Traineeship abroad with Erasmus scholarship

Within the Erasmus+ programme, you have the opportunity to go on a study or traineeship for a total of 12 months per education level
(bachelor, master and doctoral level). It's an opportunity to gain new experiences, meet new people and take a step further in your future career!

Different possibilities for traineeship

Student activities considered as traineeship are full-time traineeship abroad at companies, organizations or educational and research centers, data collection for a thesis or dissertation and, in some cases, thesis writing.

As part of a traineeship course

You spend your traineeship/internship at a company, a university, or an organisation in Europe. You are assessed, and receive your grade, by Umeå University.

As part of a thesis or degree project

A traineeship is about learning a job in a workplace and being involved there. If it is possible to combine collecting data for a thesis and at the same time carrying out a traineeship for an organisation or company, it may be possible to apply for an Erasmus+ traineeship grant. 

During your traineeship, you will be registered for a thesis or degree project at Umeå University. Afterwards you will be examined at Umeå University, but conduct data collection, a field study or similar at a company, a university or an organisation in Europe. Your supervisor at Umeå University need to approve the traineeship. If you do a traineeship at a university, you can not register for any courses at that university.

The internship takes place within the framework of the thesis. The focus is on the traineeship needed for your thesis to be possible to complete. The thesis must be related to the traineeship. In other words, the thesis would not be possible to conduct without the traineeship. For example, the data collection that you do during the internship constitutes the basis for the thesis.

Outside or after your ordinary studies

During your studies:

You carry out the traineeship while you are a registered student at Umeå University, for example between semesters. The traineeship will not award you credits, but will upon your request, be recorded in your Diploma Supplement (an appendix to your degree certificate).

After you have completed your studies:

You can apply for the grant to do a traineeship once your studies has finished, as a so called 'recent graduate'. You will not be awarded credits nor have the traineeship recorded in a Diploma Supplement.

• You must apply for the grant during your last semester as a registered student at Umeå University. See Academic calendar here.
• You have to complete your traineeship within twelve months after you finished your studies at Umeå University.
• You need to have your grant application approved, before you apply for a degree certificate.
• If you are awarded a grant, you must apply for the degree before commencing your traineeship.

Requirements

Requirements that you as an applicant must fulfill

As a student, you shall find your own traineeship before you apply for the scholarship. You can directly contact the workplaces you are interested in doing your traineeship at. It is also possible to turn to organizations or companies that can help mediate traineeships.

As an applicant you must:

• be registered as a full-time student at Umeå University at the time of your application (this is also applicable if you complete your traineeship after finishing your studies at Umeå University).
• pursue studies leading to a recognized degree or other recognized tertiary level qualification, such as Bachelor, Master or Doctorate at Umeå University. A student who only intends to study a single course at the institution without obtaining a degree does not qualify for Erasmus mobility. On the other hand, independent course students, who intend to take a degree, qualify for Erasmus mobility.
• carry out the whole duration of your traineeship with the same host organisation and live in the host country during the course of your traineeship.
• not receive any other grants from the EU or the Swedish Council for Higher Education at the same time

Requirements that your traineeship should meet

Companies and organisations involved in economic activities in the public or private sectors are approved.

Your traineeship must:

• be full-time and comprise at least 60 days and no longer than 360 days.
• take place at an approved organisation or enterprise in any of the Erasmus+ Programme countries.
• transfer as credits to your study programme at Umeå University, or be recognized in a Diploma Supplement (this does not apply for traineeships carried out by recent graduate students).
• be approved by your home department
• be related to your studies (regardless if th traineeship is conducted outside of your studies). Contact your department's international contact person. 

Eligible countries for Erasmus+ traineeship

• The EU countries (except Sweden) as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, North Macedonia, and Serbia. You can also get a scholarship for doing your traineeship at Fribourg University in Switzerland. Since the United Kingdom left the EU 1 February 2020, it is not an eligible country for traineeships within the Erasmus+ Programme. 
• EUs list of Overseas countries and territories

Conditions under which you cannot receive a grant

Erasmus+ aims to promote international mobility and to help students gain international experience. Therefore, there are restrictions on what you can receive a grant for.

Conditions when you are not eligible for an Erasmus+ grant

You can not receive grants:

• for traineeship in Sweden
• for a traineeshop in the country where you live while studying at Umeå University
• for distance traineeships
• if you commute from Sweden to your traineeship

Organisations that are not approved to be host for trainee students from Sweden

• EU institutions and other bodies.
• Organisations working with EU programmes (such as international secretariats at universities). This is to avoid possible conflicts of interest and/or double financing.
• Universities that are mainly financed by EU funds.

How to apply

Submit application

When you have your traineeship host organized, you need to fill out this online application form (the form includes a field where you write your motivation):

Application form for Erasmus traineeship

Within 10 working days after your online application, you will receive an e-mail invite to Umeå University's Canvas page for Erasmus Traineeship. On that page you will find more information about how to proceed to complete your application.

Your application must be complete no later than 30 days before you start your traineeship. It is therefore important that you submit your online application well in advance, preferably no later than two months prior to the traineeship start date. Applications sent in after the traineeship has started will not be administred. 

You can submit your application any time during the year, but please note that we do not process any applications between the following dates:

• 1 July–10 August
• 15 December–10 January

If you submit an application during one of the periods above, the processing will start once that period has ended. If you are starting a traineeship in August/September or January/February, it is therefore particularly important that you plan to submit your application in good time.

Opportunities for extra funding

For applicants with disabilities

All individuals, regardless of circumstances, shall be able to participate and develop themselves through Erasmus+. If you have a permanent or long-term disability, including disability caused by physical or mental illness, you can apply for extra funding over and above the regular grant amount to cover additional costs such as special transportation, adapted accommodation, preparatory sign language course, adaptation of learning materials or similar. There are two types of funds you can apply for:

Top-up
The top-up is a grant that currently amounts to 250 EUR/month.

To be eligible for top-up, you must provide a certificate when you apply. Proof includes, for example, a NAIS decision from the university's coordinator for pedagogical support, a certificate or decision from a municipality that provides support to you, or other type of supporting documentation.

If you have a disability and have children, you can only get one top-up.

For more information, or if you need to submit a disability certificate when applying for an Erasmus+ grant, please contact erasmusstipendium@umu.se.

Inclusion support for actual costs
In addition to the grant described above, you can apply for inclusion support for actual costs if they exceed the top-up of 250 EUR/month. This is intended to cover major costs that may arise for you during your stay abroad.

If you will need to apply for extra inclusion support, we recommend that you start your application well in advance. Talk to the person in charge at your department as soon as possible, preferably 6 months before you plan to leave for your exchange. You will be given information on what you need to do before applying.

The application for an inclusion grant for actual costs must be approved before the mobility begins. The grant cannot be applied for retroactively. It is the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) that makes the assessment and decides which costs can be reimbursed. 

For applicants with children

Everyone should be able to participate and develop through Erasmus+ regardless of 
circumstances. Students with children, whether or not the child is accompanying them on mobility, can apply for extra funding. There are two different grants to apply for:

Top-up
The top-up is a grant that currently amounts to 250 EUR/month.

In order to receive top-up, you must send a certificate when you apply. If you are registered in Sweden, the certificate is a family certificate from the Swedish Tax Agency showing that you have children. As an international student, you must attach an equivalent document.

If you need more information or need to submit proof that you have children when applying for an Erasmus+ scholarship, please contact erasmusstipendium@umu.se.

If you have children, and have a disability, you can only receive a top-up.

Inclusion support for actual costs
In addition to the grant described above, you can apply for additional inclusion support for actual costs if your costs exceed the top-up grant of EUR 250/month. This extra support is intended to cover major costs that you may incur during your stay abroad.
 
If you will need to apply for an additional inclusion grant, we recommend that you start your application well in advance. Talk to the person in charge at your institution as soon as possible, preferably 6 months before you plan to leave for your exchange. You will be given information on what you need to do before applying.

The application for an inclusion support for actual costs must be approved before the start of the mobility. The grant cannot be applied for retroactively. It is the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR) that makes the assessment and decides which costs can be reimbursed.

Travel contribution

If you are going on an Erasmus+ exchange, you can apply for extra funding and reimbursement of travel days during your exchange. You will receive a lump sum of EUR 28 or more, depending on the distance between your departure point and the exchange destination. You will see the amount you will receive in Canvas when you complete your Erasmus+ grant application. If you make more than half of your trip by low-emission transport, such as bus, train, carpool or other sustainable mode of transport, you may receive a higher reimbursement. 

You can also receive funds for extra travel days, for 2 days if you travel with high environmental impact emissions and up to 6 travel days if you travel with low emissions. The amount of money you receive for travel days is linked to the country where you do your traineeship and is calculated per day.

After your application

Order of priority 'first come, first served'

You should therefore complete your application no later than 30 days after you have accessed our page in Canvas. If there are more applicants than funds, a selection will be made based on a number of criteria contained in the document describing the order of priority.

Order of priority

Grant amount and payment

The Erasmus traineeship grant varies depending on the country where you are doing your traineeship and ranges from 660-710 EUR/month.

Approximately 70% of the total amount will be disbursed in the beginning of your traineeship. The remaining funds is paid after you have completed your traineeship and fulfilled the conditions stated on the Canvas page you got access to when you applied.

The grant is paid on the 25th of each month. The payment is in accordance with the exchange rate applicable at the time the university received the traineeship funds. If you interrupt your traineeship or do not fulfill the conditions, you may have to repay all or part of the grant.

You are insured by Student UT

As an Erasmus trainee, you are insured through the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency's (Kammarkollegiets) insurance Student UT.

If your traineeship is to be transferred as credits for studies at your study programme, you will receive the insurance certificate from your study advisor or departmental international coordinator. If your traineeship is not accepted to be transferred as credits, you can get your insurance certificate from the International Office by contacting erasmusstipendium@umu.se.

It is your responsibility to review your insurance coverage and assess your insurance needs. You may need to take out your own insurance.

Find out about Kammarkollegiet's insurance Student UT.