Erasmus+

Participation Conditions

To be able to participate in an Erasmus+ work placement a student has to:

• be enrolled in an accredited Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral study programme at Masaryk University – full-time, combined or even distance form of studies
• be a citizen of any country but studying in the Czech Republic in an accredited study programme of any year
• be duly registered in a study programme at the sending institution during the work placement; the student can neither interrupt nor terminate their studies at the sending institution before completing the work placement
• be chosen in an officially announced selection procedure

Further specifications:

• a student who studies in an accredited study programme in the Czech Republic and wishes the work placement and/or study exchange to take place in his/her Country of Origin receives the lowest priority during the selection procedure and is given the status of a zero grant student, i.e. is not entitled to receive financial aid
• work placement cannot take place in the Country of Residence (where the student is enrolled in an accredited study programme)
• students who came to the Czech Republic through the Erasmus Mundus/Erasmus+ ICM programme are not eligible to the Erasmus+ work placement

Graduate work placement:

• the work placement can newly take place also within 12 months after graduation (including the placement period)
• student becomes graduate on the day of successfully passing the state examination – the work placement must start and end within exactly one year starting from this day (it is also vital to respect the academic calendar and not exceed one academic year)
• the work placement might take 2-12 months where every previous Erasmus mobility within the specific study cycle reduces this period (this concerns the study cycle during which a work placement application is submitted – be careful with the long-cycle Master’s programmes, see more information in Qualification Criteria (see the section Documents)
• participant must successfully pass the selection procedure BEFORE his/her graduation, i.e. before the date of state examination
• whoever has interest in a graduate work placement, must determine what manner it will be registered in the country of origin with regard to health insurance a social security

Other important conditions:

• each applicant has to meet the Qualification requirements of the Erasmus+ work placement (see the section Documents)
• the work placement should take place in any public organisation or private enterprise active on the labour market or in the sphere of education (private or public enterprise on local, regional, or national level; professional association; trade union; research institutes; non-financial organisations; educational centres, etc.)
• unauthorised organisations where a work placement cannot be entered into:
  • an EU institution and other EU authorities including specialised agencies
  • an organisation administering EU programmes (due to prevention of conflict of interests and/or double financing, such as national agencies)
• the student has to work full-time in the foreign enterprise
• the condition of work placement is not the signing of a bilateral agreement, but the work placement has to be arranged and confirmed in advance
• the work placement has to be part of a study programme, to be approved by the department and subsequently to be recognised – the student has to achieve ECTS credits for the work placement which have to be noted in the diploma supplement (the work placement becomes a part of the given study programme)
• Mobility programme – an Erasmus work placement requires the student to apply for course/credit recognition from the exchange study, see article 9, paragraph 1 in rector’s directive No. 8/2011 Rules of Exchange Study Results Recognition from Study Stays and Work Placements Abroad of Masaryk University Students. More information can be found here.

Repeated Student Exchange Stays within the Erasmus Exchange Programme

The European Commission has set down the following rules for repeated Erasmus student exchange stays within the Erasmus+ programme:

• each student might participate in a work placement for a maximum period of 12 months
• any previous mobilities (study and work placements) at the given level of studies are included (counted together) in the given 12-month period allocated for the placement (this also includes mobilities within the LLP Erasmus 2007-2013 programme)
• the programme is not intended for students who came to the Czech Republic studying under the Erasmus Mundus/Erasmus+ ICM programme

Despite the possibility of repeated Erasmus+ work placements, their repetition may be taken into account on the basis of preferences in the selection procedure due to limited financial support allotted by the European Commission. 

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Financial Conditions

On the basis of signing a financial agreement the student receives a financial support from the Erasmus+ programme resources. The financial support is determined on the basis of the planned duration of the stay, where 1 month = 30 days. The flat monthly grant is determined on a national level and is the same for students of all higher education institutions.

Financial aid will be sent:

• in CZK to a bank account held in Czech Crowns in any bank in the Czech Republic; the allocated amount of the grant will be transferred according to the current exchange rate of the Czech National Bank and sent to the student’s account in CZK
• in EUR to a bank account held in Euros in Komerční banka (KB). The student then asks for the G2 Erasmus package at any branch of KB in the Czech Republic. 

ATTENTION! The issuing and receiving of the bank card should take place during 7–10 working days from creating the account.

The grant will be transferred to the student’s bank account entered in the IS MU according to the agreed instalments.

The financial support serves only for partial coverage of expenses, as it is a grant aimed at supporting increased expenses connected with the stay abroad – the financial participation of the student is required!

In the case of receiving payment from the host institution, the student remains entitled to receive financial support from MU. 

Differentiation of grants for Erasmus+ work placements:

The minimum length of the work placement is two months. Unless the length of stay is met in whole months, the grant for the last month is assigned according to the number of days spent abroad in the last month.

Differentiation of grants for Erasmus+ work placements:

• €660/month—countries with a high cost of living:
  • Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom
• €600/month—countries with an average cost of living:
  • Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
• €480/month—countries with a low cost of living:
  • Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey

Aid for the calculation of the level of financial support (see the section Documents)

Increasing of financial support for students from disadvantaged socio-economic environments

This does not constitute a social grant!

A student can apply for increased financial support for a student from a disadvantaged socio-economic environment, provided that before their departure they submit a document that confirms that they are entitled to child benefit and that the family’s income for the preceding year, decisive for the awarding of benefits, does not exceed the family subsistence level multiplied by a coefficient of 1.5. The document must include a translation of the confirmation to Czech (this does not apply to a confirmation in Slovak) and the document must be verified in the form of an apostille or superlegalisation. The content and form of the document is to be individually consulted with the coordinator at the CZS.

The student must ask for the increased financial support no later than 10 days before signing of the Participant’s Contract.

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List of Deadlines

DEADLINES 2020/2021:

• Call I for applications 2020/21:
  • Deadline for applications: 31 January 2020 (online application is open from 1 January 1 2020), until this deadline, students may apply for a work placement held through the whole academic year 2020/2021 – earliest start to work placement from 1/7/2020 and for the spring/summer placement 2020 – end of placement no later than 20/9/2020.
• Call II for applications 2020/21:
  • Deadline for applications: 31 May 2020 > prolonged, originally 30 April 2020 < (online application is open from 29 February 2020), until this deadline, students may apply for a work placement held through the whole academic year– earliest start to work placement from 1/7/2020, and for short summer placement 2020 – end of placement no later than 20/9/2020.
• Call III for applications 2020/21:
  • Deadline for applications: 31 July 2020 (online application is open from 29 May 2020) – recommended start to the work placement, with regard to the selection process and ensuing signing of the participation agreement, at the earliest from 15/9/2020.
• Call IV for applications 2020/21:
  • Deadline for applications: 31 October 2020 (online application is open from 29 August 2020) – earliest start to work placement from 4/1/2021.

ATTENTION! With regard to the administrative processes connected with the end of the academic year 2020/2021, work placements must be terminated at the latest on 18 September 2021.

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Application

Work placements are set up by students THEMSELVES. Students may apply for placement in any organisation which complies with the regulations for adequate selection (see the section Acceptance Criteria) or an organisation in which our students’ work placements have previously taken place. 

Some work placement offers can also be found in the IS (Noticeboard), in the CZS Newsletter, or through the current traineeship offers from the National Agency.

The work placement must be always arranged as full-time employment; other arrangements cannot be accepted.

The online application is submitted through a special interface here.

The application is to be completed in English. 

Procedure for the submission of applications in the CZS online database (see the section Documents)

Compulsory annexes of the online application:

1) A Learning Agreement for Traineeships signed and approved by the three parties: a detailed work plan signed by the student, approved and signed by the department (guarantor of the work placement) at MU and the responsible representative of the host institution abroad.

The LA for Traineeships must be completed in English.

The student is only to submit a document which is properly completed with as much detail as possible, which applies to all sections of the document. Any inadequacies must be consulted with the host institution and subsequently amended. ATTENTION - it is vital to check that the work placement will be held as a full-time employment. If the offer states otherwise, the student must individually arrange an adjustment of the conditions.

Incomplete or incorrectly filled in documentation will be discarded, please use the Guide to the completion of the LA for Traineeships (see in section Documents).

2) The Motivation Letter which has to contain:

• the field of study, level and the year in which the applicant is registered
• the reason for the host institution selection
• what the content of the work placement will be and why – direct relation to the student’s field of study
• benefits of the work placement for the student – academic benefits/job opportunity benefits/benefits for MU and the host institution
• the period of the work placement for which student is asking for the scholarship
• in the case of selection of agencies and public institutions from the student’s country of origin, i.e. cultural institution, Czech centres, region/school representation, etc., it is necessary to justify the selection of the institution considering the internationality of the work placement

The letter of motivation should not exceed one A4 page.

3) Letter of Recommendation from MU academic staff (academic staff from the study field of the work placement, who CANNOT be the same person as the guarantor of the placement). The recommendation must include how the placement corresponds with the study field of the student and what impact it will have on the student’s expertise.

The recommendation form can be found in the documents to download. The reference should be written in Czech, but may be exceptionally accepted in English in the case of a foreign prospective student or staff.

The guarantor of the work placement is the person assigned by the dean of the faculty at a particular department who is competent for the approval of training agreements and subsequent ECTS and placement recognition.

All annexes of the application should be processed on computer.

Criteria of the selection process:

• quality of the training programme (Learning Agreement for Traineeships)
• quality of motivation letter
• academic staff recommendations
• formal aspects, the overall impression of documents delivered

The application is assessed by a three-member committee consisting of international programme coordinators from CZS. During the selection process the year of study, study results of the applicant, and number of previous study or work placements at MU is taken into consideration. 

The final results of the selection process will be announced to applicants by email within four weeks.

Attention - submitting your application does not mean that it will automatically be approved and granted financial support - a proper selection process must take place. The quality of the application and financial resources may influence the length of the mobility.

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Before Departure

Insurance

The student is obliged to arrange regular insurance valid for the host country before going on a work placement abroad. The insurance has to contain the following items:

• insurance for medical expenses
• accident insurance (covering work accidents)
• liability insurance (responsibility for damage at the workplace of the host institution)

The student has to be familiar with all the requirements for health insurance abroad which is taken out for the purpose of carrying out the work placement. The student must be informed that the insurance is valid for the specific work placement (primarily accident coverage and damage at the workplace).

The above does not apply to students whose host institution fully covers their insurance.

Online Linguistic Support 

• helps in recognising the language competences of the mobility participants
• concerns mobilities in which the main language of instruction is English, German, French, Spanish, Italian or Dutch
• concerns all mobilities starting after January 1, 2015
• student is obliged to participate in online language testing before starting and after completing the mobility
• on the basis of the language test results, a student may be accorded a license for participating in an online language course; if the student accepts the license, he/she is obliged to complete the language course
• more information at Erasmus+ Online Linguistic Support

Signing the Participant’s Contract 

The student comes to the CZS to sign a financial agreement no sooner than three weeks before the planned departure; it is not possible to sign the financial agreement after the beginning of the work placement.

The student is obliged to come in person – documents sent by post are not accepted. It is necessary to make an appointment to sign the Participant’s Contract via the online appointment calendar app in IS OIS system.

Beginning of placement = the first day of the student’s presence at the receiving institution as required by the institution (the first day of the work placement, commonly a working day)

End of placement = the last day of the student’s presence at the receiving institution as required by the institution (the last day of the work placement, commonly a working day)

The length of the placement does not include travel time. 

The student must do the following before signing the Participant’s Contract: 

• enter his/her account number to which the financial aid will be sent into the MU Information System
• enter his/her account number to which financial aid will be sent, together with other required data, into the IS OIS application on the web
• complete the online language test, if obliged to do so (see above)
• without meeting the requirements mentioned above, the Participant's Contract cannot be generated, nor signed)

In order to be able to sign the Participant's Contract and receive a grant, student must bring a printed Affidavit/Declaration of Honour (see the section Documents). The Participant’s Contract will be generated at CZS at the time of signing the contract. See the example of the Participant's Contract in the section Documents.

Before departure it is important to make a record of your work placement abroad in the IS.

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While Abroad

Changes in the Learning Agreement for Traineeships

In the case of some changes (of content or coordinator) in an already approved Learning Agreement for Traineeships, the changes have to be agreed by both the sending and receiving institutions. The student has to fill in the section DURING THE MOBILITY.

Extension of work placement

• is possible only upon approval from both the home and host institutions
• the extension of the financial agreement and receiving a financial support is not automatic - it depends on the sending institution whether it assigns a grant to a student for an extended stay
• Extension without scholarship (Erasmus zero-grant student)
  • a student can apply at any time during the work placement abroad through the Application for Extension Form (see the section Documents). Part of the Application is a motivation section where reasons for the extension have to be given. The Application is submitted to the CZS.
  • the application has to be approved by the responsible person from the host institution and the faculty guarantor at MU
  • in case of approval of the extension, the student has to obtain insurance for the extended period of stay and is obliged to submit Exceptional Major Changes to the Original Learning Agreement  (he deadline being a maximum of 10 days from the approval)
• Extension with scholarship
  • is possible only in the case of sufficient financial resources
  • on the basis of an appeal to the CZS, a student may apply for the grant through the Application for Extension Form (see the section Documents). Part of the Application is a motivation section where reasons for the extension have to be given. The Application is submitted to the CZS.
  • the application has to be approved by the responsible person from the host institution and the faculty guarantor at MU
  • the change of the financial support amount has to be mentioned in the appendix of the Participant’s Contract which the student signs before termination of the former period of stay
  • in case of approval of the extension, the student has to obtain insurance for the extended period of stay and is obliged to submit Exceptional Major Changes to the Original Learning Agreement  (the deadline being maximum of 10 days from the approval)

The application for extension has to be submitted to the CZS at latest one month before the termination of the former period of stay stated in the Participant’s Contract.

Reduction of traineeship abroad

• is possible after agreement between a student and the sending institution and is arranged by an appendix to the Participant’s Contract and proportional grant reduction
• the student is obliged to submit the document Notification of Reduction of Traineeship (see the section Documents)
  • or Reduction of the Zero Grant Period (see the section Documents), in which case no financial change applies
• if the student does not meet the minimum length of exchange stay, i.e. two months, he/she has to return the whole financial support! (this regulation is not valid in the case of study termination due to “force majeure”)

Sending of interim reports

• a report is sent to the CZS coordinator once every two months after the beginning of the placement
• a report has to give information about the placement’s development during the stated period and its correspondence to the approved study plan of the placement (content approx. one page)
• The Interim Report form can be found in the section Documents

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After Return

After arrival from work placement, the student is obliged to:

• submit to the CZS coordinator the Traineeship Certificate (see the section Documents) – confirmation of the work placement length from the receiving institution and guarantor – within 10 days after finishing the work placement abroad (a copy sent via email is sufficient)
• fill in the EU Survey in the form of an online query; access data will be delivered to the student’s university e-mail address after the mobility ends. The student is obliged to fill in the Final Report within 30 days from receiving the access data

Recognition of work placement

Credit recognition for the work placement lies within an individual faculty/department/institute/guarantor’s authority. You can get more details and information about the credit recognition process at the international/study department of your faculty.

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Useful Links

• Placement Offers
  • www.erasmusintern.org
• Erasmus students’ experience
  • the national database of final reports from Erasmus work placements from 2009/2010
• Others
  • The National Agency for European Educational Programmes (NAEP) 
  • The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports:
  • International Student Club (ISC)
  • Erasmus Student Network (ESN) 
  • European Commission, programme Erasmus+ 

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