Studying Abroad with Erasmus+

If you are a full-time student in our department, interested in the academic sides of your subject and would like to spend one or two semesters abroad as part of your study programme, you can apply for the Erasmus+ programme (with partner universities in Europe, including UK and Ireland) or the Non-EU exchange programme (places in the USA, Canada, Australia, Asia, South America, Africa). 

The International Office offers information on both exchanges HERE. Please read the information (available in German and in English) about opportunities, prerequisites, procedure(s), deadlines, language requirements, recognition of courses, financial support etc. first. Then return to our website to learn more about the specific conditions applying to Erasmus+ places at the Department of English. Non-EU and Erasmus applications have to be submitted online via Mobility Online; for details see below.

Content of this website

1. Places (& background information)
2. Requirements
3. Application Deadlines and Procedure
4. Course Selection, Recognition and Learning Agreement

1. Places

Erasmus+ student mobility programmes require a formal agreement between the two institutions and departments concerned. In languages (philologies), agreements are not always strictly reciprocal (incoming UK students will often be students of German rather than studying English language and literature, and vice versa). In the UK and in Ireland, many English Departments cover only literature and cultural studies. Linguistics Departments are often separate departments, at times even part of a different School (~ Fakultät); and in combination with "Foreign Languages" (as seen from English-speaking countries); see, for example, Edinburgh, Dublin, Limerick or Southampton. Some agreements cover access to both departments, others are more limited.

In the UK and in Ireland, Teacher Education is are organised in a completely different way, and usually at graduate level. Our department has no Teacher Education-specific Erasmus+ agreements.

Since our places differ in terms of course access, it is important for you to  study the individual universities carefully to find out which of them suit your study programme and your academic interests best. For this, please refer a) to the list above (quick overview) and to the PDF files below, which provide more details and offer links to our partners' websites, including course catalogues.
Our places are administrated between two departmental mobility coordinators for internal reasons,  but the application procedure is identical, and in your application you may mix places from both coordinators.
Please note that the number of places offered by the department may differ from the number of places listed in the International Office's Mobility Online Database (usually the number of places we have is lower than in the Erasmus database). 

Places administrated by Mag. Monika WITTMANN (Link to detailed descriptions will follow shortly after 20 January 2023)

2. Requirements

The ERASMUS- student mobility programme aims at regular full-time students of the University of Vienna who at BA level have completed at least three semesters in the relevant field of study before the start of their ERASMUS stay (ideally more). Since our partner universities expect advanced English language skills from our candidates, we generally suggest that you apply at the following stage:

• BA and BEd students: semester 4 or 5, or slightly later (Language in Use 1 and PPOCS1 should be completed before your exchange semester starts)
• MA and MEd students - from semester 1 onwards

BA and BEd students in their last Bachelor semester may apply and then study abroad during their first MA or MEd semester. In fact, in the MEd-programme this may the most reasonable thing to do, as there are only a handful of courses which can be recognised.

Language certificates

It can be assumed that from 2023 onwards all outgoing student will have to fulfill the language certificate requirements postulated by our partner universities for all international students, which means that nominated students will have to submit a language test, even as students of English. However, there is no need to submit test results while you are applying for a place. In the case of a nomination to a place in the UK it is highly recommendable to arrange a test immediately. We generally recommend the IELTS (academic) for UK universities, but suitable Cambridge tests are of course also possible, as is a TOEFL in case you are also considering applications to US universities in the near future (i.e. the next two years or so). 

3. Application Deadlines and Procedure

The Department of English assigns all places for both the winter AND the summer semester and for the whole academic year during the main application period between January and March. There is no second period in autumn.

For 2023/24, applications start on 20 January 2023 and end on Tuesday, 21 February 2023.

Applications reaching us after 21 February will not be considered, although the Mobility Online portal will remain open till 5 March. All required application documents need to be uploaded online. DO NOT SEND application documents by email or hand them in personally!!

The following documents need to be uploaded (Mobility Online):

• a current transcript of records (NOT just a statement of positive grades!!)
• a letter of motivation in English, including a passport-sized picture and your (self-calculated) grade average (more information)
• proof of your identity (e.g. copy of your ID card, passport, driving license)
• no language certificate is necessary at this point, but may become necessary in case of a successful application

Please read the information on the motivation letter carefully!

After your application documents have been viewed by the mobility coordinators, your application may either be denied or you will receive an invitation for a short personal interview (either online or on site), which most probably will take place between 5 and 12 March 2022 (the invitation will be sent by email in early March). During this interview, in which the mobility coordinator will be joined by two or three colleagues from the department to guarantee objective and unbiased selection, you will be asked to present the main points and arguments of your motivation letter again and answer individual questions from us. For more information see tips on motivation letter.

Our selection criteria include:

1. Formal qualifications are fulfilled √
2. Your grade average in English Studies is better than 3.0 √
3. We will look at your academic progress and achievements in general, and evaluate the suitability of your study programme and place(s) selected √
4. Assessing the quality of your arguments in the motivation letter √
5. More advanced students are usually preferred (but depends on place/university) √
6. How you present yourself during the interview √

Nomination

If all goes well, you will be nominated in Mobility Online before 15 March. The International Office will then contact you and tell you what the next steps are.

4. Course Selection, Recognition and Learning Agreement

Contact person - advisor regarding course selection and recognition

All students participating in one of the university's exchange programmes need to contact the SPL-Studienprogrammleitung to discuss course selection and recognition.
At the Department of English your contact is Mag. Monika Wittmann - she was part of the SPL team for 6 years and continues to advise outgoing students on course selection and recognition on behalf of the current SPL team.

Learning Agreement (Before, During and After Mobility)

The Learning Agreement is a form by which you inform your host university about the courses and the amount of ECTS credits you wish to take during your stay; at the same time it will eventually come to serve as your final notice of course recognition (Anerkennungsbescheid). From 2021 onwards, the Learning Agreement will be available in Mobility Online: LA Before Mobility is usually filled in and sent to the host university months before you arrive, but tends to change a lot later; LA During Mobility is completed after your host semester has started and your courses have been fixed; and the LA After Mobility will contain your final recognition and become your official Anerkennungsbescheid. 

Please gather information about courses offered at your host university as soon as you have been nominated, compare their courses to ours and talk to Monika Wittmann about your selection. She will also collect the SPL signature on your Learning Agreement(s). Your selection will be based on the current catalogue, und usually needs to be adapted later on.

You will have to find out when the Learning Agreement has to be submitted to your host university. It lies within your responsibility that the host university receives the Learning Agreement in time (most universities require the document as part of the application procedure). Should the host university not require the learning agreement for your application/registration, please take it with you and discuss the courses with the local International Office upon your arrival.

ECTS and courses

In general, students are expected complete 30 ECTS credits during an ERASMUS semester. In order to be eligible for the ERASMUS grant, a minimum of 3 recognised ECTS per month is required. Should these minimum requirements not be met, the grant would have to be repaid. (The 3-ECTS-per-month rule also applies to the Non-EU exchange programme.) All versions of the Learning Agreement (Befure-During-After Mobility) need to be uploaded in Mobility Online.

Please find out which courses you will be allowed to take at your host university. In order to make  course selection easier, it is recommended to save ECTS usually reserved for optional courses (Alternative Erweiterungen, Wahlbereich, etc). Find below short overviews with information indicating which courses in our curricula can usually (easily) be replaced at a host university. 

Bachelor (English and American Studies)    •    Bachelor of Education (English)    •    Master of Education (English)     •    MA Literature and Culture    •    MA Linguistics

Changes to the Learning Agreement

As already mentioned, Learning Agreements Before Mobility tend to change considerably later on, and you will need to modify your course programme later. In this case, please email Monika Wittmann about changes and alternative course proposals. This is the only way to make sure that your choices will really be recognised after your return. Once your course selection is final (usually a few weeks after the semester has started), send a Learning Agreement During Mobility to Monika Wittmann.

After your ERASMUS stay you'll need to apply for official recognition / credit transfer of the courses taken abroad. For this last step see https://spl-anglistik.univie.ac.at/study/exchange/recognition-after-exchange/.

Further advice on course recognition:

• ALWAYS discuss the courses you are planning to take with Monika Wittmann, who advises on behalf of the study programme director
• Credit transfer/course recognition is usually very easy for optional courses (BA: "Alternative Erweiterungen";  BEd: electives - Module 10), less so for compulsory courses. It is therefore advisable to save at least some of these ECTS for your ERASMUS stay.