Week 7 Erasmus paperwork

Intro

Since my Erasmus internship is almost over, less than one month to go and I couldn't be more happy about it, I want on the remaining posts to try to give you more insides of all the documents, paperwork and tips about Erasmus. Of course I may speak just for me and how is working in my University but since I have been working for the past 7 months at the Erasmus office I may learn a thing or two of how other universities work and what are there demands for Erasmus students. I think a first post should be about the very first steps of applying for Erasmus and get your papers in order. And I got all the right answers for it.

Since I am, soon to be 6th times Erasmus student for both studies and placement I think I am the right person to give you some tips and maybe help the newbies of Erasmus life. So I will start right from the beginning with multiple examples from my university and ones I was a student or intern for.

Applying for Erasmus

This is a tricky one, it may go both ways. In my university ''Dimitrie Cantemir'' in Romania is pretty easy to apply and get accepted into Erasmus program. Basically people can go wherever they want, they don't care about the grades or your level of English as I know they do in other universities. What you need to do is show up at the Erasmus office and sign up for the program, they will give a list of what paperwork you need to prepare in order to go. It's a bit of a hustle in the beginning until you gather all the papers but after if you want to apply for second experience they already have everything in your file so is super easy.

The paperwork for the Erasmus file:

• A certificate with your all information about you, which department you studying, which year and your home address;
• A certificate from your English teacher with your level of English;
• The financial contract for the Erasmus grant;
• The Learning Agreement signed by both universities;
• Acceptance letter from the host university ( it can be printed no problem );
• A guarantee contract in case something happens with the signature of one of your parents;
• A motivational letter.

Now this paperwork is requested from my university and are standard type because we are in the European Union and we do not require visa's and medical insurance or other things. For example in Firat University, Turkey, they require too many documents because Turkey is not UE so their struggle is real into applying and getting accepted.

For Turkish students they require:

• Passport;
• Medical insurance;
• Visa for the receiving country;
• Learning Agreement;
• Acceptance letter ( in original );
• Financial contract;
• At least B2 in their English test ( and they have 2 tests during the period they apply and they get accepted );
• Accommodation letter;
• Papers with all their info's;
• Translation of some documents from Turkish to English.

I know for sure how hard is the process for the Turkish students because they cannot speak English very well so most of them fail at the English test so if that happens if very hard to go with Erasmus. And is not the case as my university that for example they gave us 12 months for studies and another 12 months for placement which you can split how you want and where you want as long as you are accepted.

An example of Acceptance letter

Usually there is a list that every university has bilateral agreements with and from there you can choose which university fits you better and apply. But for internships is very different and sometimes it can be a struggle, meaning that you must search for your own place and hopefully you will get accepted. Me searching for internship took me dozens of emails sent almost all Europe and Asia and from all of this maybe only 10 positive answers.

It is very hard if you are not UE, I saw on first hand how Turkish student struggle into getting accepted, it's a process that last maybe up to 3 months and for them they can go just one semester up to 2 semester for studies and only 2 months for internship during the summer, if you ask me that's completely bullshit. And that's not all I have seen problems regarding their documents, problems in the embassy with their medical insurance, for example embassy of Poland they accept just one type of insurance which must contain 5 important words inside ( responsibility is one of them). I didn't knew going with Erasmus is that hard for some.

The final paperwork

If you think applying and going with Erasmus is the hardest part, think again. All Erasmus experiences are over sooner than later and then you need to return back and have all the papers in order so you can receive the other 20% of the grant. I don't know exactly how is at all universities but in my first Erasmus 5 years ago I received all the grant in the beginning but before it was not Erasmus + was just simple Erasmus and they had other rules and principles. What I know from working at Erasmus office and being so many times an Erasmus student is that you need to receive this grant 2 weeks prior your departure in order to buy your ticket and necessary things. Now I heard stories from Romanian and other students that they were already in their chosen country and their money still didn't kick in, which is terrible. Maybe some of the students they rely 100% on this grant and their family cannot support the financial costs so in this case they are not able to go.

Regarding the final documents which you need to present at the end of the mobility are :

In my University

• the final learning agreement signed and stamped
• the attendance certificate

In other Universities

• the final learning agreement
• the attendance certificate
• the transcript of records
• the passport copy of the entree and exit stamps
• in some cases the receipts from everything you bought
• the flight tickets

The Romanian students who are currently at Firat University in Turkey told me in their university are so strict rules, they need to keep all the receipts and flight tickets and God forbid the plane ticket does not match the learning agreement date would be a problem and they need to gave the money back. But I will tell you a real story from my university how at least 2 students made their papers for 8 months placements and they fixed their papers and after 2 weeks came home to Romania. And one day our coordinator saw them downtown but didn't told them anything because they had the papers in order and also they didn't gave the grant back. Things like this happen for sure were the university closes their eyes to many things.

Here is a model of the final learning agreement for traineeship which must be filled and sign and stamped by the host university coordinator.

And the transcript of records for studies or transcript of work for placements for some universities which will contain the courses and grades as well as the signature.

Conclusion

In my case I was lucky enough to have a great university supporting me through all the process and even when it was barely impossible to go they still made it happen. And many of the cases there was no existing agreement between the university or company I wanted to go and still they trusted me and let me go and made possible now for them a new bilateral agreement and more opportunities for our students. Erasmus overall is a great program for students which can give them that push in life, if you are a student it's a must at least one time to sign up! And if you are smart enough like me to go multiple times it's a win win for you, financial and educational!

Here is a model of the Attendance certificate which is extremely important at the end of the mobility. Sorry for the quality I just took a snap of this from my laptop but you can made an idea of how it looks, of course this is from Firat University. Other universities they may look different!

Photo gallery