Studying abroad
The Erasmus+ Programme facilitates the exchange of students and PhD students between the Programme Countries (the EU, Turkey, Serbia and and Nord Macedonia).
Studying abroad under the Erasmus+ Programe, you can improve your communication, language and intercultural skills and gain social skills which are highly valued by employers. You can also combine learning with an internship programme to gain work experience, which is of significant importance for your future realisation at the labour market.
These opportunities are available for bachelor’s and master’s degree students, a swell as for PhD students.
If you are going to one of the programme’s countries, you can use the online Erasmus+ Language Support (OLS) to learn the language in which the lessons will be held.
Duration
The study period abroad must be of minimum 2 months and maximum of 12 months for each degree (Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, Doctor’s Degree).
You can participate in more than one Erasmus+ abroad exchange as a student or a trainee, but the total length of periods abroad can not exceed 12 months within one training cycle.
Application
At the TU-Varna, the selection of students and PhD students for participation in Erasmus+ mobility is done through a selection procedure, which is carried out by the Directorate of International Cooperation and Foreign Students.
The step-by-step procedure is as follows:
Application periods end 3 months prior to the beginning of the semester at the chosen foreign university.
Applicants have to speak English or the language of the host country at a level not lower than B2, which has to be proved in one of the following ways:
• the mark received at a state matriculation exam in the language;
• a certificate;
• an exam to test language skills.
In case you have chosen to verify your foreign language skills through a state matriculation exam mark or through a certificate, you need to scan and apply a secondary education diploma with an assessment from the state maturation exam in the language or one of the following certificates:
• English: PET Preliminary, BEC Preliminary, FEC, BEC Vantage, CAE, BEC Higher, CPE, BULATS, IELTS, TOEFL iBT
• German: Goethe – Zertifikat, ÖSD, DSD, TestDaF
• French: DELF / DALF
• Spanish: DELE
• Italian language: CILS, CELI, PLIDA
The assessment from the State matriculation examination and the certificate shall be equated according to a table for equivalent results.
For the candidates willing to take a language exam, English language examinations are provided.
Expected grants during the academic year 2021 – 2027:
Group | Country | Monthly grant (EUR / month) |
---|---|---|
Group 1 Countries participating in the program with a high standard of living | Austria, UK, Ireland, Italy, Finland, France, Sweden | 600 |
Group 2 Countries participating in the program with an average standard of living | Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey, Croatia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic | 600 |
Group 3 Countries participating in the program with a low standard of living | Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey | 540 |
An application form for participation in the Erasmus+Programme is submitted. The application is examined by the Academic Exchange Commission. Only applicants who have proven their foreign language fluency are ranked. Applicants who have taken the exam but not passed it successfully are not allowed to participate in the ranking. .
The rating is formed from the student’s grade point average until the date of application and the language fluency assessment.
Preparation of documents to be sent to the partner university
After the ranking has been announced, the ranked students have to begin preparing the following documents to be sent to the partner university:
• An application form (it has to be completed in duplicate in accordance with the template of the partner university, if there is not such a template- you can use the form of TU – Varna by making the necessary corrections).
•A Learning Agreement (it has to be completed in duplicate in accordance with the template of the host university or in accordance with a template of the TU-Varna).
• Accommodation form (if such a form is not available at the website of the partner university, you should contact the coordinator of the relevant university and arrange the accommodation options.
• Some additional documents, such as a copy of a health insurance card, an academic transcript, etc., may be required depending on the accepted rules at the partner university.
Signing a bilateral grant agreement
Prior to your departure for the partner university, you have to sign a grant agreement by submitting declaration stating that you are a holder of a bank account. In the form of the agreement, you have to fill in only your personal details and your bank account details and send it to the Erasmus University office by email. It is obligatory to fill in the address of the bank in the declaration that you are a holder of a bank account only if the account was opened in a foreign bank and in such case the the address of the student abroad is also required.
If it is not possible for you to sign the contract personally, a relative or friend with a notarized power of attorney may do this for you. A sample of power of attorney with the minimum requirements may be downloaded from the set of documents available below. Upon signing the contract, you will receive 80% of the amount of money which is foreseen for the entire period of your stay at the partner university, and upon returning and presenting the after-mobility documents you will receive the remaining 20%.
You may receive the grant to the bank account set out in your declaration. It is obligatory to fill in correctly the field address of the bank if the account is opened in a foreign bank, as well as the address of the student abroad.
Each student is responsible for checking the academic calendar of the university to which he/she is going to study and his/her departure should be in compliance with this schedule. The academic calendar or correspondence specifying the dates of the period of the student’s studies has to be presented to the Erasmus officer when the grant agreement is signed. Some universities organise a WelcomeWeek, or language courses for which you also need to be personally informed.
You should inform the coordinator of the exact date of your arrival so that they arrange welcoming for you if they provide such a service.
Online Language Support (OLS)
Each student participating in Erasmus+ is required to take an online test to determine their linguistic level before and after the end of the mobility if the working language during mobility is foreign to them. All participants whose level is lower than C1 are also offered a free online language course. Online language support is available in the following languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Polish, Dutch, Slovenian and Greek.
Upon your return, you have to submit to the ERASMUS Office of TU-Varna the following documents no later than 30 days after this date:
1. Transcript of records – an academic transcript of the results you have achieved at the partner university, translated into Bulgarian by a licensed agency. If it was not issued until the departure of the student, it will subsequently be received by post.
2. Confirmation – a document issued by the partner university certifying the duration of the student’s stay there.
3. A second document certifying the duration of the actual stay abroad *: travel tickets (round trip + boarding passes if you were traveling by plane); a copy of the international passport if there any stamps were put at the border; or a rental contract with the dates of check-in and check-out specified.
*NB! – Only one of the three documents which supplements the Confirmation is required.
4. A Work Report in Bulgaria, which has to be sent to email address: erasmus@tu-varna.bg
5. Changes to the Learning Agreement – if you have made any changes to your selection of subjects, you have to put them down them in this document (Part During the mobility) and have a stamp pot on it at the partner university before your return.
Attention! – The final version of the Learning Agreement has to be in full compliance with the Transcript of Records.
Immediately after the expiry of the period of your mobility under your grant agreement, you are going to receive an electronic questionnaire in English language /EUSurvey. After you have answered all questions you should submit it by selecting „submit“ buton and you should save your report as a PDF file. Thus you may prove that you filled it in and submitted it, if any technical problem arise with its automatic reporting to the EUSurvey Platform. Only in such case you will be required by your ERASMUS + Coordinator to send him the abovementioned PDF file.
When you are planning your return, you have to consider that 20% of the remaining grant is paid for the actual time spent at the partner university, as proved by the records. If there is any discrepancy between the arrival and departure dates in both documents, the later arrival date and the earlier departure date will be accepted. If the contract is for a longer period, the 20% paid after the return will be reduced; if there is a difference between the actual stay and the stay set out in the agreement, you may need to reimburse a portion of the grant you were awarded.
After the end of the mobility, each student may receive a certificate of participation in the Erasmus+ Program issued by the International Cooperation and Foreign Students Directorate by a preliminary arrangement.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.