Are you one of the thousands of students who are interested in studying abroad?  Better read on and let me tell you about Erasmus Exchange Program grants and how you can avail of them.  Let me also tell you about the language courses that will be very useful for you prior to your study period abroad.

The European Commission funds grants to university students in thirty-one European countries who are part of the Erasmus Exchange Program which enables them to take part of their degree in another country.  The Erasmus Program aims to promote exchanges of the students between the universities in EU Member States and the European Economic Area; to support the Pan-European mobility of university staff; and to promote the joint development for European study programs.  The Erasmus study period in another country can provide a lot of things for you such as having a challenging and fun experience; having the confidence to live in another country; gaining new perspectives on an academic subject; acquiring new or improved foreign language skills; meeting an international network of friends; having travel opportunities throughout Europe; earning academic credits and having transferable employment skills.

Before you set off to your target European country, you must apply and be granted the Erasmus Exchange Program.  You are eligible for an Erasmus grant if you are a citizen of one of the EU States or the EEA countries or if you are recognized as a refugee, stateless person or a permanent resident of the country you are in right now.  You should also be a fully registered student on an undergraduate or post-graduate course at a European university either in the second, third or final year of your course; and your course should be a part of an approved Erasmus Exchange Program.  The study period abroad will last for a minimum of three months and not more than ten months; approval is needed for courses which last for more than ten months but it should not exceed more than twelve months unless there are very exceptional circumstances.  To apply for a grant, you should check out your university if it is a participant of the Erasmus exchange program and if your course provides the opportunity for a study period abroad.  Your name should then be forwarded to the International Office for an Erasmus grant for the following year.  If you will be part of the program, the grant that will be given to you will depend on the length of your study period and the country you are going to study in.

In order to prepare you for your Erasmus program in another country, you will be given the opportunity to study the language of the host country for three to eight weeks in the host country under the Erasmus Intensive Language Courses or EILCs.  The EILCs are specialized courses in the less widely used and less taught EU languages and languages of other countries participating in Erasmus and it is an initiative supported by the European Commission.  The advantages of EILCs include no tuition fees, twenty hours of language training per week, special cultural components within the program, an Erasmus grant for the duration of the course, visits to places of interest in the host country, and meals and accommodation though there may be fees involved for such services.  The EILCs will be very useful for you since you will be equipped with the needed language skills once your exchange program starts.

Not everyone may be given wonderful opportunities such as Erasmus grants but I encourage you to seize the day and inquire about the Erasmus Exchange Programs in your schools or universities.  Who knows, maybe you will be given a chance that will surely make an impact in your life!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Learning Abroad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.