ERASMUS+ traineeships in program countries

Unlike studying abroad with Erasmus, spending time abroad on a traineeship (internship at a company, carrying out practical research for your final thesis, research placement, practical year, clinical practice, working as an assistant teacher) is eligible for funding from the first semester onwards. We would recommend, however, studying at least one academic year at FAU before commencing a traineeship abroad. You should be sufficiently proficient in the working language and/or the language of the country you intend visiting.

Students may be granted Erasmus+ funding (for program countries and partner countries) more than once as detailed below:

• Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, doctoral degree/PhD: a total of 12 months in each period of study can be spent studying and/or taking part in a traineeship abroad. This corresponds to a maximum of 3 x 12 = 36 months.
• Teaching degree, state examination: 24 months for either studying or taking part in a traineeship abroad before completing the first degree. A further 12 months are possible when studying for a doctoral degree, in other words a maximum total of 24 + 12 = 36 months.

You are entitled to funding if you are enrolled at FAU for a degree program with the aim of obtaining a university degree (including a doctoral degree) and are planning a traineeship relevant or applicable to your degree program in another country within Europe (see list of possible host countries below). There are no restrictions as to nationality. Funding is only available for full-time traineeships according to the laws of the host country.

Recent graduates can also apply for funding for a traineeship abroad provided the following requirements are met:

• The application for funding is submitted during the final year of study
• The traineeship is to be started and completed within one year of completing the respective period of study
• The maximum period for Erasmus+ funding (see above) has not already been completed in the previous period of study

Due to the limited financial resources, funding traineeships for graduates takes a lower priority.

Funding is provided for traineeships in companies, organizations, universities/institutions of higher education, research institutions, hospitals, educational institutions, pharmacies, law practices, embassies, etc. in Erasmus program countries, i.e. in member states of the European Union including the overseas regions of the Netherlands and France as well as Greenland (Denmark). Funding is also provided for traineeships in Iceland, Lichtenstein, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.

Traineeships can be carried out in any institution based in one of the program countries acting either in the employment market or in areas relating to general and vocational education or youth work. These must, however, have their place of jurisdiction in the host country. If you intend doing your traineeship at an institute of higher education, it must hold a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE).

Research placements at institutes of higher education are also possible. However, students should note that they must not be enrolled at the respective institute of higher education.

If a traineeship or practical dissertation or thesis work is done at institutes of higher education in Switzerland, there is the option of applying directly to the respective university for funding under the Swiss-European Mobility Program. Please contact the host university.

Funding is not available for traineeships at:

• EU institutions and other EU facilities including specialized agencies
• Institutions administering EU programs (e.g. national Erasmus+ agencies)

The traineeship must last at least a total of 60 funding days. Funding is only available for full-time traineeships according to the laws of the host country. At the current time, funding is only available for traineeships lasting a maximum of 6 months.

That means, for example, funding runs from October 2 until December 1 or from March 15 until May 14. No other funding is available. Information for students of medicine: half rotations as part of the year of practical training (PJ) usually only last 56 days, which means they are too short.

If you complete your traineeship in less than 2 months, you are obliged to pay back the entire grant. An extension is possible, but must be applied for at least 4 weeks before the traineeship is planned to end.

Please inform us in good time of any changes to the duration of your stay, we need written confirmation from the organization hosting your traineeship. We will then re-calculate your grant.

Any differences are then settled with the final installment, depending on the funds we have available. There is no guarantee that we will be able to extend your grant.

You are free to choose the starting and finishing date of your traineeship yourself. We strongly recommend completing traineeships in the lecture-free period. If you intend to complete a traineeship during the lecture period, you must apply beforehand for leave of absence. Funding is not available for traineeships once you have completed the (individual) standard duration of study.

Funding is granted as long as sufficient financing is available. Funds are allocated according to the order in which applications are received. Incomplete applications are moved to the end of the queue when allocating funds.

Funding for the Erasmus+ traineeship is paid in two installments. 70 percent of the total is paid out before the traineeship, the outstanding 30 percent are then paid by bank transfer once you have completed your traineeship and your report and traineeship certificate have been received. You are still eligible for Erasmus+ funding even if during the traineeship you receive funding from a private or public foundation, a BAföG international grant or remuneration from the institution where you are doing the traineeship. You are not, however, entitled to other funding from the EU at the same time.

You receive a partial scholarship, in other words a contribution towards the cost of living, with the amount of funding determined according to the respective group of countries (1 funding month = 30 calendar days, irrespective of whether the calendar month has 28, 29 or 31 days).

Country groups and funding amounts for traineeships in the funding period 2024

• Country group 1: 750 EUR/funding month
  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
• Country group 2: 690 EUR/funding month
  Estonia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
• Country group 3: 690 EUR/funding month
  Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey
• In the event of additional costs incurred for spending time abroad for people with disabilities (as of 20%) or chronic illnesses, it is possible to apply for additional top-up funding (a separate application is required) or for funding covering all costs actually incurred.
• Students who choose to travel abroad or back home using environmentally friendly means of transport, such as bus, train, bike or car sharing are eligible for “green travel” funding for up to 6 travel days in addition to their normal Erasmus+ funding.  Further information is available on the DAAD website.

Special funding available from Erasmus+ comprises a basic top-up in funds for:

• People with a degree of disability over 20% and those with chronic illnesses
• Students with children
• Students who are the first in their family to study for a degree
• Working students (certain formal requirements must be met)

A separate application for special funding has to be submitted to the Office for International Affairs. Please contact the Mobility team for further information.

The following groups are eligible to apply for funding based on real costs, up to a maximum of 15,000 euros per semester and 30,000 euros per study year and per mobility:

• People with a disability of 50% or more and chronic illnesses
• Students going abroad with one or more children

In addition, these people can conduct a funded visit abroad in order to research the situation in the host country before submitting their application. Information is available from the university coordinator Bianca Köndgen.  As applications must be received by the funding provider no later than 2 months before you start your exchange, we would advise you to get in touch well in advance.

Useful information about universities with disabled access is available on the website of the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education.

• To ensure that your application is successful, please send the following information to mobility@fau.de with the subject line: “Pre-registration Erasmus-SMP, SURNAME, first name”:
  • Surname, first name
  • Date of birth
  • Email address
  • Student registration no.
  • Degree program at FAU
  • Exact date of planned stay (to the day)
  • Exact name of host institution, including country
  • Your traineeship contract or confirmation of traineeship (or alternatively our template for the confirmation of traineeship) indicating that it is a full-time position of at least 35 hours per week.
  • Your confirmation from your department that your internship is a compulsory internship or can be credited towards your studies.
• You will then receive an email with a link for an online application via “Mobility Online” and further information about the process. Your data are processed in accordance with EU data protection guidelines.
• Applications can be handed in to the Office at any time, but can only be processed once the trainee position has been confirmed (employment/traineeship contract or confirmation of traineeship) and all application documents have been submitted.
• Applications for Erasmus+ funding are processed according to the date on which they are received. When allocating funding, attention is paid to when the documents were submitted and whether they are complete and consistent. Please inform us in your application if you are classed as having a disability or suffer from a chronic illness.

Places are allocated in a fair and transparent manner by the Central Office for International Affairs (RIA). The selection criteria are divided into qualitative and formal criteria.

The formal criteria are:

• Documents must be complete
• Correct information must be given
• Information must be plausible
• Deadlines must be met, any other agreements complied with, and applicants must have the required language skills.

The qualitative criteria are:

• The applicant must be motivated to do the traineeship for reasons relating to their subject and their career
• The traineeship must be incorporated into the applicant’s course of studies.

• Online language tests and language courses are available for the following working languages:
  BG, CS, DA, DE, EL, EN, ES, ET, FI, FR, GA, HR, HU, IT, LT, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, SV
• These are compulsory for all students/graduates after selecting / before starting their mobility as well as after completing their stay abroad. They cannot be replaced by other tests. The service is currently unavailable due to technical problems.
• The online test is not a deciding factor when deciding on funding for the Erasmus+ program and does not apply to native speakers of the language spoken in the host country. An online language test is not required for working languages for which no online test is available.
• As the test is only meant to be taken in the working language, there is no need to take a language test in the language spoken in the host country if the working language during the traineeship is German.
• The language test is intended for candidates who have had Erasmus+ funding approved, in order to document their proficiency in the language. It should be taken both before and after the stay abroad in order to be able to compare results and, if applicable, demonstrate the progress the participants have made.
• All applicants will be informed when exactly the online language test is to be taken after registering in the online application portal.
• The idea behind the compulsory language tests at the beginning and end of the time abroad is for the European Commission to be able to track changes in the language proficiency of the scholarship holders.
• Depending on the level of the language and availability of language course licenses, you are given the opportunity to take an online language course free of charge before and during your traineeship.

Please contact the supervisor at your institute or faculty if you have any questions about having your traineeship accredited towards your degree program. The Central Office for International Affairs (RIA) arranges for your stay abroad to be included automatically in your diploma supplement.

Check first of all with someone responsible at your institute or your faculty which specific requirements have to be met when working on your final thesis or ensuring that the traineeship counts towards your degree. If you have already received confirmation of your traineeship place, complete our form confirming that is a compulsory internship or can be accredited towards your studies.

You are not allocated a traineeship place as part of the scholarship. It is up to you to organize a traineeship place abroad before applying.

Further information:

• Information on looking for a traineeship
• Currently available traineeships
• FAU Career Service – correcting application documents in English, taking part in application workshops

Once you have been offered a place, you should apply to International Affairs (RIA) and register online via “Mobility Online”. You need to upload certain documents to the portal (confirmation of enrollment, traineeship contract or confirmation of traineeship with host institution etc.). Your data are recorded and processed in accordance with data protection regulations and afterwards you will receive a personalized EU Learning/Mobility Agreement for Traineeships via the online portal. In addition, you will also receive an email from the EU instructing you to register for one of the compulsory OLS language tests (see section called “Language learning” above).

Take the required language test and upload the result which you receive as a PDF to the application portal. Complete the Learning/Mobility Agreement for Traineeships in consultation with the institution where you are to do the traineeship and the person responsible for accrediting the traineeship at your institute or faculty. Please note that all parties involved have to sign before the traineeship starts.

Upload a high resolution PDF scan of the Learning/Mobility Agreement signed by all parties at the latest one month before the traineeship is due to start.

Once all documents are complete, you can access your grant agreement via the online portal, as well as an official certificate of confirmation and any documents you may require to apply for a visa to the host country. Please download a copy of the Grant Agreement and check it for accuracy. If everything is correct, return to the online portal and digitally sign the copy deposited there.  In turn, the Office for International Affairs digitally signs the Grant Agreement as well and uploads the bilaterally signed Grant Agreement to the application portal. 70 percent of the agreed grant is then transferred to you in advance. Now you can go abroad and start your traineeship as planned.

Shortly before the traineeship is due to end, you will be provided with a template for the required Traineeship Certificate via the application portal. This must be issued and signed by the institution where you are doing your traineeship and you must then upload it.

At the end of your stay abroad you will be asked to take a final OLS language test. There is no requirement to take a final language test if you are a native speaker of the language and were not required to take an initial language test or if you are not a native speaker but achieved level C2 in the initial language test. Everyone else receives an email from the OLS system with a PDF document, which then has to be uploaded to the online portal of the Central Office of International Affairs.

The same applies to the EU Survey. After submitting the survey, you receive a PDF by email from the EU Commission. Please also upload this into the online portal. RIA then checks the data and the grant is adjusted if necessary. You are provided with a final confirmation via the application portal and the second installment or final payment is transferred or you are asked to make a repayment, as the case may be.