Every year, a large number of students leave to study for a few months or a year in another country thanks to the European Erasmus programme. If universities generally organize information meetings at the beginning of the school year, it is never too early to prepare. The German daily The time summarizes the good questions to ask yourself before departure and the steps to take.
When to start the process?
A golden rule to start: the longer you want to leave, the more you have to do it in advance:
“You have to plan about a year and a half in advance when you want to spend a year abroad and about a year for a semester abroad. Participating in a summer school, during the holidays, can be organized in just a few weeks.”
You can find information on the Erasmus + site and ask your university, as well as the one where you would like to stay, what the registration procedures are. Please note that the academic year does not start at the same time everywhere. In Scandinavia, for example, the spring semester starts as early as January.
Choose your destination well
- Check which are the partner institutions of your university. Choosing a partner university allows you to transfer your credits and have your results recognized without paying additional tuition fees. This also allows you to meet other students who have already done this exchange and thus obtain first-hand information on daily life and the teachings.
- Think about your language skills and the cost of living there.
- Dare to embark on a different experience, like going to study in a megalopolis if you come from a small town and vice versa. “The more the stay abroad deviates from the studies in his country, the more the experience is enriching”says Andreas Eimer, head of careers at the University of Münster.
- Don’t bet everything on the “brand” of your host university. In other words, don’t go to Harvard just for the prestige, but keep your professional goal in mind.
The criteria to take into account
- Don’t pay a deposit for your accommodation or take train or plane tickets until you’re absolutely sure you’ll be accepted and go.
- Remember to take out international health insurance with medical repatriation. We never know.
- Check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website for travel advice based on your destination.
“However, you can never plan for all the risks. You don’t even need to do that.” highlighted The time.
What if I want to drop out of my course?
It can happen. You must obviously inform your host university and your home university as well as the organization that awarded you a scholarship for your Erasmus if you have benefited from it.
If you cannot resume classes immediately in your country, do an internship while waiting for the following semester. You should also know that you may have to return your scholarship, unless you can justify a circumstance (illness, death in the family, natural disaster) beyond your control.