NEW!

Module recognition updated (that is very helpful² for the students).

In this page you will find general information about Erasmus. At the bottom of the page you can find information for the Erasmus in Switzerland, England (UK), Finland and Austria. Sections with a greek flag target greek students only.

General info
Pros and Cons
Module recognition
DIT
Scholarship (money)
Criteria
Extend
Countries and useful links

Note : If you are looking for an internship, then Erasmus Placement is want you are looking for. Students that have already gone to Erasmus can be selected for Erasmus Placement.

Laconic : Erasmus is a great² experience, but it will mesh up the courses (come from different semesters) and will result to unbalanced course load, when you return home. That’s the trade off.

General

Erasmus, as almost everything in life, is a “trade off”. While Erasmus was on its first steps, it had as target to bring people from different countries together. This target is of course still alive. But what will happen with the progress of your studies in your home university? At first, there was a problem with that. Nowadays, significant progress has been made, thus making it easy for you to handle. Still, that is an issue that you have to be really aware of ;). Mind also, that the Erasmus represent their country, so a good attitude and performance is appropriate, I would say.

Once Erasmus, always Erasmus!

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Pros and cons

First the advantages. Erasmus offers you a lifetime experience for sure. You will see how your science is treated in another country and you will have opportunities that you might not have in your country. Moreover you are going to meet people from many different countries, learn about their culture, make friends, party and in general have a really good time.

On the other hand come the disadvantages, well as always when we are speaking in terms of a trade off. You have to understand that you are not going to a duplicate university, which just is located in a different country. Schedules and courses vary from one university to another. Fortunately, there are many common tasks in the courses. The thing that must alert you is that you are going to sacrifice half of an exam period (or maybe more).

Ok now probably you are feeling a bit uncomfortable with the exams. What is happening is that there is a big chance the university you are planning to go starts its semester when your exams start, are in action or are finishing. For example if you go for a winter semester, then you will probably loose half of the exams of September. If you go in the spring semester, you will probably loose a part of the February’s exams. To be honest, you will find a gap between the start of the semesters in the Erasmus uni and the exams in your home university, but you will be sure of them when it is probably too late, since the schedules may not have been published when you have to book a ticket. Mind that the sooner you book a ticket, the cheaper it will be.

The chance that you will not loose any of your exams is there, but it is one of a small value. Also, that is heavily depending on the university that you are planning to go! You can find the links for the universities bellow. Moreover of the professor that the exam you want to give is about. In a few cases, some professors made a special examination for the Erasmus students, but this chances are really limited and have to be set up by you. I would say that this is a fair trade off. You will miss a part of an exam, but you will gain a unique experience that limited people have lived! Think about it, or better yet, click in the links bellow!

The bright side is that you will catch up the exams of the current semester in your home university. That is, if you go on winter, you will be able to participate in 60% of the February’s exams in your home (or more if they delay due to strikes, etc.) and if you go on winter same story for the June’s exams.

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Module Recognition

When you are accepted to be an exchange student, you will be sent an envelope containing some papers that should be filled by your Erasmus supervisor in the University you are going to and further details on what additional papers you need to have with you when you return back to Greece. If you have already left, for example during the fall semester, one of your relatives should send these papers to you. In addition, when you arrive at the University you are going to, you need to have with you the “Learning Agreement”, that indicates which modules you have chosen and passed during the Erasmus program. “Learning Agreement” should be signed by both your Greek and foreign supervisor and when you return, it should be given to the School Office for the final recognition of your modules via “My-Studies”.

NEW!
Before you had to say to every professor that you had passed his or her course, that you succeeded in it and all relevant details. Now, the secretariat do the work for you. You agree on a paper that you have to fill when on the last months of the Erasmus, with your scientific supervisor, with the ECTS and grades ( I had 8, 9, 9 and 9.5 and all the grades remain the same ) and that’s it! Then you give the paper to the secretariat and they do the rest. This is really an improvement!

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DIT

Students of DIT have the right to apply for books in Eudoxus, even though they are away. They have to send a friend or a relevant with their PIN to collect their books. Moreover they can apply in eclass for courses. Warning : Books and courses applications must be the same. You can apply for more courses, but you must apply at least for the courses that you have already ask for a book. Moreover, you should not apply for the courses that you are taking in Erasmus.

Example
Let a male eramus student X exist. He is in Switzerland for his Erasmus and he is taking the following courses : Topics in algorithms, computer graphics and probabilities. He wants to get the books, in Greece, of C++ and mathematics of telecommunications. He wants, when he arrives back to his country, to take an exam in Optics and electromagnetism. How should his applications look like?

Answer
Application in the university of Swiss

Topics in algorithms (3rd year)
Computer graphics (3nd year)
Probabilities (2nd year)

Application of Eudoxus

Book of C++
Telecommunications mathematics book

Application in mystudies, DIT

Object oriented programming
Optics and Electromagnetism
Telecommunications mathematics

Moreover you can apply for the special card for transportation (ΠΑΣΟ). It has no effect if you carry it with you in the Erasmus country, because this has to do with the Greek public transportation. So, if you are on Erasmus in winter, you are going to be away when the applications begin. You should have fill in a document of identity (ταυτοπροσωπία) before you leave Greece, in order someone else to receive it for you. If you haven’t done one, don’t worry, you can collect it when you get back home. Also notice, that a meeting is being held before applications start. The meeting is held in the building of DIT. Students that had been on Erasmus attend this, students that are interested in applying and relative professors.

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Scholarship

The scholarship is given by the National Bank of Greece. 80% of the full scholarship is given at the start and the rest (20%) is given when the student returns from Erasmus. The rule says that if the student fails to succeed in at least one (or two) courses, then he must return the money of the scholarship back Warning : For the students that plan to apply for Erasmus in winter, notice that the money will be given in the middle/late of November, thus a document of identity (ταυτοπροσωπία) before they leave Greece is required, in order someone else to receive it for you. Also, mind that no additional money will be given to you (the airplane tickets for example, are going to be paid by you).

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Criteria

There is no standard recipe to get you selected. Every professor decides about the university that he or she is in charge of (Prof. I.Emiris for Switzerland, Prof. I.Karali for UK and Prof. D.Varoutas for Finland and so on). As a result, the level of strictness they are going to apply is proportional to the number of students that will apply. The chance of you been the only one to apply for a university exists, but I would say, this can not have a positive value. Favorite factors are :

Success in at least 10 courses
GPA (average grade)
Certificates of foreign languages
2nd or 3rd year of studies

Comment : Not that the rest will be disqualified, but in case of a tie, this criterion can give a boost.

You can find info about the applications in the Erasmus > Switzerland section, in the sector of Applications. Here you can see the one of the 2012 (of course I can not guarantee you, that the next ones are going to be a duplicate). I would suggest you to apply, even if you miss some of the criteria. I mean think about it.. What could happen in the worst case scenario? Not to be selected. So what? 😉 You came in this page, thus you are interested in Erasmus, so apply for it :). Oh and mind that you can only go to Erasmus once during your undergraduate life, but you can you apply as many times you want (until you get selected). You can however apply for Erasmus Placement (Erasmus for internship), even if you have already gone to Erasmus.

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Extend

As you may already have read, the duration of the Erasmus is one or two semesters, but professors tend to give one semester per student (so that more students can live the Erasmus experience). But, what if a student who has gone for one semester wants to stay for the next semester too? Then, the student can extend its stay, retaining the Erasmus status, but without getting any scholarship at all. In other words, they can stay for the next semester, but they will have no scholarship at all.

Here is the mail the relevant person for DIT sent to a student willing to extend his stay.

Καλημέρα,

Για το επόμενο εξάμηνο διατηρείς το status Erasmus κάνοντας ξανά τη διαδικασία.
Πρώτα στέλνεις αίτημα στους καθηγητές σου και σε μένα. Μου προωθείς τη σύμφωνη γνώμη
τους και μετά ετοιμάζεις νέο learning agreement και μέσω φαξ ή scan παίρνεις τις
υπογραφές και στο τέλος κάνεις την αναγνώριση των μαθημάτων και καταθέτεις τα
“έγγραφα της επιστροφής”. Για το 1ο εξάμηνο αν μου καταθέσεις τα έγγραφα που
απαιτούνται με την ολοκλήρωση θα πάρεις το υπόλοιπο 20% (εφόσον το δικαιούσαι)
διαφορετικά αν τα καταθέσεις με την ολοκλήρωση του 2ου εξαμήνου θα πάρεις τότε το
υπόλοιπο. Σε κάθε περίπτωση ενημέρωσέ με για το τι ακριβώς. Σχετικά με τα δίδακτρα
κανονικά έχοντας το status Erasmus (σου στέλνω βεβαίωση) δεν πρέπει να πληρώσεις,
όμως καλό είναι να κάνεις και μια ερώτηση στο πανεπιστήμιο εκεί.

Αθηνά Καλαμάκη
Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Τμήμα Ευρωπαϊκών και Διεθνών Σχέσεων / Γραφείο Έρασμος
Πανεπιστημίου 30, 106 79 Αθήνα
Πληροφορίες: Δευτέρα έως Πέμπτη 11:00-13:00
Tηλ: 210 368 9674
Φαξ: 210 368 9720
E-mail: akalamaki@interel.uoa.gr

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