Erasmus Year Abroad - A 'how to' guide.

When I decided to apply for an Erasmus grant, I was full of questions and doubts about the process, how to go about applying, what to do first, the pre-requisites, etc. In my opinion, everything related to education in Spain is always shrouded in doubt and each person will tell you a completely different thing... leaving us, as students, feeling like we're lost at sea.

The first thing I have to say, although I reckon you all already know it, is that each university is in its own little world. Like everything, there are the best, and the worst, in relation to applying for these sorts of grants. My experience with my university was awful, but that's another story.

My first piece of advice once you've decided that you want to go on a Erasmus year abroad is to look at all the possible places/universities on offer. Normally your international relations office will give you a list of all the universities, the country they're in, how many months you'll have to stay (one semester or two), and the languages and required levels you need. It's always best to think carefully about all the different options and know what you are looking for or want to find, it's massively important to think about how long you want to go for, what languages you speak and how well you speak them.

Once you've tested the waters, the first step is usually to sign up for the language tests that give you levels based on your understanding. You'll have one in English and then the language of the country you want to visit, in this case, German. I can't tell you what these tests are like as each university is different. At mine for example, you have to do a 30 question test, the difficulty depends on the language (the English exam was much harder than the German one). I know that some unis have oral exams, so I think the best thing to do would be to ask someone in the international office what you will have to do at your uni.

Once you've done the exams, you'll have to wait until they give you the results. Once again, how long you wait will depend on your uni (in my case, it was way too long) and when you finally get them, you need to choose the universities you want to go to in order of preference. Then once again, wait...

They will contact the universities you have chosen, and if they like you, they accept you, if not, they will contact your second choice and keep going down the list until someone accepts you.

So you've accepted your place. Now it's time to get to work and speak with your uni's year abroad officer. They will iron out any doubts you might have about the next steps (if you're lucky). You now have to deal with the most complicated part as you have to get all the signatures you need to confirm your place and complete the study agreements... yes there are two of them. One for you home university and one for the university you're going to.

Another piece of advice is that you should contact the university abroad and find out how long you have to send them all these documents. In a lot of cases, their deadline is different to your university's, so make sure you look out for this.

Something else I thought was worth mentioning is whether or not you can apply for the Erasmus grant. In some cases they only give it to you for one semester even though you want it for the full year. It's always possible (and they give you the money) that the uni you are going to will allow it. I did it and I didn't have any problems. Ask your uni and if they say yes, speak to your year abroad office and find out who you need to speak to, or go directly to the year abroad office and find out yourself.

You will have doubts about the money. A lot in fact. As we all know, the budget cuts in Spain are getting larger and larger... the Erasmus grant is not immune. Already this year students aided by the Junta de Andalucía got 600 euros a month rather than the 900 a month students got the previous year.

To be clear: the Erasmus grants are paid by three different entities: the EU, Ministry of Education, and the local government (in this case I can only talk about the Junta de Andalucía). It seems between these 3 bodies, the Erasmus grants are starting to falter. A few weeks ago the EU announced they didn't have any money to keep paying their part of the grants. A few months ago they had confirmed a rise in the amount they were paying, increasing the 105 euros a month they were paying students to the 110 they are paying this year... how this is possible if they don't have any money I don't know.

My uni sent us an email 'to calm us down', telling us we would all get the money we were promised. It remains to be seen what will happen next year however.

In terms on the Junta de Andalucía, they said at first that the Erasmus grants wouldn't be affected by the cuts. The only difference with the previous year would be that the money you get will depend on the GDP of the country you are going, or rather, students going to countries with a higher GDP would receive more money and vice versa. It seemed like a good idea.

But at the start of September, they finally clarified themselves and revealed the real cuts they were trying to hide. The students going to Germany without a grant will get 283 euros a month and those with grants will get 166 euros (it's worth asking why exactly this year they are giving more to to those without the grant than those with it).

Finally we're left with the Ministry of Education, that like we all knew would also be affected by the cuts... a while ago we found out that the help given to students going abroad will be reduced by 75% but we don't know how this will affect us exactly... a lot though, I imagine.

So, all in all, it's all very complicated and I reckon in the next few years it will get even worse. A lot of students would have applied to do a year abroad years before but won't be able to go as now they won't have enough money to do so.

I suppose there is always the option of saving or getting a job when you are abroad. But even then it will be difficult to cover everything.