When I wrote this article, which stresses some of the weaknesses in how the Erasmus program works, I did not intend to frighten the students that would like to participate in this program, but warn them since we all know that “You better be safe than sorry”.
It could discourage since it compiles many potential problems but in general, you will not face all the problems at a time and if you are lucky you will not even face any problem at all.
In any case, I strongly recommend international programs such as Erasmus. They are a great cultural and linguistic experience, provided you make the effort to speak the language of the country where you are. Moreover it is nowadays fundamental to show that one is mobile in order to find an interesting job.
Before we talk about an Erasmus mobility, let's review some of the terms used that may not be familiar to you. As follows you will find a short glossary in order to help you understand better these tips.
• Home university: the university in which you are studying in your country of residence.
• Host university: the university where you will be studying in the framework of Erasmus.
• Plan of study: all the subjects that you are going to study and that will be listed in the Learning Agreement.
• ECTS: System that allocates a certain number of credits to a subject according to the workload it represents to the student. In order to be valid, your plan of study must be made of 60 credits a year, that is 30 credits a semester.
• Coordinator: teacher responsible for the recognition of your plan of study. You may turn to him/her in case you have problems related to studies. You will have a coordinator in both your home and host universities.
Preparing your stay:
To prepare your stay, you will probably look for information in your host university's website. Be careful because it is possible that the information is not updated nor correct or incomplete.
Some examples: your host university is located in Madrid : until you look at a map, you will not know whether it is downtown or in the city outskirts.
It is also possible that the main faculties of your host university are located in Madrid but that others, smaller, lie 70 or 80 kilometers from Madrid (45-50 miles).
If you study languages such as Japanese or Chinese besides your main major, you may have to pay fees in order to assist to these classes in your host university; this is legal since they are not part of your plan of study.
It may also happen that your host university is implementing a new degree program. In this case, they only teach the first year classes but they post the whole curriculum on their website. This may cause you some problems, particularly in case you were exclusively interested in the second or third year classes.
About fees and other costs:
Tuition fees are to be paid in your home university but if you want to take additional classes that might interest you but that are not part of your plan of study, you will have to pay tuition fees. Sometimes, it may happen that you have to pay for class materials such as photocopies. Teachers often times demand certain books to be used in class and as there are not enough copies in the library, you may have to buy one.
About coordinators:
There is an evident lack of coordination between home and host universities. Sometimes even the transmission of grades can be chaotic. If you would have problems of any kind, tell your host university coordinator as well as your home university coordinator. Indeed, as they may not communicate between each other, you will always have to act as a link between them. You should be careful about what coordinators will tell you: they may assert that something can be done without checking that it can be done actually and you may have problems because of that. Erasmus coordinators are not paid to be coordinators (as far as I know), and most of the time they are told to be coordinators. This is why certain coordinators do not pay attention to their students, cannot be reached easily, do not answer e-mails… Actually there are coordinators that do their job well and always try to help their students, but not all of them do.
Choosing your subjects:
If there is no equivalent in your host university for the major you are studying in your home university, you will have to compose your own plan of study by choosing subjects from various majors. For instance the major you are studying in your home university is made of mixed subjects such as Computer Science, English, Economics and History of Spain. If there is no equivalent in your host university, you will choose a Computer Science class in the Computer Science faculty (or in any other faculty that teaches Computer Science), an English class in the English Language and Literature faculty, an Economics class in the Economics faculty, and a History of Spain class in the Spanish Language and Literature faculty or that of History.
This poses a scheduling problem. If two classes are taught at the same time you will have to choose another class or even choose another subject.
It may also pose a level problem. If the major you are studying in your home country is made of so mixed subjects, the Computer Science level acquired will not be the same as the level acquired in a Computer Science major. So it may sometimes be difficult to understand the classes. Moreover if you have chosen a third-year class for instance, you will not have assisted to the first and second-year classes so that you will lack of a certain knowledge that the teacher will regard as known by every student.
About the implementation of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS):
The ECTS is used to facilitate the recognition in your home university of the classes to which you assisted abroad. This is how it works: every subject is allocated a certain number of credits according to the workload it represents to the student. An academic year represents 60 credits (a semester, 30). So, when you study as an Erasmus student, you compose your plan of study and once you have reached 30 credits a semester, you have enough subjects.
The problem arises when the home and/or host universities do not implement this system. Every university should implement it but it is a recent system and this is why many universities still have problems with it.
This is an example of what can happen: your home university bases itself on subjects instead of credits. If the major you are studying in your home country is made of 10 subjects of 2 hours a week each one, you will have a 20 hour-a week schedule. When you choose subjects in your host university, you may find out that each subject has a 3 hour-a week schedule so that each one represents more credits and you will reach the number of credits you need with less subjects.
If your home university would implement the ECTS, this would not be a problem at all. But when it is not the case, your coordinator may assign you presentations or make you sit for exams when you come back to your home university. Eventually you will study a lot more than 20 hours a week and you will have to study by yourself the program of the subjects for which you will have to sit for an exam when you come back.
About internships:
If your major includes an internship, your home university devotes part of the academic year to it. When you participate in Erasmus, you have to be aware that your host university will not have any period dedicated to this internship. This is why your home university may exempt you from realizing it and this is really great because you will not have any problems in getting organized. On the other hand, if your home university still demands the internship, you will have two options. In case you have school only half of the day, you can dedicate the other half to your internship. Otherwise you will have to realize your internship during your summer holidays or other holidays you will have.
I hope this advice will be helpful for you to prepare your Erasmus stay. If you would face one of the problems I have just mentioned or others, take it easy and try to find the best solution you can. But do not lose heart because anyway an Erasmus stay is always useful. Indeed besides an academic year abroad, an Erasmus stay also means learning or deepening your knowledge of a language, learning about new cultures and meeting new people from which you will learn a lot as well. Best wishes on your stay!
