German and international students in any course of study can apply as long as they are enrolled in a degree program at RWTH Aachen and have an internship place in a country that is not their permanent residence.

Graduates can also get their internship, to be completed within twelve months of completing studies, funded through Erasmus+ as long as they apply for funding during their last academic year. Furthermore, PhD students of RWTH Aachen University can apply for an Erasmus+ internship.

Participants can be funded by Erasmus for a total of twelve months per academic cycle, whereby Erasmus study abroad stays and Erasmus internships abroad are calculated together. In courses of study with only academic step, such as Staatsexamen, Erasmus+ funding is possible for a total of 24 months.

Erasmus+ promotes equal opportunities and inclusion and makes special funding available for the following student groups:

• Students with disabilities or chronic illnesses (degree of disability must be 20 or more)
• Students with a chronic medical condition that has been shown to cause additional costs abroad
• Students who take their child abroad with them for the duration of their stay

Detailed information can be found on the “Equal Opportunities: Everyone Can Study Abroad” page in the “Erasmus+ Special Funding” section.

Learn more on the DAAD website here. You can also contact us. We will be happy to provide you with more information on the possibilities of special funding under Erasmus+.

The Erasmus+ program promotes low-emission travel. Participants have the opportunity to apply for an additional lump sum of 50 euros and up to four additional travel days for sustainable travel ("green travel"). An additional travel day is subsidized in the amount of 1/30 of the monthly stipend. In order to receive this funding, you must submit a handwritten and signed declaration of honor before the start of the mobility period. You will receive more information after successful application.

At present, we are continuing to fund stays at the funding rates indicated here and only the special funding rates that are indicated in the Equal Opportunities and Social Inclusion section below for eligible individuals.

Country Group 1

600 euros in funding per month: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom

Country Group 2

540 euros in funding per month: Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain

Country Group 3

480 euros in funding per month: Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary

Erasmus+ funds qualified industry internships from two months (60 days) to twelve months. Eligible host companies include businesses in the public and private sector, regardless of size, legal form, or industrial sector, including social economy. Research internships at universities, including as part of a final project or thesis, can also be funded through the current Erasmus+ partial program. The new education program Erasmus+, part of Erasmus Mobility for Universities, is also open to teacher training students, who are completing internships at European universities, making it possible for them to apply for assistance from Erasmus+ internship funding. Internships at EU institutions and institutions that administrate EU programs – here is a complete list – cannot be funded by Erasmus+.

• Sufficient language skills in the working language must be documented - at least Level B1 of the European Framework of Reference
• If you would like to take a language course at the RWTH Language Center to prepare for your internship, you may receive preferential treatment in being placed in a course if you have already officially applied for Erasmus+ internship funding. For language courses in the winter semester, you must have the International Coordinators register you with the Language Center by September 30. For language courses in the summer semester, you must be registered by March 31. You can find more information on the Language Center’s website here.
• You cannot be simultaneously funded by other EU programs. You must sign a contract stating that you are not receiving double funding

How can you apply?

Please apply online and upload the requested documents – as listed below – as PDF files. Please have the enterprise that you'll be visiting – the receiving organisation – and your faculty – the sending institution – fill out or sign the Learning Agreement for Traineeships. Here you can find an overview of the appointed contact persons within different faculties.

Please upload your fully completed application at the very latest six weeks before beginning an internship. If you apply for a spot in the United Kingdom, please submit the fully completed application four months before the intended start of the mobility period. Late applications will not be considered. Late applications will only be considered in exceptional cases where the student is not at fault. Funding cannot be granted in retrospect, for example after the start of the internship. If you want advice in advance regarding the application process or potential internships, please contact Ms. Saskia Semaan at the International Office to make an appointment.

Students, who complete a graduate internship within a year after their completing their degree and would like to be funded through Erasmus+, must apply during their last academic year, following the procedure described above. It is important that the application documents are submitted no later than six weeks before the internship begins.

Note

Graduates, who register as unemployed and are looking for a job after they graduate, must arrange their internship with the Federal Employment Agency.

• Learning Agreement for Traineeships
• Current transcript of records
• Certificate of enrollment
• Resume
• Proof of language skills
• Statement of motivation, maximum of two DIN A4 pages

You are personally responsible for sufficient insurance coverage, that is health, accident, and liability insurance, during your stay abroad. Check early on to make sure whether or not your insurance is valid abroad and for what.

DAAD offers Erasmus+ funded students affordable group insurance tailored towards internships abroad. Here you can find more information about the DAAD group insurance Tarif 720. Tarif 726 applies to graduates.

If you are granted funding, you must sign a grant agreement, which regulates all of the funding conditions, such as the funding amount and payment method. Furthermore, each scholarship recipient recieves a student charter before their stay abroad. This charter contains all of your rights and obligations as an Erasmus+ student.

To receive Erasmus funding, you must also take an online language test with the appropriate course and a test after your stay. The access link is sent to you via email after you have been accepted. The test takes about 40 minutes. This test is not one of the selection criteria. It simply assesses the language skills gained during an Erasmus stay.

If your internship is going to be extended, you can request an extension to the Erasmus funding. You must submit a completed a signed Learning Agreement – During the mobility no later than one month before the regular requested funding period. The extended stay must immediately follow your current stay and not go beyond the overall permissible funding duration of twelve months per study phase.

Mandatory internships abroad lasting at least twelve weeks can also be funded by BAföG. BAföG for within Germany cannot be used for stays abroad. You must apply for special BAföG for abroad. This may mean that even individuals not eligible for BAföG within Germany could recieve BAföG for abroad. You must apply for BAföG for abroad at least six months before you begin your stay abroad.

Grants such as Erasmus+ remain exempt up to 300 euros per month with the new BAföG regulations as of 2011. This means that only the amount above 300 euros is included when calculating the BAföG grant. The responsible BAföG office can provide information about whether or not the BAföG grant will be reduced and by how much. Internship grants are exempt up to 450 euros. You can find more information about the requirements, funding rates, and applying for a grant on the websites of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Deutsches Studentenwerk.