FAQs for Erasmus+ outgoing students

1. Application at BOKU via our online database Mobility Online.

Please note the application deadlines! See: "How to apply".

If your application at BOKU was accepted, you will be nominated by us at the partner university for a stay abroad.

2. Application at the partner university
After the successful nomination by BOKU at the host university, you also have to apply at the host university. ATTENTION: The two application procedures are separate processes.

The application processes at the partner university are different depending on the university (different deadlines, required documents, etc.).
Application deadlines for the WS: approx. spring
Application deadlines for the SoSe: approx. beginning of fall

The deadlines tend to be very early in Scandinavia and rather later in the South.
It is your responsibility to submit all required documents on time.

If your courses are already listed on the application form of the host university, you already have to get the confirmation of the content of the subjects from your subject coordinator so that the application can be signed by the BOKU-IR Erasmus+ Outgoing Coordinator.

The scholarship payment will be processed by BOKU-IR via Mobility Online. Therefore, please take care of the Mobility Online database of BOKU and, if applicable, the database of your host university during your entire stay!

Please enter the exact semester dates of your host university (according to the Academic Calendar) as the planned duration of your stay.

Should the actual stay be somewhat shorter than planned, the second partial payment of the Erasmus+ scholarship will be adjusted accordingly (settlement to the day according to the confirmation of stay at the end of the stay). The minimum duration of stay is 60 days; stays shorter than this are not eligible for funding.

If the actual dates of stay exceed the planned period (as stated in the grant agreement), the days will not be funded. The period of time agreed upon in the Grant Agreement as well as the stipend calculated on it are considered the maximum funding period or amount.

Due to budget cuts, there is currently a maximum funding period of one semester. Stays for the entire academic year are possible in individual cases upon request and as zero grant mobility (see "What is zero grant mobility?").

At the end of your stay, enter your actual stay data in the corresponding Mobility Online Workflow step, download the stay confirmation with the actual data and have it signed by the host university in the last week of your stay at the earliest. The Erasmus+ scholarship will be calculated on the basis of the confirmation of stay for each day of your stay. In the second installment, you will receive the number of days you stayed for less than the number of days calculated at the beginning of your stay. The minimum stay is 60 days.

If you cancel your Erasmus+ semester after submitting your application, a cancellation fee of € 50,- will be charged for the administrative effort. Exception: serious illness (with medical certificate), serious illness or death of direct relatives.

Please write an e-mail to erasmus(at)boku.ac.at that you would like to cancel your stay abroad and inform your host university (in cc also to erasmus(at)boku.ac.at).

You are entitled to receive the Erasmus+ grant, if you complete at least 3 ECTS per month at the host university. The grant is calculated on a daily basis based on your actual length of stay.

70% of the grant will be paid at the beginning of the stay and 30% after successful completion of the mobility. Furthermore, due to budget cuts, there is a maximum funding period of one semester. Longer stays are possible as partial zero-grant mobility (= Erasmus status & tuition fee waiver remain valid) and, if applicable, with other funding sources. 

For more information regarding the monthly grant rates, please click here.

Please also note that there is no legal entitlement to the scholarship. Grants are allocated per academic year according to budget availability.

In addition to the monthly scholarship amounts, there are further top-ups for:

• Green Travel: € 50 once (valid in the academic year 2023/24)
  If you arrive and/or depart by low-emission means of transportation (train, bus, carpool, bicycle, etc.) you can apply for this top-up. The application is made in the course of the scholarship calculation before the grant agreement is issued prior to the stay. An application for the top-up after receiving the Grant Agreement is not possible! If the top-up is applied for and no corresponding proof of travel (tickets, receipts, etc.) can be provided at the end of the stay, the top-up will be deducted from the second installment.

• Travel allowance for all types of mobility; amount varies depending on the distance and means of transportation (valid in the academic year 2024/25); see Scholarship

• Students with child(ren): € 250 per month

• Students with disability or chronic illness: € 250 per month and real cost allowance possible

Only one monthly top-up can be applied for, even if several of the categories apply. The application is made in the course of the scholarship calculation prior to the issuance of the Grant Agreement before the stay, relevant evidence must already be submitted at this time. A subsequent application is not possible!

The Grant Agreement for your Erasmus+ grant is concluded between the student and BOKU-IR. This is available available shortly before departure (approx. 2 weeks) at the earliest, provided that the necessary documents for departure (Online Learning Agreement & Paper for Recognition) are complete. If these documents are are not complete in time, the issuance of the Grant Agreement and thus the Agreement and thus also the payment of the first installment of the Erasmus+ grant. scholarship.

Please check the data entered in the grant agreement carefully!

In the course of the scholarship calculation prior to the issuance of the Grant Agreement in addition to the regular Erasmus+ grant rates, the following top-ups can also be applied for the following top-ups can be applied for (for details see "additional top-ups"):

    Green Travel: € 50 one-time
    Students with child(ren): € 250 per month
    Students with a disability or chronic illness: € 250 per month and real cost allowance

Zero grant means that you receive an Erasmus+ exchange place,​ do not have to pay tuition fees and go abroad in the framework of the Erasmus+ guidelines,​ but do not receive Erasmus+ funding (other funding is possible).​​

No, you are exempt from tuition fees during the exchange semester. There are no tuition fees to pay – neither at BOKU, nor at the host university. BUT: You still have to pay the ÖH fee at BOKU.

Detailed information about the insurance can be found here.

EWP is an online exchange network that connects different digital platforms of higher education institutions participating in Erasmus exchange programs.

EWP enables efficient mobility management by allowing higher education institutions to exchange information about their students' mobility quickly, securely, digitally and sustainably, thus eliminating the need for traditional paper-based methods.

Like the majority of European universities, BOKU is already connected to the EWP network. This allows students to process documents such as the Learning Agreement online.

No, unfortunately you cannot attend courses at BOKU during your Erasmus stay, but it is possible to take exams from courses you have already attended.

Before departure you can still change courses in Mobility Online. If these have already been confirmed by you and, if applicable, signed by the responsible coordinators, please contact BOKU-IR (erasmus(at)boku.ac.at). The Online Learning Agreement has to be reset first, so that the change of the course selection is possible.

After arrival at the host university you can also change the Learning Agreement again. For this purpose, there is a separate step in your Mobility Online workflow where the changes can be recorded. The changes after arrival will be confirmed digitally by the BOKU-IR Erasmus+ coordinators and the host university.

Please also get the OK of your departmental coordinator and, if applicable, the compulsory or elective course director for the changes (sufficient by mail). If you add new courses that you want to have recognized as compulsory or elective courses at BOKU, you have to clarify this recognition with the respective BOKU lecturer via email. Keep the email in order to be able to enclose it at the end of your stay as a confirmation of the recognition of your courses.

1. Enter planned courses in Mobility Online - after the formal check by BOKU-IR the Paper for Recognition (Word document) can be downloaded.

2. Check and adapt the form (see "Form of the Paper for Recognition")

3. In case of (elective) compulsory subjects: contact the respective BOKU course director and ask for the possibility of credit transfer. Then get the signatures one after the other (handwritten, digital, electronic signature is accepted but be careful - digital signatures may block the document for further processing).

Attention: Signatures must not be copied together by hand, not even from documents that you have obtained yourself (= signature forgery).

4. If all lecturers have signed --> get the signature of the responsible BOKU departmental coordinator.

5. Send to anerkennungen(at)boku.ac.at (Studienservices/Bereich Anerkennungen) for verification of the Paper for Recognition and signature of the Dean of Studies.

• Please do not contact the Dean of Studies or the Head of Examinations directly.

• Please use BOKU students email address - emails from external email addresses cannot be answered due to data protection reasons.

• Incomplete Papers for Recognition cannot be processed.

• Please expect an average of 2 - 4 weeks for the processing of your application, please also calculate time for any necessary corrections.

6. Personal collection of the signed Paper for Recognition after notification by Study Services (collection by authorized person is possible).

7. Upload the scan of the entire Paper for Recognition in Mobility Online and keep the original in a safe place.

Important: The Paper for Recognition must be prepared for each Erasmus+ stay, even if only free electives are completed abroad.

This is how the Paper for Recognition should look like: Example Paper for Recognition BEFORE stay

• Signatures may not be copied together by hand under any circumstances - not even from documents obtained by the user. This is a criminal forgery of documents or signatures.

• Courses planned/completed at the host university and courses to be recognized must be juxtaposed so that the desired recognition is clearly recognizable and comprehensible. Both on the left (= courses completed or to be completed) and on the right (= courses to be recognized) something must always be entered.

• Remove additional empty lines and do not submit completely empty pages.

• Pre-fill the names of the BOKU course leaders - illegible signatures are otherwise difficult to assign.

• If corrections are made to a Paper for Recognition, signatures may have to be obtained again.

• Papers for Recognition must be submitted as PDF, not as Word document for recognition.

Example: Paper for Recognition BEFORE the stay

Example: Paper for Recognition AFTER the stay

For your Learning Agreement you need the following signatures:

• Your signature
• The signature of your departmental coordinator at BOKU
• The signature of your host university - one signature is sufficient here; this is usually that of your Erasmus+ Coordinator at the International Office of your host university

For the changed Learning Agreement, you only need your signature, the signature of the Erasmus+ Outgoing Coordinator at BOKU and the signature of your host university.

If you want to add new courses that you want to get credited as compulsory courses at BOKU, you have to clarify the recognition of the courses with the lecturer of the compulsory courses by email. Keep the email, so that you have a confirmation for the recognition of your courses (please also see "How does the recognition of my courses at BOKU work?").

For the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) (prior to your stay abroad) you need the following signatures:

• Your signature

• The signature of your departmental coordinator at BOKU

• If necessary, the signatures of compulsory course lecturers (also required for courses out of the compulsory course pool/specialisation) at BOKU

• The signature of the Dean of Studies at BOKU

All information on the Paper for Recognition can be found above (HOW TO - Paper for Recognition BEFORE the stay)

ATTENTION: Copying other people's signatures is a document forgery! It is your responsibility to obtain all signatures completely and on time! Otherwise it may have consequences for your Erasmus+ grant and the recognition of your subjects at BOKU. If the signature of the Dean of Studies is not obtained on the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) prior to your stay, it cannot be issued on the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) after your stay!

Please enquire in advance by email who is responsible for recognising a course (normally the course lecturer signs) and whether the course can be credited. Please only enter the relevant course on the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) after you have been informed in advance by the course lecturer. If the relevant course cannot be recognised, you can still list it as a free elective course. You do not need an extra signature from the course lecturer for this.

The Learning Agreement (LA), the relevant document for the EU, is the study contract between the two partner universities and the student, which is obligatory on the part of the EU. The Erasmus+ guidelines state that subjects can be changed up to a maximum of one month after the start of the stay. A changed LA can be created via Mobility Online and the following signatures are required: Your signature, the signature of the host university and the signature of your BOKU-IR Erasmus+ coordinator.
NEW: As of WS 2022/23 there will be the digital Learning Agreement, which will be created and signed completely online via Mobility Online.

The Paper for Recognition is used for the crediting of courses at BOKU. There is the Paper for Recognition before your mobility, which contains all planned subjects, and the Paper for Recognition after your mobility, where you list all courses which you have you actually completed. If you change courses, there is no extra document during the stay needed.
However, if you add a compulsory or elective course, please get the OK of the respective course lecturer in advance by e-mail and then have the course confirmed via signature on the Paper for Recognition after your mobility after your return.
The Papers for Recognition are created in MO and signed online or on the printout (Dean of Studies).

For both documents, you must first enter your courses in MO.

For detailed information on signatures, see also the question "Which signatures do I need for the Learning Agreement and the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste)?" above.

Before departure, please enter your actual dates of stay in Mobility Online and have the confirmation of stay signed by your host university (at the earliest in the last week of your stay).

As soon as you are back at BOKU, please send a scan of the confirmation of stay to the Study Services (Evidenz, studienservices(at)boku.ac.at). This must be done within the enrollment deadline so that you can be re-registered at BOKU for the next semester. You also upload the scan in Mobility Online, the original remains with you.

Subsequently, you enter the courses that you actually completed at the host university according to the transcript and create the Paper for Recognition after the stay (see "HOW TO - Paper of Recognition AFTER the stay").

Only when all required documents for completion (see "Which documents do I need to complete my Erasmus+ stay?") have been uploaded completely and correctly in Mobility Online, the scholarship will be settled and the payment of the 2nd installment (day-by-day settlement, max. 30% of the total scholarship) will be initiated.

• Confirmation of Stay signed by your host university
  Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) (after the stay abroad) signed by your Departmental Coordinator and the Dean of Studies Prof. Peyerl
• Original Transcript of Records from your host university (original printout or digital certificate with electronic signature)
• Experience Report of your stay abroad
• Green Travel Proof (if applicable)

1. Enter the courses that you actually completed in Mobility Online and download the Paper for Recognition after the stay (Word document).

Important: Course titles entered by the host university must correspond to the language of the Transcript of Records.

2. Check and adjust the form (see "Form of the Papers for Recognition")

3. If a recognition is newly listed on the post-stay-list, which is not included on the pre-stay-document, an approval of the respective BOKU lecturer (ideally before the completion by mail!) must be obtained and submitted, e.g. by signature on the after-document.

Attention: If changes are made to the courses without approval by the BOKU Course Management and the Dean of Studies, there is no guarantee for possible recognition. Only courses included on the pre-stay-document are approved in the sense of an advance notice.

4. Obtain the signature of the responsible BOKU departmental coordinator.

5. send the already approved Paper for Recognition before the stay, the new Paper for Recognition after the stay including the signature departmental coordinator as well as the transcript of records of the host university together in one email to anerkennungen(at)boku.ac.at (Study Services/Recognitions) for the verification of the Papers for Recognition and the signature of the Dean of Studies.

• Please do not contact the Dean of Studies or the Head of Examinations directly.

• Please use BOKU students email address - emails from external email addresses cannot be answered due to data protection reasons.

• Incomplete Papers for Recognition cannot be processed.

• Please expect an average of 2 - 4 weeks for the processing of your application, please also calculate time for any corrections that may be necessary!

• Multiple inquiries are to be refrained from, the procedure is not accelerated by this

6. Personal collection of the signed Paper for Recognition after notification by Study Services (collection by authorized person is possible)

Grades and completed courses of the post-stay-paper will be entered to the system only after personal pick-up (=notification takeover).

7. Upload a scan of the entire Paper for Recognition in Mobility Online and keep the original in a safe place (you will need it again to complete your studies).

This is how the Paper for Recognition should look like: Example Paper for Recognition AFTER the stay

The recognition of your courses at BOKU is done via the Paper for Recognition (=Äquivalenzliste) after the end of your stay abroad. You need the Paper for Recognition BEFORE and AFTER the mobility including all required signatures. ATTENTION: If you forget to get the signature of the Dean of Studies on the Paper for Recognition BEFORE the mobility, the courses cannot be credited via the Erasmus+ programme!

Register the courses that you have actually completed in Mobility Online and create the Paper for Recognition AFTER the mobility within the online system.

You need again the signature of your Departmental Coordinator and the signature of the Dean of Studies. Your Departmental Coordinator needs the following documents: The original Transcript of Records from your host university, the Paper for Recognition (both parts: Paper for Recognition BEFORE the stay abroad and the final Paper for Recognition AFTER the stay abroad) and descriptions of the individual courses that you took (e.g. printout from the course catalogue of the host university including an explanation of the grading system, if it is not indicated on the transcript).

If you want to have a compulsory subject or a compulsory elective credited and it has not yet been confirmed on the Paper for Recognition prior to your stay abroad, you need the respective course to be confirmed by your BOKU compulsory course/compulsory elective supervisor for crediting. Please send the Paper for Recognition after your stay abroad by mail to your BOKU compulsory course/compulsory elective supervisor and have him/her sign it right next to the respective compulsory course/compulsory elective in order to confirm this course. After that you can send the Paper for Recognition to your Departmental Coordinator who will then sign the complete list. If the compulsory subject/compulsory elective was already approved in advance on the Paper for Recognition prior to your stay, you can obtain the signature of the Departmental Coordinator directly.

According to the Erasmus+ programme guidelines, course have to be credited at the home university, even if only free electives are taken. Therefore, free electives must also be confirmed and recognized by the Departmental Coordinators and the Dean of Studies (at least 3 ECTS per month in order to be eligible for the E+ funding).

Once the Departmental Coordinator has signed the Paper for Recognition, you need to have it signed by the Dean of Studies, Prof. Peyerl, too. To do so, please send your Paper for Recognition BEFORE your stay abroad, your Paper for Recognition AFTER your stay abroad, and the original Transcript of Records from your host university to the Study Services (anerkennungen@boku.ac.at). If your Transcript of Records has no electronic signature, you have to show the original when you collect the signed Paper for Recognition. 

As soon as your Paper for Recognition is signed by the Dean of Studies, you will get informed by the Study Services. After arranging an appointment online (https://boku.ac.at/studienservices/terminbuchung-studienservices), you can collect your document in the Study Services. Only with the signature of the Dean of Studies it is a legally valid document!

After that, the registration of the courses in BOKUonline is done by the Study Services.

Please upload a scan of your Paper for Recognition after the stay abroad in Mobility Online. The original remains with you and should be kept in a safe place (you may need it again at a later point in time).

• Approval of an equivalence list for a non-active study program is not possible (e.g. for Master's programs not yet enrolled).

• Approval of recognition for courses that are not part of the curriculum of the study program in question is not possible

• Grades are determined or converted uniformly according to the Bavarian formula. Grades entered in the equivalence list according to residence are checked and, if necessary, corrected by Study Services and the Dean of Studies.

Please have digital transcripts with electronic signature or scanned originals sent to your BOKU e-mail address (in cc erasmus@boku.ac.at). IF the host university still sends original certificates, please have the original certificate sent by post to your private address. If the host university only sends it directly to BOKU, please make sure that you have provided the exact BOKU-IR address:

BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
BOKU-International Relations
Lisa Kargl/Claudia Zefferer
Peter Jordan Street 82a
1190 Vienna
Austria

At the end of your stay you have to participate in an EU online survey. Participation is mandatory; if you don’t participate in the survey, you might have to repay your Erasmus+ grant. The link for the survey will be sent to you automatically by email shortly after the end of your stay*. After receiving the email, you have 30 days to complete the survey. The EU Commission's survey serves to evaluate and improve the mobility programmes.

*At the moment the EU Tool for the survey is not working properly yet. You will receive the link as soon as possible.

Depending on the field of study, different departmental coordinators are responsible for evaluating the content of the courses at the host university and are available to answer academic questions.

List of Erasmus+ Departmental Coordinators

The Departmental Coordinator is your academic coordinator as explained above; the Institutional Coordinator is your administrative Erasmus+ Coordinator at the BOKU-IR office.