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Studying under the ERASMUS Program

Erasmus+ allows students who have completed their first year of study at a European higher education institution to study in another participating country, with the aim of developing their social and cultural skills and improving their career prospects. They learn about the academic system in a foreign university (student places) as well as its approaches to teaching and learning. The exchanges are funded in all countries participating in the program.

The Benefits of Studying Abroad with Erasmus

• academic accreditation of the courses you take abroad Orientation framework for the accreditation of courses and examinations taken abroad by students of Osnabrück University (PDF, 294 kB)
• exemption from paying student fees at the host university
• in some cases funding to cover the higher cost of living abroad
• support in the preparation phase (culture, language, organization)
• additional funding for students with children
• additional funding for disabled students from 20% disability upwards or chronic illness
• additional funding for working students and first academics (students from non-academic parents)

Erasmus+ allows students to spend time abroad in the program countries at any time during their studies:

• up to 12 months in the bachelor, master, doctoral studies respectively or 24 months for single-phase programs of study (state examinations etc).
• periods of study abroad in Europe lasting 3-12 months (several periods possible).
• students wishing to complete their entire MA studies abroad within Europe can apply for a low-interest loan to support them.

Requirements for an Erasmus Stay Abroad

• you must be enrolled at a German university as a regular student
• you must have completed your first year of study
• you must study at a partner university that has an Erasmus inter-institutional agreement with your home university (see University Places)
• your home and host university must possess a valid Erasmus university charter (ECHE)

Application

University Places

 

Organizing your ERASMUS stay abroad:

Accommodation: As a rule, the host university will help you to find accommodation - usually by offering you a place in student accommodation or by providing you with other assistance (e.g. providing addresses and contacts) to help you look for accommodation on the open housing market. There are also useful internet portals abroad that can be used to find rooms or apartments. If you would like to rent out your own room during your stay abroad, the International Office can act as a contact for incoming students.

Entrance Requirements and Visas: Your first port of call for finding out about entry requirements and visas is the Foreign Office or the embassy/consular mission of your host country. If you require a visa for your stay in the host country, you will usually need a letter of invitation from the host university to apply for the visa. You must apply for the visa yourself, but the staff at the International Office will be happy to assist you in any way they can.

Travel and Safety Information: Before you start your stay abroad, please contact the German Foreign Office for travel and safety information regarding your host country. If necessary, you should consider registering in the "Elefand" crisis prevention list for the duration of your stay.

Insurance: As a participant in the Erasmus program, you are obliged to ensure that you possess adequate health, accident and liability insurance cover for the duration of your stay. The European Social Security Agreement provides you with general health insurance cover for other European countries. However, it may be advisable to take out additional insurance, as not all insurance claims are covered in all cases. You should also check your (existing) accident and liability insurance protection for validity abroad and, if necessary, supplement it with additional insurance to cover your time abroad. Participants in the Erasmus program are entitled to participate in the "DAAD Group Insurance" policy (health/accident/liability insurance) at their own expense.

Problems during your time abroad: Please contact us promptly if you have any problems during your stay (e.g. housing, financing, illness, etc.). Only if we know about existing problems early enough can we support you as best we can.

Erasmus Grant for Stays Abroad in the academic year 2023/24 and onwards

The size of the Erasmus grant for stays abroad in the 2023/24 academic year and onwards has been set by the Erasmus National Agency in Germany (DAAD) for all of Germany. If the amount of funding is too small to support all outgoing Erasmus students, grant recipients will be selected on the basis of priority.

Erasmus Grant for Stays Abroad per country

Group	Countries	Mobility Grant
1 – high cost of living	Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden	€600 /month €20 /day
2 – medium cost of living	Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain	€540 /month €18 /day
3 – low cost of living	Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey	€490 /month €16,33 /day

Any changes to the above information will be published here as soon as it is available to us.

Erasmus Grant for Stays Abroad in the academic year 2024/25 and onwards

The size of the Erasmus grant for stays abroad in the 2023/24 academic year and onwards has been set by the Erasmus National Agency in Germany (DAAD) for all of Germany. If the amount of funding is too small to support all outgoing Erasmus students, grant recipients will be selected on the basis of priority. Attention: Countries within the groups have changed.

Erasmus Grant for Stays Abroad per country

Group	Countries	Mobility Grant
1 – high cost of living	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, (Great Britain)	€600 /month €20 /day
2 – medium cost of living	Estonia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain	€540 /month €18 /day
3 – low cost of living	Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Turkey	€540 /month €18 /day

Any changes to the above information will be published here as soon as it is available to us.

Special Erasmus Grants 

Erasmus+ is designed to promote equal opportunities and inclusion. It therefore seeks to assist learners from disadvantaged backgrounds (in the Erasmus+ program in Germany this applies to single parents while studying abroad) and with special needs to access the program.

Disabled students from 20% disability upwards, chronic illness, first-time academics, working students and students with children are therefore entitled to receive a subsidy for additional costs during an Erasmus stay abroad (a “social top-up” of €250 /month). Please contact the International Office for information and advice.

Useful information on disability-friendly universities from the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education is available here.

Erasmus Online Linguistic Support

The European Commission has made an online language test available for Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish.

This test is compulsory for all students/graduates both after their selection/before the beginning of their exchange as well as after the end of the stay. However, it is not a selection criterion for funding under the Erasmus+ program and does not apply to native speakers. After the participants have been selected for funding in Erasmus+, the language test is intended as a placement test to assess their current language proficiency. It should be taken both before and at the end of students’ stay abroad in order to obtain comparable results and to record any progress made by the sponsored participants in their foreign language acquisition.

The systematic monitoring of the development of individual language skills throughout Europe allows for the effectiveness of Erasmus+ to be evaluated. Agreements between partner universities/institutions in the Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) and Learning Agreement (LA) on specific levels of language proficiency should not be confused with and are not covered by online testing. These language skills are assessed using different methods as part of the student selection process in the university departments.

Further Information on Participating in the Erasmus Program:

The rights and obligations of students in the Erasmus+ program are set out in the „Erasmus+ Student Charter (PDF, 494 kB)“ which is given to each student before they start their stay abroad.

All grant recipients who have participated in an Erasmus+ exchange are obliged to prepare a report using the Mobility Tool Plus at the end of their stay abroad and to submit it together with any supporting documentation (e.g. on the length of stay).

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