Erasmus+ Europe

Conditions of participation

Applicant requirements

If you are applying for an Erasmus+ traineeship (grant), you must meet the following conditions:

• you are a student registered at an accredited Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral study programme at UP on a full-time, part-time or distance study basis.
• you must be duly registered at the university for the entire duration of the traineeship, and your studies cannot be suspended or terminated before the traineeship terminates;
• if the traineeship is in the final year of your Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral study programme, it must terminate no later than 2 months before your expected graduation date;
• if you wish to participate in a traineeship for graduates, you must be selected by UP during your last year of study based on an approved application for mobility and/or grant, you must carry out and complete your traineeship abroad within 1 year of obtaining your graduation;
• applicants who have not had a traineeship experience have a higher priority.

Traineeship requirements

While seeking a traineeship, please consider the following aspects:

• a traineeship must be carried out in an enterprise, training centre, research centre or another organisation (e.g. university hospital);
• the following types of organisations are not eligible as receiving organisations for student traineeships:

- EU institutions and bodies (you can find their full list HERE)

- organisations managing EU programmes (in order to prevent possible conflicts of interest and/or double funding);

• a traineeship must be implemented in one of the countries involved in the Erasmus+ programme, i.e.:

- EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, including the following regions: Canary Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, the Azores, Madeira

- EU potential candidate countries: Great Britain, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey

- EFTA Member States: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway

- overseas territories defined in Council Decision 2001/822/EC: Greenland, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, British Indian Ocean Territory, Falkland Islands, Netherlands Antilles, etc.;

• traineeships are a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of 12 months long (Mobility duration calculator). Although the duration is specified before the mobility activity, it may be prolonged or reduced if the participants, UP as the sending institution, the receiving organisations, and the trainee, agree. ATTENTION! The traineeship start date corresponds with the first day your presence at the receiving organisation is required. The traineeship end date corresponds with the last day your presence at the receiving organisation is required;
• a traineeship may be interrupted by the enterprise holidays if the receiving organisation is closed during this period.  The closure period does not count towards the minimum duration of a traineeship period;
• a student is eligible to participate in Erasmus+ and LLP/Erasmus study abroad programmes and/or traineeships in the maximum duration of 12 months per each cycle of study. In one-cycle study programmes (e.g. General Medicine, Law), students can be mobile for up to 24 months. The duration of the traineeship of recent graduates counts towards the 12 or 24 months per cycle of study in which the graduates apply for the traineeship and grant;
• the traineeship must be a full-time employment. The maximum working hours are 35 hrs per week, and the figures vary depending on the legislation of the host countries;
• traineeship does not require a bilateral agreement. The traineeship must, however, be agreed upon and confirmed in the form of a Letter of Admission (LoA) or Learning Agreement for Traineeships (LA);
• the traineeship must be closely related to your field of study, and following its completion it must be fully recognized by the relevant department/centre as a part of the study programme you are registered with at UP (award of the agreed number of ECTS credits and/or a diploma supplement).

For the full wording of the conditions for participation, please refer to Erasmus+ Traineeship Qualifications.

Financial aid

• you will receive financial support based on the Grant Agreement, as a flat rate per month (= 30 days) of a mobility, determined based on host country (for the rates, see the tab documents);

• if the traineeship does not last for a whole number of months, the grant for the last month is allocated on the basis of the number of days of the last month spent abroad;

• students with a severe disability or special needs may claim a special Erasmus+ grant with the CICE;

• students with fewer opportunities are eligible to grant support increased by 250 EUR per month. The students submit applications for extra funding to the Institutional Traineeship Abroad Coordinator;
• students who use an ecological mode of transport to and from the host country (train, bus or shared car) can receive an increase to support environmentally friendly travel in the form of a one-off contribution of 50 EUR;

• the financial aid consists only of a contribution to cover the mobility-related costs, i.e. travel costs and extra costs of living in the host country;

• besides the Erasmus+ grant support you can also receive remuneration from the receiving organisation, as you become a standard employee following the induction phase of the traineeship/training. The remuneration may take the form of financial assistance and/or contribution in kind (e.g. free accommodation, public transport, subsidized student meal coupons, etc.);

• double funding is prohibited, which means that, apart from the Erasmus+ grant, you must not receive any other EU funding to cover the mobility costs;

• the grant support will be paid in EUR by bank transfer to your account based in the Czech Republic (ideally account in EUR) in one instalment.

Things to remember...

Please consider the following recommendation:

• plan your traineeship well ahead of time;
• be hard on yourself and aim for your ‘dream traineeship’, which you will then be justly proud to have in your resume. We do not like to hear that you would accept ‘any’ mobility;
• do not get discouraged by a potential initial failure while looking for a mobility, and address multiple employers to improve your chances;
• draw the employers’ attention with a motivation letter and tailored, updated resume, ‘sell’ yourself, study the employer and their ongoing projects, and avoid generalizations;
• the following sources are recommended to help you in your search for a suitable traineeship: INTLAG web application, web site of the Office for Mobility UP, its Facebook etc., database of Erasmus mobility final reports, ESN web platform, LEO-NET web platform, international student organisations, e.g. AIESEC, IAESTE, ELSA, IFMSA, departmental traineeship guarantors, faculty IR officers, Institutional Traineeship Abroad Coordinator etc.;
• choose a time frame for your traineeship that complies with the conditions of your studies (unless these include a compulsory traineeship at a specific time);
• apply for support grant in time. If you have secured a traineeship, please submit the required documents 2 to 3 months prior to its intended start and remember to follow deadlines. If you need assistance with finding a suitable traineeship, please contact us 4 to 6 months in advance;
• given that the Erasmus+ grant support consists only of a contribution to cover the mobility-related costs, please explore other funding options (remuneration from receiving organisation, your own savings, etc.);
• prior to your departure for a traineeship, you are eligible to undergo a 3-day intensive International Communication training in English, German, French or Spanish or its semester alternative in Russian. These courses will help improve your intercultural understanding and language skills, and facilitate a trouble-free integration in the new environment and a smooth mobility. The full-time course is held usually during the examination period. You can register the courses in IS STAG as 4-credit subjects C (3 credits in case of Russian). Course graduates receive a certificate. Another language training option are online OLS courses (CS, DA, DE, EL, EN, ES, FR, IT, NL, PL, PT, SV and other) (https://academy.europa.eu);
• the above courses are complemented with standard and reference-only Czech and international literature focused on the language and intercultural development and other key competences. The materials are available at office 1.14 (Vodární 6) on Tuesdays 9:00-12:00, 13:00-16:00, Wednesday 9:00-12:00 and Thursday 8:00 - 11:00. The maximum loan period is one month;
• while accommodation and travel costs are your own responsibility, UP provides comprehensive travel insurance free of charge (for more on the travel insurance, click HERE);
• other recommendation and tips are available in the Handbook for Work Placements Abroad, which you can download from the INTLAG application;
• for the specifics of graduate traineeships compared with traineeships for students, please refer to Erasmus+ Traineeships of UP Recent Graduates

Grant application

 Supporting documents of the Applicant

The documents based on which you apply for support grant must be as follows:

• grant application (to be filled in on a PC in Czech or English);
• annexes that are an integral part of the application:

1/   Letter of Admission issued by the authorized representative of the receiving organisation (to be completed on a PC in English)

2/   Letter of Recommendation issued by a traineeship guarantor, i.e. academician at the relevant department/institute who is responsible for approval of negotiated traineeship and its subsequent recognition  (to be completed on a PC in Czech or English). For these purposes, submit the Grant Application and Letter of Admission to the guarantor for consultation so that the recommendation is tailored to you and your traineeship. In case of traineeships of doctoral students, the letter of recommendation is issued by a supervisor.

3/   proof of language competence proving knowledge of the language (s) in which the traineeship will take place - certificate or examination of the language (s) listed in the list of study results, or examination by the centre / institute of language training of the relevant faculty.

Grant applications with the above-mentioned annexes are submitted electronically / via e-mail within due deadlines to the Institutional Traineeships Abroad Coordinator. For traineeships of recent graduates, grant applications need to be submitted no later than 1 month prior to the expected date of graduation. Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the conditions for participation shall not be considered!

NOTE! If you apply for a traineeship through the INTLAG, please submit your grant application online through this web app!

Deadlines for submitting grant applications 

Selection process

Selection criteria:

• motivation of applicant;
• quality of the traineeship (a detailed and well-structured work programme corresponding to the field of study and motivation factors of the applicant; relevant duration of mobility, etc.);
• recommendation of the departmental traineeship guarantor;
• language skills;
• academic performance;
• applicants enrolled at UP and wishing to undergo a traineeship in their home country, are given the lowest priority in the competitive selection.

The results of the selection will be communicated to all the applicants via email within 2 weeks from the deadlines. Until then no decisions shall be made.

Comment:

The Grant Application is the only source of information upon which the decision to award/not award a grant is made. It is in your own best interest to pay the application due attention.

By signing the grant application you confirm that the information provided in the application and its annexes is complete and true. Incomplete and untrue data may lead to your disqualification from the selection procedure and you may be requested to refund the grant support received.