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.

• 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 next deadlines are:

From January to May: last day of each month. 

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

When completing your TA please note the following:

• 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
• Guidlines to complete the Training Agreement
• 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. 

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 the forms 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+ scholarship

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 scholarship 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 autumn 2023 onwards (project 2023) for UT students studying abroad are the following:

* The limited number of grants available.

Higher Erasmus+ grant for students with fewer opportunities

1. For long-term traineeships you are entitled to apply for an additional 250 euros per month. 
2. Student going for short short-term blended traineeship can get a top-up amount to the grant 100 EUR (study abroad up to 14 days) or 150 EUR (study abroad longer than 14 days).

Students with fewer opportunites are:

• You received the needs-based study allowance (the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research's written and digitally signed decision about the allowance), needs-based special allowance or UT support for Ukrainian students during the semester prior to study abroad or during the study abroad semester
• Parent of minor child/children
• With foster care background
• With diminished work ability

Tavel support

Travel support is only for the students with fewer opportunities:

• Short short-term blended traineeship (including international programme)
• International programme traineeship  (except destinations to: Faroe Islands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Andorra, Monaco, Vatican)
• Travel grant according to travel distance:

Travel distance is calculated based on the European Commission's distance calculator. 

Top-up for green travelling

You can receive a bonus if you use environmentally friendly, sustainable means of transport for your trip to your host country and back. This includes travel by train or by bus.
The support consists of:
a) an one-time additional allowance of 50 euros;
b) extension of the study abroad granted period by up to 4 travel days (up to 2 days for going to study abroad destination and up to 2 travel days for returning from studies abroad).

Verification: travel tickets/boarding passes (to confirm the type and dates of travel). In other cases, the scholarship is calculated from the start date of the study abroad (when you have to be present related to studies), and the travel dates or arriving earlier is not included in the period supported. In case of the green way of travel, it is possible to extend the granted period of the study abroad by the travel dates due to longer trips. This is provided in case the actual travel dates prove it. It is also possible to apply only for an additional allowance (50 euros) and not to use the extension of the granted study abroad period (if it´s not appropriate).

Erasmus+ additional grant for the students with special needs

Students with physical, mental or health-related special needs may apply for a grant in addition to the regular Erasmus+ study mobility grant. In anticipation of your Erasmus+ mobility, you must indicate your needs and foreseen extra costs associated with your physical, mental or health-related special needs in order to apply for the Erasmus+ special needs support grant. Areas that could be eligible for support linked to your Erasmus+ mobility, according to individual needs, include but are not limited to: adapted accommodation, travel assistance, medical care, medical support equipment, modified learning materials, an accompanying person, etc. NB! In case of additional support related to actual costs: cost documents addressed to and paid by the participant (agreement, invoice, payment order, cash check). Spendings must be done during the mobility period. If any of these conditions apply to you, please contact the Erasmus Student Exchange Coordinator and explain your condition and possible associated costs.

All Erasmus+ traineeship going students must have medical, accident and liability insurance in order to take part Erasmus traineeship abroad programme. Liability and accident insurances cover damages caused by the participant or to the participant during their stay abroad. If the receiving organisation does not provide the trainee with accident or liability insurance, it is according to the Erasmus training agreement up to the student to contract insurance. Here are some liability and accident insurances by Protrip-world and EduCare24, but you can choose also any other insurance company. 

The Online Linguistic Support (OLS) language assessment is meant to support Erasmus+ participants' language studies. The OLS exam allows you to gauge your level of proficiency in the language of instruction of your host university abroad; you can also take online language courses to improve your skills. Here are the terms of the OLS test: 

• The test is available for the following languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, and Swedish; other languages may be added to this list in the future; 
• You must complete the test for the language in which you will be studying while abroad; 
• The test must generally be taken both before and after your studies abroad, unless you receive a result of B2 on the first test; 
• You are obligated to complete an online language course if you receive a result lower than B2 on the first test; 
• You may do an online language course even if you score B2 or higher, or you can study another language (for example, the local language); 
• You will have access to the language courses over the entire duration of your studies abroad;
• If you are assigned a language course, you must complete it. 

You will receive access to the OLS test after you begin the process of signing your Erasmus+ grant agreement.

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

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).

If you need any further information on Erasmus programme, you are always welcome to contact the Study Abroad Centre.