Inter-institutional Agreement between Institutions from Programme and Partner Countries

Erasmus+ Programme

Inter-institutional agreement

Key Action 1

Learning mobility for higher education students and staff

between EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme

and third countries not associated to the Programme

• KA171

The partners agree to update the mobility data, whenever possible, by no later than the end of January in the preceding academic year formally via an amendment of the inter-institutional agreement.

Number of student and staff mobility periods

In accordance with the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, partners commit to charge no additional fees to students:

• In connection with the organisation or administration of their Erasmus+ mobility period. Any violation to this rule by the partners shall be brought to the attention of the National Agency and may lead to the termination of the participation in the project linked to this inter-institutional agreement, if no corrective measures are taken.
• For tuition, registration, examinations or access to laboratory and library facilities. Nevertheless, they may be charged small fees on the same basis as local students for costs such as insurance, student unions and the use of miscellaneous material.

• Partners commit to doing outreach to participants with fewer opportunities to encourage their participation in the Programme and, where needed, agree on a common strategy to meet indicative inclusion targets.
• Partners commit to running selection procedures for mobility activities that are fair, transparent and documented, ensuring equal opportunities to participants eligible for mobility. The calls for applications must be public and an appeal procedure must be in place. Under no circumstances, shall applicants and selected participants incur any costs during application and selection procedures.
• In the case of student mobility, partners will ensure that other elements beyond academic merit are taken into account to ensure participation of students with fewer opportunities. Selection criteria and procedures must be clearly communicated in the call for applications.

The receiving institution will send its decision within and no later than 5 weeks.

The partners commit to have a fair, transparent, coherent and documented application and selection procedure outlined in their respective websites and regularly updated, together with the contact details of the relevant department:

The Higher Education Institution(s) in an EU Member State or associated third country commit(s) to:

• Ensure that students are aware of their rights and obligations as defined in the Erasmus+ Student Charter¹¹
• Arrange travels or provide a pre-financing of the grant to reduce the costs that participants need to cover upfront, to the extent possible

All involved Higher Education Institutions commit to the following preparation and support measures. Information and assistance can be provided by the contact points and information sources in the table below:

• The receiving institution will guide incoming mobile participants in finding accommodation, according to the requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education. It is considered best practice to use the individual grant to pay for the deposit of dormitories
• Ensure that outgoing mobile participants are well prepared for their activities abroad, including blended mobility, by undertaking activities to achieve the necessary level of linguistic proficiency and develop their intercultural competences
• Provide assistance related to obtaining visas, when required, for incoming and outgoing mobile participants, according to the requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and, if needed, use project funds in the most inclusive way to cover related costs partially or in full
• Provide assistance related to obtaining insurance, when required, for incoming and outgoing mobile participants, according to the requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and use project funds in the most inclusive way to cover related costs partially or in full. The receiving institution will inform mobile participants of cases in which insurance cover is not automatically provided.
• The receiving institution will inform about the existence of relevant infrastructure and provide support to incoming participants with fewer opportunities
• Provide appropriate mentoring and support arrangements for mobile participants, including for those pursuing blended mobility, as well as integrate incoming mobile participants into the wider student community and in the Institution’s everyday life
• Provide participants with their grant as soon as possible upon arrival, including if necessary a first payment using cash, check or similar to avoid delays linked to opening a bank account
• The institutions commit to encourage participants to act as ambassadors of the Erasmus+ Programme and share their mobility experience, e.g. by providing information about the existence of Erasmus+ alumni networks, inviting former participants in promotion activities, etc.

• Ensure recognition for activities satisfactorily completed. [Please specify the recognition tools that will be used, e.g. the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.]

• Ensure that student and staff mobility for education or training purposes is based on a learning agreement for students and a mobility agreement for staff validated in advance between the sending and receiving institutions or non-academic organisations and the mobile participants
• Accept all activities indicated in the learning agreement, or according to the learning outcomes of the modules completed abroad, as automatically counting towards the degree, provided these have been satisfactorily completed by the mobile student
• Partners commit to taking measures to ensure recognition of student and staff mobility upon their return, including:
  • Providing incoming mobile students and their sending institutions with free-of-charge transcripts. The documents must be in English or in the language of the sending institution and containing a full, accurate and timely record of the achievements at the end of the mobility period
  • A Transcript of Records will be issued by the receiving institution no later than 5 weeks after the assessment period has finished at the receiving HEI.
  • Providing students on traineeships and staff with a certificate for the activities completed. It is recommended to issue a certificate towards the end of the mobility period

It is recommended that receiving institutions provide the statistical distribution of grades or make the information available through EGRACONS according to the descriptions in the ECTS users’ guide₁₂. The table will facilitate the interpretation of each grade awarded to students and will facilitate the credit transfer by the sending institution.