Erasmus+ grants for Traineeships

Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for academic year 2022-2023. This information will be updated mid June.

Conditions for Erasmus+ applications 

In order to qualify for a grant, you must at least comply with the following conditions:

• You must be registered in a study programme at Bachelor's or Master's level, or for a supplementary/Doctorate programme, which culminates with a diploma from a recognised institution of higher education (pre-master not applicable).
• The traineeship or courses taken at the receiving institution/enterprise must be integrated and recognized in your study programme in Utrecht.
• You have successfully completed a first year of higher education studies and started the second year.
• You will register for and complete a full-time (see below) study/work load at the receiving institution/enterprise.
• You will be physically present at the receiving institution and undertake your stay abroad in another country than your current country of residence or The Netherlands.

Language assessment

• Each Erasmus+ grantee must undertake an online language assessment both before and at the end of the mobility period if the language of instruction during studies abroad is one of the following: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Spanish or Swedish. Exceptions are made for native speakers in the language, but please know that the rules regarding exceptions are very strict.
• We will send you an invitation for the online test in due course. Your results do not influence whether you are eligible for the grant, but you do have to take the test as a requirement to complete your file. This is to see whether students' linguistic capacities improve during the exchange period, as this is an important pillar of the Erasmus+ programme. 

Restrictions 

• Under Erasmus+ the same student may receive grants for mobility periods totalling up to 12 months maximum in each cycle of study (bachelor, master, PhD), irrespective of the number and type of mobility activities. 
• Utrecht University does not award Erasmus+ Traineeship grants to students who will receive an internship allowance from the receiving organisation as high as the grant amount (see below) or more per month.
• The option for students to apply for an Erasmus+ grant for a Traineeship within the first year after graduation will be (selectively) available in 2021-2022. Please contact erasmus@uu.nl for more information.
• Traineeships at the European Union institutions and National Agencies for Erasmus+ are not eligible for Erasmus+ grants.

Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for academic year 2022-2023. This information will be updated mid June.

Grant Amount

The Erasmus+ grant is meant as a contribution to cover additional travel and living costs abroad. The grant amounts per month have been determined by the National Agency Erasmus+. In the table below you will find the amounts per traineeship month for each of the three country groups.

Special needs grant

Students for whom it is impossible to study abroad without additional support, due to any (diagnosed) health-related condition, can apply for extra financial assistance. Please contact erasmus{at}uu.nl for application procedures and conditions. 

Grant payments

The first payment will consist of 80% of the total grant amount. The total grant amount is the monthly amount for each full month abroad, plus 1/30 of the stated amount for each additional day. The first payment will be made out to you once you have received the notification that your grant has been conditionally approved (see also: step 5 of the Application Instructions below).

The second and last payment (20%) will be transferred after your exchange, and only once your file is complete and everything has been processed.

Please note: If the dates of your exchange are adjusted while you are abroad, then the difference in the Grant Amount will be established and the final payment will be adjusted accordingly. If it turns out that your actual grant period is much shorter than you initially stated on your Learning Agreement (by more than 20%), then you may have to pay back part of the already received Grant Amount to the university.

Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for academic year 2022-2023. This information will be updated mid June.

Grant application traineeship step-by-step

1. Before you can apply for an Erasmus+ grant, you need to register your traineeship/internship abroad period in OSIRIS Student. Go to the Stay abroad (Buitenland) section in OSIRIS and start a new request for Internship / research / other stay abroad. Do not forget to submit your application. 

2. You can continue preparing your grant application (step 3 and 4), but the online application for the Erasmus+ Traineeship grant (step 5) can only be started after your traineeship/internship registration has been approved by your faculty. More information on the internship registration can be obtained at the International Office of your faculty. Please contact them as soon as you have finished step 1. Contact details can be found on this page. 

3. Download the Learning agreement for Traineeships 2020-2021 (for UK-destinations in 2021-2022, and for Traineeships after graduation)
   Download the Learning agreement for Traineeships 2021-2022 (for all other Traineeships in 2021-2022)

4. Fill in the general parts of the document accurately and have it completed and signed by your UU (faculty) exchange coordinator or placement coordinator for the Sending Institution and your supervisor/coordinator at the Receiving Organisation. Digital and scanned signatures are allowed, if necessary you can arrange all per email.

5. Have your IBAN (International Bank Account Number) ready. You can find this number on your bank card or at your (online) bank statement. You MUST enter your IBAN in the online application, we cannot disburse an Erasmus+ grant without your IBAN! We prefer to transfer the grant to a Dutch bank account, because payments to foreign bank accounts take more time and require more bank details. If you have a non-Dutch account, you have to fill out the BIC/SWIFT and address for your bank, otherwise we cannot process the payment.

6. With your IBAN at hand and the Learning Agreement well prepared, you can start your online grant application in Osiris Student. Go to the Stay Abroad (Buitenland) section in Osiris and you will find the Grant option behind your (conditionally) approved Stay Abroad request. Fill out all the questions and upload all the correct documents. All uploads in Osiris have to be in a commonly used format (.docx, .pdf, .jpeg). ZIP files cannot be opened. 

7. Wait for us to inform you about your application. Sometimes, one or two things need to be adjusted in your application or documents before we can process your file further, but we will contact you if this is the case. If all is in order, we will e-mail you in due course to inform you that your application has been (conditionally) approved. Please be patient, as the Erasmus Office deals with many files at once, so it may take a while before you hear from us. 

8. Once you have received the e-mail that your application has been (conditionally) approved, find the time to read the Erasmus+ TRAINEESHIP timeline and instructions. This document will guide you through the Erasmus+ process and help you to keep (!) your Erasmus+ grant. For each stage in the procedure a new question or upload option will be opened in Osiris in due time.

9. Take the (first) online language test as soon as you receive the invitation by e-mail. You can read more on the mandatory language assessment under Programme criteria and in the Erasmus+ TRAINEESHIP timeline and instructions.

For UK destinations

If you are are planning a Traineeship at a UK destination then your Traineeship needs to last a minimum of 3 months.

For the application process, you need to use a different Learning Agreement (see point 1 above). 

When you get to point 4 (see above) you will go to the Stay Abroad (Buitenland) section in OSIRIS, where you will find the Grant option behind your Exchange request (unlike the Erasmus application, the Exchange request is under the current academic year). Here, you apply for the Erasmus+ grant, making sure that you use the correct application process: Erasmus+ TRAINEESHIP 2020-2021.

If you do not see the option to choose the 2020-2021 process, please send us an e-mail (erasmus@uu.nl) and we will manually add this option to your file. 

Note on dates: All the dates filled out in Osiris and on the Learning Agreement should be the real dates of your Traineeship period. Although you apply under last year's funds, you do not have to pretend your Traineeship took place in the previous academic year.

Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for academic year 2022-2023. This information will be updated mid June.

Application deadline

Deadlines for report requirements

Please note that the information below has not yet been updated for academic year 2022-2023. This information will be updated mid June.

Definitive grant award

Your Erasmus+ grant has been awarded conditionally and will only be definitively awarded after you have completed your entire file. This means you have to complete/upload the required report documents and assessments before the appropriate deadlines (see above).

The Timeline and instructions will guide you through all steps you must take to have your Erasmus+ grant awarded definitively, including the Report Requirements at the end of your Stay Abroad. If the grant was already conditionally awarded to you, then his document has already been sent to you by e-mail, but it can also be find below for reference:

Timeline and instructions

Erasmus+ TRAINEESHIP Timeline and Instructions (download)

• Please read the instructions carefully.
• Check the various deadlines.
• Be aware that some requirements are online reports or assessments, for which you will receive the invitation, link and deadline directly from the European Commission by e-mail.
• UU formats for the other obligatory report documents can be found below. Do NOT use other formats!

Report documents 

Traineeship certificate

If you graduate before January 2023 and want to do a Traineeship after your graduation, it may be possible to receive an Erasmus+ grant for your time abroad. This option may also become available for students graduating after that date. Please check back for more information at a later date.

Conditions

In order to qualify for a grant, you must at least comply with the following conditions:

• You must be registered at Utrecht University as a student (so not yet graduated) at the moment you apply for the grant.
• Your Traineeship takes place within a year after your graduation.
• You will be physically present at the receiving institution.
• You will undertake your Traineeship in a country other than the Netherlands, and other than your country of residence during your final year at UU.
• Your Traineeship comprises a full-time workload (according to the common rules in the country of destination, usually 38-40 hours per week).
• The duration of your Traineeship period is 3 months minimum.
• You agree to undertake an online language assessment both before and at the end of the mobility period in order to monitor progress in language competences, if the language of communication (traineeship) is Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Spanish or Swedish. Exceptions are made for native speakers in the language. You will receive a link to this test in due course.

Restrictions

• Under Erasmus+ the same student may receive grants for mobility periods totaling up to 12 months maximum in each cycle of study (bachelor, master, PhD), irrespective of the number and type of mobility activities. The Traineeship after graduation is counted within the study cycle in which the student applies for the grant (so the cycle from which you are about to graduate).
• Utrecht University does not award Erasmus+ Traineeship grants to students who will receive an internship allowance from the receiving organisation as high as the grant amount or more per month. (Grant amounts for Traineeships are listed per country above, under 'Grant Amount'.)
• Traineeships at the European Union institutions and National Agencies for Erasmus+ are not eligible for Erasmus+ grants.

Application process 

If you are eligible, and only once you have finalized your Traineeship plans with the receiving institution, then the application process is as follows:

• You apply for a Stay Abroad through Osiris Student.
• Once your faculty's International Office has approved your Stay Abroad application, send an e-mail to erasmus@uu.nl in which you include some details about your plans (at least: your graduation date, the country of destination, and the start- and end-date of the traineeship).
• We will open the correct application process for you in your Osiris file > the 2020-2021 process (which is the application process from last year, and so no longer available to other students).
• You fill out the Learning Agreement for Traineeships 2020-2021. Because you are undertaking a Traineeship after Graduation, you will choose box 3 in Table B of the Learning Agreement.
• Have this document signed by the correct parties: at the Receiving Institution this is your traineeship/internship your coordinator or supervisor, and at UU this is your faculty's International Officer. 
• You apply in Osiris under the 2020-2021 Erasmus application process, upload the signed Learning Agreement in your application, and submit your application by pressing the 'submit' button.
• All of the above steps need to be completed before your graduation date (this is a hard rule, and we cannot make exceptions), and at least six weeks prior to the start of your Traineeship. 
• You will hear from us in due course about your application. If any adjustments need to be made to your Learning Agreement, we will contact you about this as well.