Erasmus+ traineeship grant

Now more than ever, it is important to have relevant experience on your CV in order to secure a job once you graduate. A traineeship abroad offers you a unique opportunity to be part of an exciting workplace and provides you with valuable experience and an international network. In addition to plus points on your CV, it allows you test your career expectations and to find out which skills you already have and which you still need to acquire.

It is your own responsibility to find a traineeship. You can ask your lecturer or student counsellor for advice on choosing a traineeship suitable for you. This website is primarily aimed at students doing a traineeship in the European Union, because this allows you to apply for an Erasmus+ traineeship grant.

You can apply for an Erasmus+ traineeship grant if you have secured a traineeship in one of the countries participating in the Erasmus+ programme. See a list of the Erasmus+ countries on the right. 

Greenland and the Faroe Islands are not regarded as foreign countries for AU students in an Erasmus+ context, and it is therefore not possible to apply for an Erasmus+ grant to study or conduct a traineeship in Denmark, Greenland or the Faroe Islands.  

Your traineeship can take place in:

• Private or public companies
• Institutions or organisations
• Research centres

Erasmus+ traineeship grants are not awarded for work placements in EU institutions or organisations that administer EU programmes.

Return to home applicants are not eligible - if the traineeship is located in the country of your nationality, you are not eligible for the Erasmus+ Traineeship grant.

Applicants receiving a monthly contribution for expenses will be given a lower priority if there is a shortage of grant funds.
Applicants who has received a an Erasmus grant earlier, will be given lower priority if there is a shortage of grant funds. 

Recent graduates who just finished a Master's Degree are not eligible for the grant.

PhD students at Aarhus University cannot apply for an Erasmus+ Traineeship grant.

In case a chioce has to be made between applicants, with the same prerequisites, this is done randomly. 

• Your traineeship abroad must meet the requirements of your degree programme at AU and must count towards your degree. Your traineeship abroad must provide at least 15 ECTS per semester (as a general rule), and this must be stated on your traineeship agreement.
• Your traineeship abroad must not prolong the time it takes to complete your degree.
• Your traineeship abroad must last between two and 12 months (between 60 and 360 days).
• You may not receive a salary from your traineeship host organisation.
• You must apply BEFORE your traineeship abroad begins. You may not apply retrospectively.
• Whether or not you are eligible for a traineeship grant also depends on whether you have already received an Erasmus+ grant for a previous traineeship/study abroad position. You may receive Erasmus+ grants to study abroad or conduct a traineeship abroad for a maximum of 12 months on your Bachelor’s programme, and 12 months on your Master’s programme.

If your work language is not your native language, you will be asked to undertake an online language assessment test.

The test is mandatory, but not particularly comprehensive, and the results of the test will have no impact on your eligibility for the Erasmus+ grant.

The test will be in your primary work language during the traineeship.

When you do a traineeship abroad with an Erasmus + grant, it is your responsibility to make sure you take out the necessary insurance. You can read more about the best way to do this below.

Make sure you have a blue EU health insurance card. They are free and can be ordered on www.borger.dk. where you can also find information about what the EU health insurance card covers in the country you are travelling to.

Because the EU health insurance card doesn’t always cover all illness-related expenses, and because it doesn’t offer travel insurance, we recommend that you take out travel and health insurance to cover the entire period of your traineeship. We also recommend that this insurance includes accident and liability insurance. Accident insurance covers you if you are injured, and liability insurance covers you if you injure another person or cause damage to an item that belongs to someone else.

The traineeship host organisation usually has accident and liability insurance that covers its employees, and we recommend that you request to be covered by this policy as an intern. If this is possible, the traineeship institution must document this by confirming you are covered in section C in your Learning Agreement. They must also sign this section of the Learning Agreement.

If it is not possible for you to be covered by the host organisation’s accident and liability insurance, you must take out the necessary insurance privately.

Please note that it is not possible to be covered by Aarhus University.

The Erasmus+ traineeship grant is approximately EUR 700 per month. 

• Salary ("financial support")
  According to the Danish law it is not permitted to receive salary in connection with a project placement that the participant receives ECTS points for and which gives the participant a possibiity to receive SU. 

Exception: You are allowed to receive salary if your project placement is in a country, where internships by law need to be paid (for example Germany). You cannot receive SU at the same time though. 

• Gratuity 
  Your host company or organisation is allowed to offer you a gratuity of up to DKK 3.375 (EUR 450) per month before taxes. Gratuity is not salary and it cannot be agreed in advance that you will receive gratuity in connection with your project placement. 

• Contribution in kind
  Besides gratuity you are also allowed to receive contribution in kind to cover documented expenses in connection with your traineeship, such as transport, rent or your telephone. Note that those are expenses that can be documented. 
   

Applicants receiving a monthly contribution for expenses will be given a lower priority if there is a shortage of grant funds.

• SU

Read more about the rules for SU and salaries during work placements abroad.

Note that there is no guarantee that you will receive Erasmus+ grant even though you meet all the requirements. 

It is mandatory that you fill in and submit an Erasmus+ Learning agreement for Traineeships

You must submit your Learning agreement when you apply for the Erasmus+ Traineeship grant. The Learning agreement must be completely filled in and signed by: you, Aarhus University and your traineeship host.

If it is not possible to get all signatures in place on your Learning agreement within the application deadline, e.g. if you are going to do a traineeship at an embassy and are awaiting a security clearance before your traineeship host can sign the Learning agreement, please contact us at erasmus@au.dk

Who at Aarhus University can sign your Learning agreement?
It is your department at Aarhus University that must sign your Learning Agreement. It can either be an academic/internship supervisor, if that person can approve of the content of the traineeship and the number of ECTS that appears in the Learning Agreement, or one in a study centre. The person signing must be able to confirm that you are allowed to do a traineeship as part of your studies, that the content of the traineeship has been approved and that the number of ECTS in your Learning Agreement is correct.

The application deadline for the autumn semester 2024 is July 22, 2024. 

It is a requirement that you submit a Learning Agreement to be eligible for an Erasmus+ grant.

You submit your Learning agreement when applying for the Erasmus+ grant. It must be fill in and signed by all concerned - you can read about the Learning agreement under Erasmus+ Learning agreement for Traineeships.

You apply for the grant at the Erasmus+ Portal for Traineeships

Apply for an Erasmus+ Traineeship Grant

When you have applied you will receive a confirmation from the International Centre.

If your application is successful, you will receive an Erasmus+ grant agreement for traineeships by email. The agreement must be signed and submitted before the grant can be disbursed.

Please note that the International Centre does not communicate with your host organisation. Remember to inform the Danish students' Grants and Loans Scheme (SU) Office about your traineeship.

In the event of any significant changes to the length of your traineeship, the nature of your tasks, or the affiliation to your supervisor, please complete the section “During the Mobility” in the Learning Agreement for Traineeships.

When your traineeship ends, you must:

• Submit your Traineeship certificate to the Erasmus+ Portal for Traineeships
  it is the last part of your Learning Agreement. It must be filled in and signed by your traineeship host
   
• Complete an EU Participant report (online evaluation form). It will be emailed to you at the end of your traineeship. 

If you have any questions, please contact us in one of the following ways.

E-mail: erasmus@au.dk

Phone: 41893266

The Erasmus+ programme offers a top-up grant to students with physical or mental disabilities. You can request a fewer opportunities top-up grant when applying for the Erasmus+ grant.

Travelling sustainably

As part of The Green Transition, Erasmus+ has now made it possible to gain economic value, by travelling sustainably.

Apart from the monthly amount obtained by the grant, there will now be a travel subsidy. The size of the travel subsidy is based on the distance between AU and your traineeship host, and whether or not you are travelling sustainably.

What is considered sustaibable ways of travelling?

Train

• Traveling internationaly by train can be expensive - perhaps you can save some money and get more value by getting a Interrail Pass
• Seat61 has many tips on train rides all over Europe and the rest of the world - the website has timetables, prices and links to other websites where you can book your trip
• Other relevant websites could be Band.de, Happyrail, NS International og Raileurop

Bus

• Flixbus is Europe's largest intercity bus network
• If you want to weigh different travel options Comparabus, BlaBlaBus and Omio could be relevant websites

Carpool

• Carpool is a great way to travel green and meet people - perhaps you will meet your very first fiend in your host city by getting there?
• You can find carpool rides via Facebook or relevant website such as BlaBlaCar or Carpool

Accomodations

• Take a night train to avoid accommodation costs while exploring the world
• Find greener accommodation options on websites such as EcoBnb and Green Pearls

What is Eramus+ Inclusion support?

The Erasmus+ office has the opportunity to apply for extra funding through the Erasmus+ programme for students with special needs in the form of physical or mental disability.

What are the guidelines for applying for the grant?

The Danish support schemes are well developed, such as Specialpædagogisk Støtte (SPS) or help under the Social Services Act, and there are good opportunities to take that support abroad.

The guideline for obtaining additional grants from the Erasmus+ programme is that grants can only be obtained to cover needs for which support is provided in accordance with Danish rules, and where the support is not possible to take abroad. Under certain circumstances, grants may be awarded to persons with physical or mental disabilities, even if they do not receive grants from SPS or the Social Services Act, provided that the person's disability after a specific and individual assessment makes the support necessary to complete a stay abroad under the Erasmus + programme. It is possible in special cases to obtain supplementary subsidy in relation to the support that can be taken abroad from Denmark if there are increased expenses in connection with a stay abroad.

Examples of increased expenses related to special needs:

• special transport

• adapted accommodation

• assistance during lectures or at home 

• medical follow-up 

The amount of the grant will vary depending on the needs and will be based on actual cost. The student will need to make a budget with planned expenses. After ended stay abroad the expenses will need to be documented by receipts.