Mobility for Studies: Students at any level of study can undertake a study mobility at one of the partner higher education institutions abroad as part of their degree programs. This type of mobility may also include an internship program. The combination of an internship and study mobility aims to create a synergy between academic and professional experience abroad.

The student mobility for studies activity is carried out within the framework of the ECHE and the existing inter-institutional agreements of the higher education institution.

The activity consists of a student enrolled at a higher education institution carrying out a part of their studies at a partner higher education institution abroad through an inter-institutional agreement.

The activity duration can be between 2 and 12 months (1, 2, or according to some countries' systems, 3 semesters), applicable separately for each level of study. The levels of study refer to associate's/bachelor's, master's, and PhD levels.

The activity can be carried out in any class during the student's studies. With the decision of the higher education institution's senior management, first-cycle students may be allowed to participate in mobility from their second year at the earliest.

Students participating in the activity must be enrolled in a degree program at a higher education institution. It is expected that students are sent to complete the work required for their diploma/degree abroad, following a program equivalent to 60 ECTS credits for a full academic year, 30 ECTS credits for one semester in a two-semester academic year, and 20 ECTS credits for one term in a three-term academic year. Full academic recognition is granted for the credits successfully completed in the followed program. Credits that are not successfully completed are retaken at the host institution.

Traineeship Mobility: Students can carry out an internship activity in a company abroad, a research institute, a laboratory, an organization, or another relevant workplace. Internships abroad are supported for studies at every education level and for recent graduates. Traineeship mobility also includes teaching internships for student teachers, research assistantships for students, and relevant research activities for PhD candidates. To create a synergy with Horizon Europe, traineeship activities can also be conducted within the scope of research projects funded by the Horizon Europe program, provided that the prohibition of double funding is complied with. The traineeship activity must be a complementary part of the student's curriculum.

Student Traineeship Mobility is an activity where a student enrolled at a higher education institution completes an internship in a company, a research institute, a laboratory, or an organization/institution abroad that is relevant to their field of academic study. Taking courses at a higher education institution is not considered an internship.

The activity duration is between 2 and 12 months, applicable separately for each level of study. The traineeship activity can be carried out in any class during the student's studies and within 12 months after students in the final year of their programs have graduated. For a traineeship to be conducted after graduation, the application must have been made before the student graduated (while still an associate, bachelor's, or graduate student). Students who have already graduated cannot apply.

Post-graduation traineeship mobility must be completed within 12 months from the date of graduation. For recent graduates who are conscripted to complete their military service during this period, the duration of their military service is added to this maximum 12-month period. The total duration of the post-graduation traineeship and the mobility period the student completed at the same level should not exceed 12 months.

Higher education institutions may choose to exclude post-graduation internship activities.

In order to better address the learning and training needs of doctoral candidates and to create equal opportunities, doctoral candidates and recent graduates ('post-docs')* can carry out short-term or long-term physical study or traineeship mobility abroad. It is also possible to add virtual mobility to the physical mobility.

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* Postdocs can participate in internship mobility under the same conditions as other new graduates within 12 years of their graduation.

All types of study and traineeship activities abroad, including doctoral mobility, can be carried out as blended mobility. Blended mobility consists of virtual and physical mobility components that facilitate collaborative online exchange and teamwork. For example, the virtual component can bring together students from different countries and different academic fields to follow online courses. Alternatively, these students can come together and work online, collaboratively and synchronously, to fulfill assignments and responsibilities recognized as part of their curriculum.

Students can also engage in blended mobility by participating in a blended intensive program. Blended intensive programs enable groups of higher education institutions to jointly develop a curriculum and activities with physical and virtual components for their students, faculty, and administrative staff.

Students who cannot participate in a long-term physical study or internship mobility due to their academic field of study or lack of opportunities to participate can participate in a short-term physical mobility with a mandatory virtual component.

The higher education institution is obliged to provide full recognition for the period of study spent abroad.

Full Recognition should be achieved as follows: It is necessary for the original names and credits of the courses/traineeship taken at the host institution and included in the student's learning/traineeship agreement to be included in the transcript and Diploma Supplement, and for a clear note to be made in the footnotes that the student benefited from mobility under Erasmus+. Additionally, it must be clearly indicated in the transcript and Diploma Supplement 6.1* which courses were taken under Erasmus+ and at which higher education institution.

The decision on whether the courses taken during mobility will be included in the overall grade point average upon return is at the discretion of the higher education institution. The method to be applied must be determined by a regulatory superior action in accordance with the principles of equality and transparency and announced to the students before the mobility.

For this reason, it's necessary to check the suitability of the course contents of partner institutions to ensure the equivalence of the period spent abroad and, consequently, its recognition. If a student successfully completes the courses specified in their **Learning Agreement**, higher education institutions should establish a mechanism for the recognition process to proceed automatically after the student submits the Transcript obtained from the host institution to their home institution. The student shouldn't have to confront department administrators and faculty members to ensure the recognition of their courses. After the documents are submitted to the office, the process should run automatically and systematically; the student should not be forced to additionally convince academic or administrative staff to obtain their right to recognition after the activity has ended.

Mobility for Studies: The curriculum defined before the learning activity begins is approved by all parties. Learning Agreement for Studies It becomes binding for all parties by being signed online via the EWP-OLA platform. Changes to be made to the learning agreement for various reasons must be made no later than 4-7 weeks after the start of the academic term at the host higher education institution and approved by the parties to the agreement no later than 2 weeks after the change is requested.

Traineeship Mobility: All affixes must be signed Learning Agreement for Traineeship before the internship activity begins. For the 2022 call year, internship agreements will be signed in print, not online, via EWP. The sending higher education institution guarantees that full recognition will be granted if the student successfully completes the work program specified in this agreement.

The student's internship period within the scope of the curriculum must be fully recognized by his/her own institution, preferably using ECTS credits.

In cases where the internship is not part of the curriculum, the higher education institution recognizes the internship activity carried out abroad by recording it in the Diploma Supplement.

To guarantee academic recognition, a department/faculty/institute board decision must be made before the student starts regarding how the internship activity will be recognized in the program in which the student is enrolled.

Ensuring full recognition for both study and internship mobility is an important ECHE obligation, and systematic violation of this obligation may result in the cancellation of the ECHE of the relevant higher education institution.

The sending higher education institution guarantees that full recognition will be provided if the student successfully completes the courses specified in the learning agreement. To guarantee academic recognition, before the student leaves, a decision by the department/faculty/institute board or the senate must be taken showing which courses the program to be followed abroad (the courses in the learning agreement) will correspond to in the student's program. If there are any changes in the course program to be followed, this decision must be updated.

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* https://ec.europa.eu/education/diploma-supplement_en

Scope of Online Language Support

The European Commission offers an online Language Support system for students who will benefit from student mobility activities in higher education.

Online Language Support is offered in German, French, Dutch, Italian, English, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Bulgarian, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Irish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, and Maltese. Students who will carry out their mobility activities abroad in these languages are subject to this system. However, Online Language Support is not applied to students for whom the language of the activity is their mother tongue.

Online language support includes exams that students are required to take and optional online language course support.

Compulsory Exams

Students selected for study or internship mobility will take two exams through the OLS system: one before starting their activities and one after completing them. Participants who receive a C2 on the first exam are not required to take the second exam.

The exam is administered in the language in which the student will be conducting their education/internship at the institution they attend. Students who complete more than one activity must take a separate OLS exam for each activity, even if the activities are consecutive.

Exams do not affect students' selection status. Pre- and post-activity exams are administered to monitor changes in students' language proficiency during their activities. OLS exams cannot be used as a selection tool for mobility.

Exam results can only be seen by the student and the higher education institution that sent the student.

Optional Language Courses

After taking the language exam, students can attend online language courses at their own request before starting their activities, if they find themselves inadequate according to the exam results or upon the recommendation of their higher education institutions.

Students who take an exam in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese and score at or above B2, and students who take an exam in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Greek, Croatian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Finnish, and Swedish and score at or above B1, can voluntarily benefit from an online language course in the language of their host country. The course assignment for these students is also handled by the higher education institution. The online language courses, which are activated at the start of the mobility period, can be continued for a maximum of 13 months, allowing participants to continue for two additional months after the mobility ends.

Participation in Online Language Exams and Courses

Students' participation in the exam and language course is provided by the higher education institutions. The higher education institution is responsible for assigning mandatory exams to the student before departure and at the end of the mobility. The institutional support grant of a higher education institution that fails to fulfill this obligation without a valid reason may be subject to a reduction of 25% to 75%, in accordance with the provisions of the Grant Agreement Annex, "Contractual and Financial Provisions – Grant Reduction in Case of Insufficient, Partial, or Late Implementation." At the beginning of the contract period, all higher education institutions that will carry out student mobility are allocated a certain number of language exam and course licenses through the Online Language Support (OLS) system, in proportion to their mobility capacity. The licenses are given to the higher education institution as a total number, without distinction by language. The higher education institution then decides how many licenses to use for each language, based on its own needs.

The higher education institution assigns the exam rights allocated to it, via the Online Language Support (OLS) system, to its students who will carry out activities in each specific language. It also assigns the course licenses separately to the students who will be taking a course.

Licenses are granted to students by entering their email addresses into the system. Students access their exams and courses through a webpage link sent to their email addresses.

If the number of language course licenses issued by the higher education institution is less than the number of students wishing to take the course, the higher education institution distributes the course licenses starting from the students who received the lowest score in the exam language they took.

It is recommended that students who regularly take OLS courses be awarded ECTS credit. The amount and terms of ECTS credit allocated to OLS are at the discretion of the higher education institution.

If a student requests an extension of their activity period, their request will be evaluated by the Erasmus office and the student's faculty/department officials. Extensions are possible, but not mandatory, subject to the approval of the host institution and the student's academic standing. The following conditions must be met for an extension:

1. To extend the period, the request must be submitted at least one month before the initially planned end date of the mobility. If the request is accepted by all parties, amendments must be made to the grant agreement and all necessary procedures for the extension must be completed.
2. The extended period cannot extend beyond the expiration date of the contract signed between the Center and the higher education institution.
3. If there will be an increase in the maximum grant amount specified in the contract signed with the student, then an additional contract must be made with the student.

If students extend their activities, a grant can be provided for the extended period, provided there is sufficient funding in the higher education institution's relevant activity budget. If the budget is not enough to cover the extension periods of all students who request one, the students who will receive a grant are determined in accordance with the principles of impartiality and transparency, based on their academic success during the initial selection.

In case students return early from their planned mobility activity, the following possibilities exist:

1. If the minimum duration specified in this handbook for the mobility type is completed, but the student returns earlier than the planned activity period, the student will receive the grant amount corresponding to the time they stayed abroad. If a payment exceeding the grant calculated for the duration of the stay has been made, the excess amount will be requested for reimbursement.
2. If a student returns from mobility before completing the minimum durations specified in this handbook, no grant payment will be made for that mobility. However, an entry for this student is still made in the Beneficiary Module (BM). Any payments that have been made (including travel, if applicable) will be reclaimed.
3. If a student returns from mobility due to force majeure* before completing the minimum durations specified in this handbook, a grant payment will be made for the period the student actually stayed abroad.

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* “Force majeure” means any exceptional situation or event beyond the control of the parties, which is not attributable to error or negligence on the part of the parties, their subcontractors, affiliated entities, or third parties involved in the implementation, which prevents any of the parties from fulfilling any of their obligations under the agreement, and which is unavoidable and unpredictable despite all due diligence. The non-delivery of a service, defects in equipment or materials, or their delay in being made available cannot be invoked as force majeure, unless they stem directly from a case of force majeure, or from labour disputes, strikes, or financial difficulties.

If the student is forced to return due to a personal force majeure before the minimum activity period is met, the student has the opportunity to repeat the activity provided that the following conditions are met:

1. The new activity must be of the same type as the activity that failed to complete.
2. A new learning agreement must be signed.
3. The uncompleted period and the period given for compensation should be reported separately.

If a student who stays longer than the minimum activity period has to return due to a personal force majeure event, they will not be given the opportunity to go back to make up for the activity they could not complete.

Regarding the situation of students who return before completing their foreseen activity period due to force majeure events that affect the general public (such as COVID-19, natural disasters in the host region, strikes, etc.), the National Agency and the European Commission will make a general assessment and reach a decision to be applied collectively, and will then make an announcement.

Students can participate in activities without receiving a grant if they wish. These students are subject to the same general evaluation process as other applicants and go through the same procedures as students with a grant. The only difference for a student without a grant is that they are not included in the budget calculations and no payment is made to them. The fact that a student does not receive a grant is not a reason for them to be excluded from the selection process.

After students have been selected according to the evaluation criteria and their weightings, if there is a remaining quota that cannot be financially supported within the budget allocated to the higher education institution, a separate evaluation can be made among students who wish to go without a grant. In this case, too, student selection is carried out in accordance with the rules of impartiality and transparency, by considering the general evaluation criteria and their weightings.

In the event that students who have gone without a grant are later decided to be granted by the higher education institution due to reasons such as a transfer from the institutional support grant or the finding of additional resources, the institution may either allocate grants based on the merit ranking or make a decision to allocate a grant equally to all students without grants. In both cases, the grant allocation decision must be documented by the Selection Committee. For the relevant change to come into effect, the grant agreement must be revised or an addendum must be made at the earliest possible date, but in any case before the student completes the activity. This revision/addendum can be made using a contract signed and scanned by the student, with the condition that the wet-signed document is obtained later.

Grants cannot be increased after the activity is completed. This provision does not apply to non-grant agreements signed before the contribution agreement between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the European Commission.

Mobility for more than 12 months cannot be carried out at any education level, even without a grant.

The host higher education institution cannot demand any academic fees from students coming under Erasmus+. Academic fees include tuition fees, registration fees, exam fees, laboratory fees, and library fees. However, regarding the fees required for the use of various materials such as insurance, residence permits, discounted transportation cards, photocopying of academic materials, or the use of laboratory products, the host institution can demand the same amount of payment from Erasmus+ students as it does from its other students.

During the period they carry out their activities abroad, students must maintain their enrollment at their home higher education institution and continue to pay any tuition/enrollment fees they would normally pay.

The higher education institution is responsible for ensuring the continuation of the higher education scholarships and loans that students participating in mobility activities are currently receiving, during the time they are carrying out their activities abroad. This benefit cannot be terminated, interrupted, or reduced during the student's study or traineeship activity abroad.

Higher education institutions cannot restrict the right of students who meet the application requirements for national scholarships or loans to benefit from the Erasmus+ grant. Students who do not qualify to apply for national scholarships or loans can also apply for the Erasmus+ grant.

Students participating in activities are required to have mandatory insurance, depending on the type of activity involved. The higher education institution verifies and ensures that insurance is in place. Mandatory insurance policies are specified in the student contract.

The following documents must be present in every student's file or e-archive. However, in addition to the documents specified below, the higher education institution can also keep other documents related to the activity that it requires for its own internal purposes.

Documents prepared before and during the activity:

1. Student application form and its attachments:
   1. Annex 1 – Grade transcript
   2. Annex 2 – Document showing foreign language proficiency level
2. Written notification or mass announcement made to the student regarding the selection of the student,
3. Acceptance Letter,
4. A signed copy of the Erasmus+ Higher Education Mobility and/or Traineeship Agreement signed between the student and the higher education institution and its annexes:
   1. Annex 1 – Learning Agreement
   2. Annex 2 – General Conditions: It is not mandatory for the General Conditions to be present in the copy to be kept by the higher education institution.
   3. Annex 3 – Student Charter: It is given to the student as a single copy, and it is not mandatory to keep it in their file.
5. Learning Agreement for Studies/Traineeships.
6. A receipt for the payment made to the student or a bank statement containing the details of the payment made to the student,

Documents completed after the activity ends:

1. The "after the mobility" section of the Learning Agreement must be filled out and approved by the host institution, and it is provided to the student to show the start and end dates of their activity. If a separate document showing the activity dates is prepared and approved by the host institution, these documents are also accepted.
2. Certificate of Participation*
3. Document showing the student's success in the activity;
   1. For educational mobility: Transcript of Records (ToR) for the education period abroad
   2. For internship mobility: The "Evaluation of the Trainee" section of the Internship Agreement, which shows the evaluation of success in the internship activity,
4. Student Survey: Students are asked to fill out the online EU Survey using the Mobility Tool. Students who have completed their activities are required to complete the survey. [It is not required to be in the file]
5. Online language exam: Students who complete their activities are required to take language exams through the OLS system. [Exam results do not need to be on file.]
6. Explanatory and supporting documents regarding special circumstances (documents showing the reasons for grant cuts, early return due to force majeure, etc.),
7. The final transcript and/or a copy of the Diploma Supplement, if any, showing that the courses taken after graduation are recognized by the higher education institutions.

In addition to these documents, the higher education institution is responsible for preparing the necessary documents that will be valid within the institution to ensure academic recognition of the period spent abroad.

Students who have completed their mobility period are required to complete the required documents upon their return. Sanctions for students who do not complete the documents are outlined in Article III.8.

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* The Grant Agreement with the Higher Education Institution is essential.