Erasmus+ traineeship grant

Regular traineeship duration

The minimum period for a traineeship is for 2 months (60 days) and one time maximum period is for 6 months (in some cases, extension of the grant might be possible). At the same time, Erasmus grants may be received several times for study or traineeships abroad, totalling up to 12 months maximum per each level of study. For example, you can get Erasmus grant as follows: 5 months for studies, 5 months for traineeship and 2 months for recent graduate traineeship. From the Erasmus International programme the traineeship period can be from mimumum 2 to maximum 3 months.

Short-term blended mobility

Erasmus+ blended mobility is a short-term physical traineeship combined with a virtual activity:

• 5-30 days of physical (on-site) traineeship carried out abroad;
• Preceded or followed by virtual part of the traineeship carried out remotely;
• must award a minimum of 3 ECTS credits.

Blended mobility is open to all potential participants, but primarily targeted at those who have reasons not to go on a fully physical long-term mobility. The blended mobility grant information can be found here.

• Traineeship can be carried out in EU member countries as well as in Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Turkey, Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia.
  
• There are limited number of places available for Erasmus International programme which allows traineeships outside EU: Faroe Islands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican and additionally the following countries worldwide. If you are intersted, please contact traineeship cooridnator directly for further details.
  
• Each student must find the traineeship position on his/her own. You can see some recommendations for finding a position here. You may complete your traineeship in any company or organisation (including higher education institutions) whose area of activity or profile corresponds to the requirements set for your traineeship. You cannot do your traineeship in institutions of the European Union or organisations implementing programmes of the European Union. Embassies and consulates are allowed for the traineeship.
  
• Exceptions include physiotherapy students who compete for the traineeship grant through the student exchange competition due to contracts with partner universities. Such students must compete once a year for study exchange grant under the terms and conditions of student exchange.

• The traineeship to be carried out within the Erasmus programme must be a part of the student's study programme at UT. That means traineeship needs to be done under any kind of traineeship course available at UT. There is no requirement for minimum or maxium amount of credit points. The content of the traineeship abroad should be previously agreed with the programme manager of your studies at UT or with the traineeship supervisor at UT and the host institution. Before going abroad for the traineeship, the student must apply for a recognition of the traineeship abroad: that means a study plan with a traineeship plan and Online Learning Agreement (OLA) for trainee must be submitted to the Institute/College/School's office.
• During your traineeship, you will be registered as a study abroad student. It is possible to get extention of your nominal studies only in case your traineeship course gives at least 15 ECTS of your curriculum at UT.
• Students studying in fee-based places must pay 30% of their tuition fee to UT during their traineeship abroad.
• Please also see: Regulations for studying abroad

• A traineeship abroad can be counted as a practical part of a doctoral thesis. ECTS for the traineeship will be recognised at attestation.
  
• PhD students short term blended mobility can be carried out where the short-term physical mobility (5-30 days) may or may not be preceded or followed by a virtual activity and there is no ECTS credits requirement.
  
• If you are an employee of the university (including a junior research fellow) and you are planning to go abroad to do research, study or do a traineeship, you will need to arrange a secondment. Please read more from "Mobility grants for doctoral students" website.

• Application for the Erasmus grant has to be submitted before graduation.
• Traineeship must be carried out during the 12 months after the date of your graduation.
• Traineeship is not part of the study programme and student will not get ECTS for the traineeship abroad, therefore the study and traineeship plan are not necessary.
• Recent graduates traineeship period is calculated based on the amount of time spent in Erasmus during the student`s most recently completed study level (for example, if you have done an internship and/or studied with the Erasmus+ programme during your Master's studies for a total of 9 months, then as a recent graduate you still have the possibility to do an internship for 3 months).
• During your entire traineeship period you cannot be a student in any educational institution.

We strongly recommend to submit the documents at least 1 month before the start of the traineeship!

If you would like to apply for a grant to fund your traineeship, the upcoming deadlines are the last day of each month from September to May.

In order to apply for a grant for a traineeship abroad, applicants must submit the following documents:

1. Erasmus traineeship grant application
2. Erasmus+ Training Agrteement (TA). The form is here: Erasmus+ Training Agrteement
3. If you belong to the group of students with fewer opportunities and have received needs-based study allowance, please attach the digitally signed decision from the Ministry of Education and Research (HTM).

When completing your TA please note the following:

• Guidlines to complete the Training Agreement
• Our contact information: University of Tartu, Ülikooli 18, Tartu 50090, Erasmus code: EE Tartu 02, contact e-mail: erasmustraineeship@ut.ee, phone +3727376019
• Receiving Organisation/Supervisor at the Receiving Organisation a: the one who is going to sign your agreement (your direct supervisor).
• Responsible person at the Sending Institution is the University of Tartu contact person
  
• TA should be signed and scanned (the orignal document is not needed). Please send the final TA version to Erasmus coordinator erasmustraineeship@ut.ee
  

• NB! Training Agreement need to be signed by hand and scanned (student and UT contact person may sign it with the Estonian ID card). When the host supervisor wishes to sign digitally please use the list to check verified digital signatures here: e-IDAS website.

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In order to get approval to your Erasmus Training Agreement by UT side (required!), you should additionally submit to your Insitute/Collage/School the following documents (not required from recent graduates):

study and traineeship plan and training agreement. Please find

• Study plan for studies abroad
• Internship plan
• Erasmus+ Training Agrteement (TA). The study plan and internship plan forms can be found from Learning Agreement page (under Training Agreement section).

Grant agreement

Before going abroad, you should enter into an Erasmus programme grant agreement with UT. Under this agreement, students undertake to do the traineeship at the foreign university or other institution during the period set out in the agreement and to submit written confirmation from the partner university of their traineeship achievements. The agreement also stipulates the amount of the grant. In the event that students fail to perform their obligations under the agreement, the university is entitled to demand repayment of the grant and cancel the traineeship period.

You may sign the agreement no earlier than 4 weeks before and no later than 1 week before the beginning of your studies abroad. The agreement is signed digitally (with the Estonian ID card).

Eighty percent (80%) of the total sum of your stipend will be transferred to your Estonian bank account, usually a week or two after your agreement has been signed.

Erasmus+ grant for long-term traineeships

The scholarship is meant to help you cover the expenses you will incur while abroad but will not necessarily cover all of them, so be prepared to cover a certain portion of the costs yourself. Erasmus+ program does not grant participants with the support in case of distance learning without moving to the host country. In order to grant blended mobility (virtual mobility at distance combined with physical mobility period) the period where participant is present at the host country must be at least 2 consecutive months (only the period of pshysical mobility will be granted). In case of virtual (web-based) mobility carried out on spot it is upmost important to make sure the receiving university supports student's choice to move to the campus and is ready to confirm the presence as part of the exchange reports.

The estimated amount of the grant can be calculated with the Erasmus+ Grant Simulator

NB! The amount obtained on the calculator is approximate. The final amount may change depending on the project from which the UT finances studying abroad.

The European Commission's grant amounts from Febrary 2025 onwards (project 2024) for UT students studying abroad are the following:

* The limited number of grants available.

Erasmus+ grant for short-term blended traineeships

Information about the blended mobility grant can be found from the website short-term blended mobility for UT students under Erasmus+ Europe

In the Erasmus 2024 project, all students are entitled to a travel grant. This is a one-time support that covers the costs of traveling to and from the host university. The distance is calculated using a distance calculator, and the amount of the travel grant depends on the distance and mode of transport.

Students who use a green travel method (train, bus, or a shared car with other mobility participants) for more than half of their journey in both directions may be eligible for a higher grant. To verify the mode of travel, students may be required to submit travel tickets as proof of both the travel method and travel dates.

In the case of green travel, it is possible to extend the granting period by up to 6 travel days due to the longer duration of the trip. This is provided that the actual travel dates confirm the need for an extension. The travel days must be logically distributed before and after the learning mobility, meaning that for 6 travel days, a maximum of 3 can be before and 3 after the mobility (not, for example, 0+6).

Erasmus+ participants who are students of Estonian universities receive co-financing from the Estonian government.

For the 2024 project the support is 118 euros per participant (one-time payment). To allot this stipend, we sign a contract similar to the Erasmus+ grant agreement; it does not have to be applied for separately.

To have your traineeship recognized, complete and submit the following documents to your institute/college before the start of your internship:

1. Study and traineeship plan – This is required for a recognition of the traineeship abroad (these documents is only for your academic unit and does not need to be sent to the external supervisor). The learning and training agreement forms can be found on the learning agreement page: Learning Agreement for traineeship (Traineeship Agreement)
2. Doctoral students must include the internship in their certification plan.
3. Erasmus Training Agreement

Based on these documents, you will be registered as a study abroad student for traineeship puroses in your academic unit, and a corresponding note will be added to the Study Information System (ÕIS).

Recent graduates do not need to complete these steps, as they are no longer affiliated with the university.

Participants in the Erasmus program's traineeship are required to have medival and accident and liability insurance. Liability insurance covers damages caused by the insured to third parties, such as property or health damage.

If your internship provider offers insurance, ensure that it is clearly marked in your Erasmus Training Agreement under section C. If the internship provider does not cover insurance, you must purchase it yourself.

You may choose the most favorable offer for insurance. An example of a special mobility insurance provider is KindlustusEst.

For short-term blended internships, we can cover travel days with a subsistence allowance (1+1) if the travel occurs before and after the physical part. To receive additional support, you should submit your travel tickets or reservation before signing the grant agreement.

Note: Travel support is only available to students who belong to the disadvantaged groups.

Long-term traineeship

After signing the grant agreement, we pay 80% of the total support in advance.

Short-term blended traineeship

We pay 100% of the grant after signing if the period is up to 14 days, and 80% if the period is more than 14 days.

The scholarship will be received within about a week after signing the agreement.

The Online Linguistic Support (OLS) language test of the Erasmus programme offers everyone going on mobility the opportunity to assess their language skills. Additionally, it is possible to participate in free online language courses for several languages. The language tests are available in a total of 29 different languages, providing an excellent opportunity to learn the local language of the host country while abroad.

You can find instructions for using the OLS on the Erasmus website

• Be sure to also familiarize yourself with the academic information related to studying abroad. You can find it on the Paper work for study abroad page.
• For traineeship, it is not mandatory to complete an traineeship/courses equivalent to 15 ECTS credits. However, if you manage to complete an traineeship/courses equivalent to this amount, it is possible to receive an extension of the nominal study period. You should discuss the details of this with your unit's study coordinator.
• For recent graduates undertaking internships: you must not have re-enrolled in any educational institution during the entire internship period.

The start and end dates of your traineeship abroad must be indicated in your training agreement and Erasmus+ grant agreement prior to your departure. The start date of your traineeship period is considered to be the first day that you need to be present at the receiving organisation. The end date of the period abroad is the last day on which you need to be present at the receiving organisation. Keep in mind that the duration of your mobility must be no shorter than 2 months. All changes to the length of your mobility must be reflected in your training agreement and your grant agreement.

1. To modify the traineeship period specified in your training agreement, you must fill out and sign the training agreement changes form. On the basis of this form, your study abroad period in the SIS will be changed. Training agreement changes form you will find on this page.
2. To modify the traineeship period specified in your grant agreement, send the training agreement changes your traineeship coordinator at the Study Abroad Centre no later than 1 month before the final date of the study abroad period indicated in your Erasmus grant agreement.

If you decide that you would like to prolong your traineesghip abroad, keep the following in mind:

• You may participate in the Erasmus+ program for no more than 12 months at each level of study (including traineeships and Erasmus+ worldwide mobility)
• Please consult with your programme director and traineeship coordinator if prolonging is accepted

Be sure to follow our Instagram account @unitartustudyabroad.

If you wish to share your experience abroad and would like to take over the account for a few days, contact us. You can also share your activities with us using #unitartustudyabroad.

After returning to Tartu, you have to submit the following to erasmustraineeship@ut.ee within 1 month of the expiry of the agreement:

• Traineeship certificate, indicating the length of your traineeship period with the respective dates and a short evaluation (written by your supervisor in host organisation, copy). The certificate can be signed up to 5 days prior the offical end of the traineeship.
• EU-survey report (the link is sent to the e-mail).

In order to credit the traineeship made abroad as part of your own study programme at the University of Tartu, you should submit the report or other practical training results to your traineeship supervisor, the grade or result for the internship course will be written to the Traineeship plan (Annex of the Study plan) and the institute/college will transfer the ECTS to your curriculum. This is also an important requirement of the traineeship abroad regulations of UT and the grant agreement that the traineeship subject credits will be transfered and shown on your diploma (akadeemiline õiend).