Erasmus+ Exchange During Your Degree: How a Study-Abroad Semester Works

What an Erasmus+ exchange actually is

An Erasmus+ exchange (the part of the programme known as 'learning mobility for students') lets you spend a study period — typically one or two semesters — at a partner university in another European country while staying enrolled in your home degree. You do not apply for a new degree; you remain a student of your home institution, and the time abroad counts towards that degree.

The defining feature is credit mobility: the courses you pass abroad are converted into credits and recognised back home, so you do not lose time. This is different from the Erasmus+ programme overview and from Erasmus+ scholarships — here the focus is purely the academic mechanics of a semester away.

• You stay enrolled in your home degree throughout.
• A study period abroad usually lasts from a couple of months up to a full academic year.
• Your two universities must have an inter-institutional agreement for the exchange to exist.

ECTS: the credit currency that makes it work

Exchanges across the European Higher Education Area run on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), a shared way of measuring student workload. In the EHEA, a full year of full-time study is normally built from educational components totalling 60 ECTS credits, so a single semester is usually around 30 ECTS.

Because every partner measures workload in the same ECTS units, a course you pass abroad can be mapped to a comparable load at home. For a stay shorter than a full year, you select courses worth a roughly proportionate number of credits. Always confirm the exact credit values on each university's official course catalogue rather than assuming a fixed number.

The Learning Agreement: your contract before you go

The Learning Agreement is the document that protects your credits. It sets out the programme of study you will follow abroad and the courses at home it will replace, and it must be approved by three parties — you, your sending (home) institution, and your receiving (host) institution — before the exchange begins.

Many institutions now manage this through the Online Learning Agreement, signed digitally by all parties. If your courses change after you arrive, you amend the agreement; the same three-way approval applies to the changes so that recognition is never put at risk.

• Drafted before departure, listing host courses and the home courses they map to.
• Signed by you, your home coordinator, and the host coordinator.
• Any on-site change is handled as a formal amendment, re-approved by all three.

Choosing your host university

You can only go to a partner where your home department holds an Erasmus+ agreement, and usually only within your subject area. Your home international or Erasmus office publishes the list of partners and the number of places; selection is run by your home institution, often on academic criteria and sometimes language level.

Check the host's language of instruction and any language certificate it expects, the courses it offers in your field for the term you will attend, and the academic calendar (some host semesters start and end at different times from yours). These practical details, not prestige alone, decide whether a partner is a good fit.

The Transcript of Records and getting your credits recognised

After your study period, the receiving institution issues a Transcript of Records listing the courses you took, the credits, and your grades. Your home institution then recognises those outcomes — automatically, as agreed in advance in the Learning Agreement and confirmed by the transcript.

The principle is full automatic recognition: credits gained for learning outcomes you satisfactorily achieved abroad should be recognised without you having to re-earn them. Keep your signed Learning Agreement and the Transcript of Records; if a credit does not appear back home, these are the documents that resolve it.

• Host issues the Transcript of Records after the term.
• Home recognises the credits per the agreed Learning Agreement.
• Save both documents until every credit shows on your home record.