What is Erasmus+?
Erasmus+, you must have heard it somewhere, right? With this programme you can get the chance to study abroad and receive a grant that will help you with the costs. Erasmus+ is one of the most successful projects of the European Union and nowadays offers different possibilities for students to study and carry out traineeships in programme countries.
The mobility period can last for up to 12 months and you can apply if you are a student on first or second study cycle, since we as a university don’t have a third cycle of studies.
For a more detailed explanation on the Erasmus+ programme you can check out the video below, or visit the EC website.
Conditions and Duration
The programme is intended for all our students who are eligible at the moment of realization of mobility and fulfill the criteria to be enrolled at least in the second year of studies of the first cycle. By studying abroad with Erasmus+, you can improve your communication, language and inter-cultural skills and gain soft skills highly valued by future employers.
The monthly amount of the funds for the students may vary and depends on the destination the student has chosen. The minimum period for student mobility is 2 months, and the maximum period is 12 months. You can benefit of an exchange abroad with Erasmus+ multiple times, either as a student or as a trainee, but your total time abroad (study abroad periods included) may not exceed 12 months within one cycle of study.
Our students typically go on a mobility period of five months (one semester).
Full Automatic Recognition
For the outgoing students, all the ECTS credits they gained during the period of the mobility are automatically recognized as agreed in the Learning Agreement and confirmed with the Transcript of records. We use the obtained credits for accumulation purposes in order to satisfy the curricular requirements.
The IRO receives the documents from the outgoing students. It submits the Transcript of records and additional documents to the Student Affairs Office and asks for a decision from the Dean on this matter. The Dean takes into consideration the grading system of the other institution, compares it to our grading system and confirms the recognition of the ECTS credits in a document called Decision that remains in the student’s file.
After the Decision document is issued, without any additional work of the student, these credits will be properly transferred into their study programme and contained in their Transcript of record and the Diploma Supplement.
Financial support
You may receive an Erasmus+ grant as a contribution to your travel and subsistence costs. It may vary according to differences in living costs between your country and the destination country, the number of students applying for a grant, the distance between countries and the availability of other grants.
As an Erasmus+ student, you will be exempted from fees for tuition, registration, examinations, and charges for access to laboratories or libraries at the receiving institution. Small fees for insurance or student union membership may still apply.
How to apply
You can apply through the International Relations Office of our university. We make sure that all candidates are selected in a fair and transparent way.
Arrangements for students with physical, mental or health-related conditions
Students with physical, mental or health-related conditions may apply for additional funding after they have been selected for a mobility period.
What more you need to know?
It is best if we explain all the unknown words in the beginning, in order to help you understand Erasmus+ better.
We as a university need to possess an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education in order for you to be able to use the benefits of the Erasmus+. Our university holds an Erasmus Charter which guarantees the quality of the programme. By signing the Erasmus Charter we agreed to set certain fundamental principles and agreed to give full recognition to the activities the student has carried out abroad. This means that we will make sure that the grades you receive abroad are transferred into your student file here, without any additional work from your part.
Please don’t confuse the previous document with the Erasmus+ Student Charter. The Student Charter is an additional document that shares information on your rights and obligations and informs you about what you can expect from your sending and receiving organisation at each step of your mobility. While we as a university are obliged to respect the principles of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, you are bound to respect the principles of the Student Charter.
The International Relations Offices from the sending and receiving institutions will guide you through the whole process, and will help you with prepare the necessary documents. You will be mainly in contact with the Erasmus+ coordinators from both universities, and you will need to consult them for all aspects of your mobility.
Before you go on a mobility, you have to sign a Learning Agreement, and its purpose is to provide a transparent and efficient preparation of the exchange to make sure you receive recognition for the activities successfully completed abroad.
Access to Erasmus+ Online Linguistic Support will help you learn the language used for your studies. OLS is available for all European official languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Estonian, Spanish, Finnish, French, Irish Gaelic, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian and Swedish.
When choosing a university for your mobility abroad, you should know the difference between programme and partner countries, because different rules may apply.
The National Agencies are the link between the European Commission and the higher education institutions. The aim of the National Agency for European educational programs and mobility is to promote and implement the European educational programs into the Republic of North Macedonia.