Information for departments and colleges

There are two types of Erasmus activity for students: study exchanges and traineeships. Study exchanges require a bilateral agreement between the Oxford department and the partner institution. Traineeships do not require a bilateral agreement to be in place. However these should only be used to facilitate a task-based internship. Please see below for more details.

Erasmus study exchanges

Erasmus study exchanges are arranged between two universities and must be for a minimum of 3 months. This covers students to undertake a period of study at the other institution, for which they are able to receive a monthly Erasmus grant. 

Erasmus study exchanges at undergraduate level are only possible for courses that can incorporate a period abroad into their current structure. For graduate exchanges consideration needs to be given to limits posed by the collegiate system and the need for a supervisor.

Only Medieval and Modern Languages and Law currently take part in undergraduate exchanges, and only History and German currently have graduate Erasmus exchange agreements in place.

Requirements:

• An Institutional Agreement must be in place between the respective departments of the two universities (Bilateral Agreements can only be signed by the University of Oxford's Erasmus Coordinator).
• An Erasmus exchange must be for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 12 months in duration.
• Exchange numbers are usually balanced, but there must always be at least as many outgoing students as there are incoming students.
• All incoming Erasmus students must be given a college place, and should take the place of the corresponding outgoing student.
• It is the department’s/faculty’s responsibility to ensure that all incoming students have a college place.

Erasmus traineeships

Traineeships give students the chance to undertake work experience in an enterprise or organisation in another country.

The majority of Erasmus traineeships are completed by Modern Languages students on their Year Abroad. The placement can be a British Council Language Assistant position or an independently organised traineeship. A small number of graduates from the Blavatnik School of Government and the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) complete traineeships as part of the master's courses. Erasmus traineeship funding is also available to students undertaking an eligible summer internship organised through The Internship Programme within the University Careers Service.

Departments/faculties are able to accept incoming traineeship students from other Universities at their discretion if there is a suitable opportunity available.

Requirements:

• An Erasmus traineeship must be for a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of 12 months in duration and must be considered full time.
• Trainees do not have any employment status with the University and should be asked to sign a standard visitor agreement. The optional paragraphs 14(b) and 14(c) should be  replaced with “(b) that I am an Erasmus trainee sponsored by the University of [insert home institution}, and that none of the commitments above will conflict with any obligations to them or to any other party.”
• The trainee is able to apply for a University Card as an Academic Visitor.
• As the traineeship student is undertaking work experience, they would not be registered as a student of the University, charged tuition fees or given a college place.
• The traineeship student would receive funding from their home institution to support themselves while in Oxford. No additional Erasmus funding would be payable to the Oxford department/faculty for receiving an Erasmus traineeship student.
• Incoming traineeship agreements do not need to come through the central Erasmus office as departments/faculties are able to sign the student’s Erasmus paperwork.

Staff training

Erasmus funding is available to support staff training abroad in the form of job shadowing, observation, attendance at workshops or courses and so on. This may be for transfer of knowledge and good practice, to learn from shared experience, acquire practical skills or discover new ideas for teaching and learning.

Department/faculties can accept incoming staff members for training if interested.

Requirements:

• The department/faculty would need to arrange the training dates, meetings, and the training programme for the incoming staff member.
• Any Erasmus funding that is payable to the staff member will be arranged by their home University.
• No money would be payable to the Oxford department/faculty for receiving someone on staff training.
• An Institutional Agreement is not required between the institutions.
• Placement agreements do not need to come through the central Erasmus office as departments/faculties are able to sign this paperwork.