What exactly is Erasmus plus, and why is it useful? ACS – ASOMI College of Sciences helps to investigate and clear it out for students and trainees to understand. ACS is also involved in projects involving many European universities and accredited research institutions. one of ACS priorities is global education, which concerns student mobility. Therefore, let us discover Erasmus Plus more in detail.
What is Erasmus Plus?
Programmes such as Erasmus Plus help organise student mobility as it is designed to help manage student mobility and exchange. Thanks to Erasmus plus, one can improve their communication, cultural as well as language skills. All the aforementioned skills can be summed to the general soft skills set that, no matter the country, are valuable in the eyes of employers. One can gain job experience abroad, which constitutes another important value once the students approach the labour market.
The opportunity is opened to all kinds of learners, from Bachelor to master’s degree students and PhD candidates. Besides, Master students who decide to study abroad for the entire duration of their degree are eligible for Erasmus Plus Master Loan.
The benefits and periods of studying abroad.
Erasmus also has online linguistic support, which helps students study the local language or are required to use it for learning. Students with health issues may also receive additional funding.
The minimum period for studying abroad is of 2 months, and the maximum is of 12 months. One can also adapt to a blended version, combining the online studying period with the physical one. Even if the study abroad period must not be longer than 12 months within one cycle of study, one can benefit from Erasmus plus several times. That discourse applies to students as well as trainees. So, also trainees are allowed to participate in Erasmus plus study abroad programmes. In other words, the only thing that counts is that they do not spend more than 12 months abroad at a time.
The study cycle is to be intended as a level of study, or at least one of them. The European Qualifications Framework defines these levels. These cycles are divided into Bachelor, master’s and doctoral degrees and are called the first, second and third cycles. Moreover, when it comes to full-cycle programmes such as medicine or architecture, one can go abroad for 24 months per cycle.
The students from the first cycle have to be at least in their second year of studies, and one must be registered in a higher education institution. Moreover, they must have their degree registered. Studying abroad has to be relevant to one’s degree studies and helpful in improving one’s personality.
Other policies
The home institution, as well as the receiving one, haver to stipulate an agreement. Both parties have to be accredited by the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, and they have to attend to the policies of the charter for that. The receiving and sending institutions must furthermore sign a learning agreement where both parties agree on their duties. After the institutions have signed that paper, the students willing to leave for the Erasmus programme receive an Erasmus Plus Student Charter explaining their rights and obligations. After the studying abroad period, the sending institution has to receive approval from the receiving organisation reporting that the period and Erasmus plus programmes are over. The sending association has to recognise the students’ credits necessary for the programme before the mobility.
Moreover, students can ask the Erasmus Grand Plus, which financially supports Erasmus students travelling abroad. There are supports for students going on a traineeship and/or students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Besides, the student traineeships are also open to fresh graduates, not only to ungraduated learners (even from second or third level). These kinds of traineeships, such as internships and others, improve language skills and other soft skills and allow the students to be entrepreneurial.
In other words
In other words, Erasmus plus is an excellent possibility for studying and gaining experience abroad. One can also apply to traineeship projects and participate in internships abroad. These skills come in handy once the students are fresh graduates looking for a job since this kind of experience gives students a set of reversible skills.
