning and taking out the trash…
  • After you have arrived home, there are some papers you need to send to your home university: the Letter of Confirmation and the transcript of records. Transferring your grades and credits to the database of your university may be a bit mess, so courage to do that!
  • As part of Erasmus, you need to fill out an Erasmus survey and write a report of your exchange. You can also do the OLS test again to see how your language skills improved.
  • Figure out how to get your deposit back if applicable.

And that should be it! We made it this far!

I know the list of the steps has been long but if you are still here, thank you so much for reading! I hope these instructions will help you to survive the whole process of your Erasmus exchange! It is not easy, but it is possible to get through it. And worth it!

In the meantime, I will also write about what it was like to be an exchange student in France and what kind of things I, as a local student, could tell you about studying in Finland. So if you are interested in those things, hope you will read my next stuff too!

Related posts

Category :

Blog

,

Ideas for traveling

Share :

Hi all! Welcome to my blog!

I’m Niina, I come from Finland (out of all places in the world) and I really like travelling. I’ve been lucky to do all sort of cool things in many different countries.

Now I would like to share those experiences to inspire you to go your own adventure. So go explore the stuff I’ve written for you!

Follow:

Popular Post