Erasmus+ Requirements

I summarized here some important informations for applying to Erasmus+. Everything here is related to my application process. Some things can be different in your year of applying or your university.

Home University: VUT Brno (Faculty of Civil Engineering)

Year for applying: 2023/24

Away University: Østfold University College (Norway)

So what should you do if you wanna try Erasmus?

1. Research

It's always good to be prepared. So what I did first, was a detailed research for important informations.

The best in the beginning is to go to your home university's website and find a page with Erasmus+ (study) stay. There you will find the most important informations:

application deadline and conditions.

Application deadline is the last day, that you can send an application for Erasmus+ stay, so it's really important for you to remember this date and send an application before this day.

The first round is usually a half year before the year you are applying for. For example for the year 2023/24 (autumn 2023 and spring 2024) the first round was in January 2023.

Conditions for applying can be different on every university, so you must also look at this.

The main conditions for applying to Erasmus+ at VUT Brno (for year 2023/24) were:

1. Length of the stay at least 3 months

2. Place of residence: EU, EEA and candidate countries (you should find a list with of all the countries, that you can apply)

3. Academic average up to 2.4 (the smaller the better for you)

4. The relevant language exam of the corresponding level (every away university is setting this, for example my away university (Østfold University College) demanded the B2 level of English, this is the language in which you will have your studies abroad)

5. Completed study obligations

If you know, that you will fulfill all of the conditions, than you can start to think about the away university you want to apply. There are many of them, so if you don't know, you can just go university by university, visit their website, look at the Google Maps, things, that the university offers, also university societies, events and more. It's really up to you, where you wanna go.

In the application, you are choosing 3 universities, according to your preferences. So find 3 unversities that you like, but put the university, where you wanna go the most on the 1st place.

2. Application - home university

Now you are probably at your university's system and have an online application for Erasmus+

in front of you. That's a success! All you need to do now, is to fill all the informations about you, on which university you wanna go and send a short motivational text.

For inspiration, here is mine:

My name is Barbora Kománková and I study Master's program Environmentally Advanced Buildings

at Faculty of Civil Engineering VUT Brno in Czech Republic. I would like to be a part of the Erasmus+ program and get new experiences from abroad.

I would like to study in Scandinavia for a while, because I would really like to know, how's living and studying there. As my priority school, I chose Østfold University College in Norway, where the offered courses are closest to my study program and to the topic of renewable energies, which I’ll be using in my thesis next year. Another main reason for me to take the Erasmus+ opportunity is to improve my english and maybe learn another language, so I could have more options to work abroad in the future and more opportunities to travel in my future employment.

I would also like to meet new people, find new friends and take the opportunity to play volleyball

with one of the University volleyball teams as I play volleyball here in Czech Republic.

Now, if you sent the application at your home university, then congratulations!

You can now chill for a while, until you'll get the results and nominations - the date

should be also on the website, so save the date! It's usually within 14 days from the deadline.

3. Application - away university

Now when you have the results and nominations, you finally know on which university

will you go, woohoo! And now it's finally getting tough.

Before you send the application to your away university, you must be nominated by your home university and this is called the nomination deadline. And for me, the school took care of it, but to be sure, check with your own university how it works there. (For me, this was March 1 - April 15, 2023)

Then you have to check the application deadline of your away university by going to the university's website. This is really important! Also check what is the process there of

applying. (For me, this was May 1st, 2023)

You will also need a Transcript of Records - a document with your study results (in English).

After you'll get an email, that you've been nominated by your home university, you must send an application to your away university (by the process, that you found on their website) before the application deadline.

4. Learning Agreement (LA/OLA)

This is the most important document. You must fill the online form of this document - "OLA".

You should find the link for this on the away university's website and the process of filling at your home university's website. You can always ask your departmental coordinator for a help.

You should look at the courses that your away university offers for the semester and year you are applying and choose from them. Important thing is also the minimum of credits your home university requires, so watch out for this. Also some away universities can requires a minimum of credits per semester. (For VUT Brno, the minimum is 18 credits, that's cca 3 courses)

5. Participation Agreement

2-3 weeks before leaving, everyone has to sign a Participation Agreement, which contains main informations and conditions about participating the Erasmus+ and also the informations about the Erasmus grand (how much money you will receive from your home university for the stay.

For signing this document, you will need to bring the Acceptance Letter (email, that you got from the away university) and printed Learning Agreement (signed by you, your home university and away university).

6. Individual study plan

You should also have an individual study plan settled at you home university.

7. Health Insurance

One of the last things you need to do, is to go get a health insurance for the whole stay in your chosen country. This could be one of the bigger expenses before leaving, but you can always look at more insurance companies and compare which one is the best for you.

8. Travel Ticket

Choose the way of your way of transportation to the country of your stay and look on the plane / bus / train ticket soon. It's always better to buy the ticket like a month before leaving, so you can find it cheaper.

For my way to Norway, I choosed the green way of travel. I went to Norway by Flixbus, which was a 22-hours journey, but was quite cheaper than a plane. It was an experience, but on the way back I will probably take a plane. :D

A Summary

There are many things to do before going on Erasmus. I maybe didn't name all of them and every university also has their own conditions, so it's definitely the best to make a research on your own. But trust me, all of this will be really worth it in the end!

Follow my journey also on Instagram: @bk_artphotos