Erasmus
Contact
The FCUM Erasmus Lifelong Learning Programme Coordinator Robert Cieśla, PhD Hab.
Person responsible for pedagogue exchange: Contact to the university Erasmus coordinator responsible for teachers’ mobility (OM/T):
Irena Podobas, MA
International Office FCUM (room 222, ground floor)
e-mail: irenapodobas@chopin.edu.pl
tel./fax (48 22) 827 83 08
Contact to the university Erasmus coordinator responsible for students’ mobility (OM/S):
Justyna Zając, MA
Office of Teaching Management and Students’ Affairs FCUM (room 405, 2nd floor) for students open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 11a.m.- 2 p.m.; on Wednesdays — closed
e-mail: zajacowna@chopin.edu.pl
tel. (48 22) 826 46 34
Created on the basis of the Internet website of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System (Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edukacji, FRSE) www.frse.org.pl
Erasmus — General Information
Erasmus is a European Union programme for universities, their students and employees. It supports the international cooperation of higher education schools, allows student exchange to complete part of their studies abroad, promotes the mobility of university employees. The aim of Erasmus is improving the quality of education in countries participating in the programme by developing international cooperation between universities and supporting the mobility of students and employees of higher education schools.
The Erasmus programme was created in 1987 as a wide-scale European student exchange programme. Although its range and aims widened in the following years, its main idea remains the same: developing international cooperation between universities. The name Erasmus comes from Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536), Dutch philosopher and theologian — not without a reason. Erasmus, like other outstanding people of the Renaissance, was educated in many academic centres in different European countries, and his views about education were permeated with deep humanism.
Poland has participated in the Erasmus programme from the academic year 1998/99. In the period of 1995–2006 Erasmus was part of the EU’s Socrates programme. From the academic year 2007/08 Erasmus is part of The Lifelong Learning Programme, a new European Union programme in education and professional development, anticipated for the years 2007–2013.
Countries participating in the Erasmus programme:
- 27 countries of the European Union,
- 3 countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway,
- candidate country: Turkey.
Students
For whom is the Erasmus student exchange?
To apply for an exchange as part of the Erasmus programme, one should:
- be a student of a university, which is the holder of the Erasmus University Chart and runs the student exchange,
- be registered on the studies which end in obtaining a degree/diploma (BA, engineer, MA, PhD),
- complete the first year of studies of the first degree (BA, engineer);
- be a citizen of a country participating in the Erasmus (or have a refugee status or a permanent residence card in the participant country).
To which universities can you go for part of studies?
The Erasmus student exchange may be run by the universities which are holders of the Erasmus University Chart and which have signed the exchange agreement as part of this programme with each other.
You can plan to go abroad for part of your studies to a university, which signed the cooperation agreement for this programme with your mother university (faculty), i.e. — to a partner university. It has to be a school in a country participating in the Erasmus. You can complete part of your studies only at a similar faculty educating in the same field that you study or a related one.
List of the Universities, to which the FCUM pedagogues and students will go in the academic year 2010/2011.
For how long can you go abroad for studies?
For the period from three months (one trimester) to one academic year. A university should send its students abroad for a period which constitutes a certain closed part of the programme of studies, easy to complete, e.g. one semester.
A stay abroad as part of the Erasmus programme should not be longer than one — the same — academic year — i.e. a scholarship that started it the summer semester of one academic year cannot be continued in the winter semester of the next academic year.
An exact date of the beginning of studies in the partner foreign university first of all depends on when classes start there in the winter and summer semesters, and also on the individual arrangements between a student and the sending and host universities.
Pedagogues
Employees of which higher education schools and which countries can participate in the Erasmus programme?
University employees entitled to participate in the programme are the citizens of the above mentioned countries, as well as persons who have the permanent residence card or the refugee status in one of these countries.
An academic teacher may use the possibilities the Erasmus programme gives if the university employing him/her participates in this programme, i.e. holds the Erasmus University Chart, obtained from the European Committee, and it signed an agreement with the National Agency for employee exchange in a given academic year.
More information about the rules of the Erasmus programme and possibilities offered to different groups of recipients you can find at: www.frse.org.pl, click “erasmus”, section “Informacje dla uczelni” (information for universities), or at the European Committee website.
Academic teacher exchange with foreign universities or other institutions
The Erasmus exchange is a great opportunity to check and develop one’s competencies, allows to make new contacts with academic character and to initiate an interesting cooperation with foreign universities or other institutions where academic teachers go.
Academic teachers can go abroad to the universities, with which their mother universities (faculties) have signed the academic teacher exchange agreements, being part of the Erasmus programme, in order to conduct classes for students (lectures, seminars, workshop).
The stay at a foreign university may last from a few days to 6 weeks. If the stay lasts one week or shorter, the teacher is obliged to conduct at least 5 hours of classes.
Before leaving for the exchange, the teacher is obliged to specify the planned Teaching Programme for the foreign university, which must be accepted by the mother and host universities.
What criteria should be met?
While qualifying the candidates for the exchange the universities are obliged to take two criteria into consideration:
- language competencies;
- professional experience.
The candidacies of the employees who apply for the exchange for the first time or of the personnel with shorter professional experience should be treated as priorities. The universities may use additional criteria congruent with the adapted employee professional development policy.
Where to apply for the Erasmus exchange?
You can apply for the Erasmus exchange only in the place of employment. It is the higher education schools that put forward a motion for funds for the exchange for the employees, qualify the candidates, specify the amount of the scholarships and pay the scholarships. The recruitment of the candidates takes place in the academic year preceding the exchange, usually early spring.
The detailed information concerning the possibility to participate in the Erasmus programme and the cooperation with partners in different countries offered by your university you can obtain from the university (faculty) Erasmus coordinator or the foreign office employees.
What are the financial conditions of the exchange?
The scholarship paid from the Erasmus programme budget allows to cover part of the costs connected with the travel and living abroad. The amount of the money for staying abroad as part of the Erasmus programme depends on the length of the stay and is calculated on the basis of the specific daily and weekly sums referring to the costs of living in the separate countries.
The rates of The Lifelong Learning Programme are given at the Foundation for the Development of the Education System website www.frse.org.pl in the document “Zaproszenie do składania wniosków w roku 2007″ (Invitation to apply in 2007), part 2 (table 5a, p. 26).
Costs of travel: with the Erasmus programme you can cover the real costs of travel to the maximum amount specified in the document given above.
Costs of living (and insurance) cannot be higher than the maximum rates from the programme.
Persons with a high disability degree may apply for additional means for the exchange from the special Erasmus programme fund for disabled persons.
Created on the basis of the Internet website of the Foundation for the Development of the Education System (Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edukacji; FRSE) www.frse.org.pl
