Special funding consists of financial support for students who have fewer opportunities or special needs. The financial assistance is designed to promote equal opportunities and inclusion, making it easier for students with special requirements to take part in the program. The grant amounts to 250 euros per scholarship month and is paid in addition to the regular Erasmus funding. Recipients can only claim the grant once, even if they meet several of the criteria for receiving the grant.

For more information on eligibility requirements, verification requirements, and other funding opportunities for students with special needs, please visit our Equal Opportunities: Everyone Can Study Abroad page.

For further information, please visit: Application Process

The international coordinator of your department or faculty will be happy to advise you on all matters concerning course selection and transfer credit. Please note that this coordinator may differ from the person authorized to sign your Online Learning Agreement. Check our OLA support website (2nd question) to find out who needs to sign your Online Learning Agreement ). Erasmus Outgoing Student Support can answer your questions about scholarships and related obligations.

Students entitled to BAföG can also continue to receive it during their Erasmus stay. You can find detailed information on BAfög benefits outside Germany on this website.

If you receive another scholarship from the EU or DAAD, as a rule, you can also receive an Erasmus grant at the same time. Please check whether your other scholarship provider would reduce your scholarship amount if you were to receive an Erasmus grant.

After successfully applying for a study placement, your Erasmus coordinator nominates you for an Erasmus study placement at the corresponding partner university.

However you are then responsible for enrolling or registering at the partner university. The nomination from RWTH is not sufficient to be counted as enollment, as every university has its own enrollment procedure fur Erasmus students. Some partners use online registration and/or require additional documents from the nominated students. The partner university will contact you a few months before your stay to provide you with information on their enrollment and registration procedures. Make sure you abide by the enrollment deadlines at the partner university.

After successfully applying for an Erasmus study place, the Erasmus coordinator of your faculty/department nominates you for the partner institution. If you have not automatically received information about the enrollment procedure from the partner university by mid-May (for stays beginning in the winter semester) or early October (for stays beginning in the summer semester), please contact the International Office of your host university to find out the current status of your nomination.

You can only be certain that the exchange is possible when you receive an official confirmation from the partner university. Wait to book your travel or cancel your apartment until then.

As a part of the Erasmus agreement between RWTH and your partner university, you are not required to pay any tuition fees at the partner university for your Erasmus+ stay. Erasmus students are only required to pay enrollment fees or social contribution fees.

You have the opportunity to receive a certificate of residence (e.g. to apply for a leave of absence, visa, etc.) and a scholarship certificate (if necessary to apply for BAföG abroad).

You can request the certificate of residence via the Online Portal and receive it by email within the next two working days.

Please request the scholarship certificate by email:  Erasmus Outgoing Student Support.

Make sure to find out early on, whether you need a visa for your host country. You can find detailed information on the consulate and embassy websites, from the Federal Foreign Office, and from the DAAD.

You can find information about semesters of leave on the Registrar's Office website. When applying for a semester of leave, you must upload a certificate of residence. You can request the certificate of residence via the Online Portal and receive it by email within the next two working days.

Taking official semesters of leave during your stay abroad offers the following advantages:

• Your course semesters are not counted during an official semester of leave due to an Erasmus+ stay.
• It is possible to take exams at RWTH Aachen during a semester of leave.

You can get a refund for the mobility fee regardless if you take a semester of leave. You can find the request form on the AStA website. Make sure to check the deadline for submitting the request.

The Erasmus+ scholarship does not include any insurance coverage. The EU Commission, the DAAD, and RWTH are not responsible for any damages caused while you participate in the program. Students are responsible for purchasing adequate insurance coverage for their entire stay abroad.

Your national health insurance generally provides basic insurance cover for your stay in another EU country in the form of the European Health Insurance Card. However, the coverage offered by this card or by private insurance may not be sufficient, especially if repatriation or special medical treatment is necessary. In such cases, supplementary private insurance can be useful.

It is possible to purchase DAAD group insurance, which includes health, accident, and private liability insurance. You can contact the DAAD Insurance Office for more information.

According to the State Registration Act you are required to cancel your residence at the Registration Office if you are going abroad for more than three months. This still applies even if your rental contract will remain in force. If you ignore this requirement, you may be fined.

Further information is available on the Website of the City of Aachen.

You will have to comply with the conditions specified by the Erasmus grant before, during, and after your Erasmus stay. Fulfilling these conditions correctly and by the respective deadline is a prerequisite for receiving, and continuing to receive, the Erasmus grant.

In the download area of the Erasmus page you will find a checklist of Erasmus conditions. This overview refers to the current academic year and provides information on how, where, and by what deadline the respective condition has to be met. After your application for an Erasmus stay has been deemed successful, the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team will send you a specific checklist for your Erasmus stay by June at the latest.

• You will find all the necessary information on the Online Learning Agreement on our OLA Support website.

The EU Commission recommends you plan to take courses, modules, etc. amounting to a total of at least 30 ECTS during your Erasmus study placement.

Erasmus students at RWTH have to earn at least 15 ECTS per semester at the partner university and to prove this with the transcript of records issued by the partner university at the end of their stay.

• The departmental coordinator is the Erasmus coordinator in your faculty or department. See the FAQ on the Online Learning Agreement to find out who needs to sign the form from your faculty/department. You will need to contact Erasmus Outgoing Student Support to get the signature from the RWTH Institutional Coordinator.

You can cancel your stay via the cancellation form in the central online application portal for stays abroad. Please let your faculty and the partner university know about your decision.

No, after you have been selected to take part in Erasmus+, a language test is carried out to determine your current language level. The conditions determined in the Erasmus contracts with partner universities and in the Learning Agreement regarding a certain language level do not have to be proven by online tests, nor should they be confused with these. These language skills will be tested by the faculties or departments using other methods when selecting participants.

The Green Travel Support is an additional grant of 50 euros to promote sustainable travel to the host country. You can apply for this grant if you plan to use sustainable modes of transportation – such as bike, bus, train, or car-sharing – for most of your trip (outbound and return travel). You must submit your application before the start of the mobility period using the form which will be sent to you by email.

Additional funding may be available for up to two extra travel days for each outbound and return travel if you need the additional time to use sustainable modes of transportation. The funding per day of travel amounts to one thirtieth of the monthly rate. Proof of travel and tickets are to be submitted upon request only, or if you are randomly selected, and must remain in your possession until you receive your scholarship certificate (Erasmus+ Certificate of Participation from RWTH).

You will be asked to specify your travel dates and the means of transportation you used after you have completed your stay abroad on the Confirmation of Study Abroad (Cosa) form and via the online portal. In the latter, you must name the means of transport you used for most of the trip (more than 50 percent of the round trip) so that your eligibility for Green Travel Support can be checked.

No. Language course fees incurred while participating in the Erasmus program are not covered. Erasmus outgoing students are offered the opportunity to take an online language course as part of the Online Linguistic Support service. All language course support is indirect and must be clarified before your stay abroad. If a preparatory language course results in a longer study placement abroad, the extended period can be funded by the Erasmus grant.

Please inform the Erasmus coordinator of your faculty/department as soon as you can foresee that you will not reach the minimum number of ECTS. Write to them explaining why you could not reach the minimum number of ECTS and ask for an exemption. Attach proof for your case, for example a medical certificate. Exemptions are only granted in exceptional, well justified cases.

When you receive an exemption, your Erasmus coordinator will sign your letter. The signed declaration should then be sent by email to the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team together with a scan of the Transcript of Records of the partner university.

If you do not receive an exemption, the Erasmus coordinator will inform the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team how many funding months they allocate for the number of ECTS credits obtained. The Erasmus grant will then be reclaimed on a pro-rata basis.

If you have not earned any ECTS at all during your Erasmus study placement, you must repay the grant in full (0 ECTS = 0 euros).

At the end of your shortened stay, request the confirmation of stay abroad as per usual. On this document your host university confirms the period you were present for academic pursposes at the institution. Once you have returned, send your Confirmation of stay abroad as a scan to the International Office‘s Erasmus Outgoings Student Support team. They will calculate the scholarship amount that has to be repaid due to the shorter stay and will inform you of this in due course.

• The extended period immediately follows the current stay.
• An extension cannot extend the stay beyond 12 months.
• Your local Erasmus coordinator from your faculty or department and the Erasmus coordinator at the partner university must approve the extension in writing.
• You must submit a fully signed OLA for Changes (Learning Agreement During the Mobility) to Erasmus Outgoing Student Support at least one month before the original end date. Your original end date can be found in our Online Portal under "Personal overview of stays abroad".
• You must independently contact the partner university for any necessary nominations for your second semester abroad. If needed, this nomination will be made by the exchange coordinator of your faculty or department.

You can find information about requesting an extension in the Learning Agreement handout.

You can cancel your stay once it has begun via the cancellation form in the central online application portal for stays abroad. Please let your faculty and the partner university know about your decision.

Have your confirmation of stay abroad issued to you directly at the international office of the host university at the end of your stay. From experience, we know students may face problems and significant delays if they request the confirmation of stay abroad from the partner university after they return to Germany.

The point in time that you are automatically requested to fill out the online questionnaire depends on the planned end date of your stay as stated in the Mobility Grant Agreement. The questionnaire will be sent from the following email address: replies-will-be-discarded@ec.europa.eu.

If you cannot start the final OLS language test and receive the message "license expired" or "session expired", please set your mobility end date to the current month and save your entry. Once you have done this, it should be possible to take the OLS language test.

The notification of recognition is the document you receive from the examination board from your local faculty/department when you submit the transcript of records issued by the partner university (original) and your Learning Agreement to have your credits recognized.

This notification lists the achievements that you have achieved at the partner university that are recognized by RWTH. You must send a scan of this document to the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team.

If you do not reach the minimum number of ECTS during your stay, please inform the Erasmus coordinator of your faculty/department. Write to them explaining why you could not reach the minimum number of ECTS and ask for an exemption. Attach proof for your case, for example a medical certificate. Exemptions are only granted in exceptional, well justified cases!

If you receive an exemption, your Erasmus coordinator will sign your letter. The signed declaration should then be sent by email to the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team together with a scan of the Transcript of Records of the partner university.

If you do not receive a special approval, the Erasmus coordinator will inform the Erasmus Outgoing Student Support team how many funding months they allocate for the number of ECTS credits obtained. The Erasmus grant will then be reclaimed on a pro-rata basis.

If you have not earned any ECTS at all during your Erasmus study placement, you must repay the grant in full (0 ECTS = 0 euros).

At least 15 ECTS have to be earned at the partner university in one semester and have to be proven with the transcript of records issued by the partner university at the end of the stay. Alternatively, you must prove that at least 15 ECTS per semester completed at the partner university have been recognized at RWTH. It is therefore permissible if, for example, you obtain 13 ECTS/semester at the partner university, but can prove that 15 ECTS/semester are recognized at RWTH.