NEW: Staff Exchange FAQ

Staff members can now find answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Erasmus+ Staff Exchange Program in our ERASMUS+ Staff Exchange FAQ document.

Please refer to the Contact section and do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.

Description of Mobility

FACULTY EXCHANGE: STAFF MOBILITY FOR TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS (STA)

Erasmus+ enables university academic staff to spend teaching periods at the partner universities via bilateral agreements in which the staff mobility for teaching assignments is foreseen. Bilateral agreement is required for academic staff exchange program.

 

The purposes of STA may be summarized as follows:

 

  • to provide teaching staff with opportunities for personal & professional development
  • to share expertise in specialist areas within teacher education, to deepen mutual understanding of different European Education Systems and to raise the profile of the European Dimension in Education
  • to allow students who are not able to participate in mobility to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of staff in other European institutions.

 

STAFF EXCHANGE: STAFF MOBILITY FOR TRAINING (STT)

Not only academic but also administrative staff of a university with an Erasmus University Charter (EUC) can also benefit from the staff mobility training (STT) in an Erasmus partner university or in a business enterprise. Bilateral exchange agreement is not required for administrative staff exchange program.

Staff mobility training (STT) includes three types of mobility:

  • The mobility of university staff member going to an enterprise and vice versa: The purpose of this type of mobility is to provide opportunity for the training of the participants through the transmittal of knowledge and experience. The basic activities are; workshops, courses and trainings practice education processes, short-term assignments etc.
  • The mobility of the university executive and administrative staff going to another university: The purpose of this type of mobility is to provide opportunity for the participants to learn from another institution’s experience and good implementations and to improve required talents for his/her current assignments. The basic activities are study visits, short term assignments and on the job training programs
  • The mobility of academic staff going to another higher education institution to have training: Training periods can have a duration of 2 days – 2 months. Financial support is available for the academic staff to spend teaching periods abroad and for the university staff to have training at a university or at a business enterprise. Apart from the regular trainings; courses, internships are eligible.

 

There are two types of programs which enable staff exchange under Erasmus+: KA103 Erasmus Staff Mobility and KA107 International Credit Mobility. Information for  KA103 Erasmus Staff Mobility can be found below. Please click here for information about KA107 International Credit Mobility.

 

Important Notes:

-The acceptance of an individual by the inviting institutions at the time of their application to Koç University does not serve as conclusive evidence of the validity of their program application. Please note that no financial transactions, visa applications etc., should be initiated before the official announcement of the selected candidates for the staff exchange program. In such cases, Koç University or the Turkish National Agency cannot be held responsible for any material or moral losses.

-As of the 2021 project year, those who will participate in the program are able to do a blended mobility. Blended activities are a combination of virtual/online activities and physical activities. Blended mobility, therefore, is a combination of physical mobility and a virtual activity (or component) before or after physical mobility.

-Applicants have to specify their form of participation in the Acceptance/Invitation Letter received from the host company/institution.

Duration of Mobility

Teaching periods

Teaching periods can have a duration of 2 days – 2 months, on condition of minimum 8 lecture hours per week. If the mobility lasts longer than one week, the minimum number of teaching hours for an incomplete week should be proportional to the duration of that week (e.g. since it is compulsory to carry minimum 8 hours of teaching per week, this should be minimum 16 hours for a two weeks-activity).  If the teaching activity lasts less than 2 days or the teaching hours are less than the minimum requirement, the activity is considered as void and the grant payment is not made for the related activity.

(For this call for application, maximum duration of mobility is 5 working days + 1 travel)

Training periods (job shadowing, workshops, etc.)

Teaching periods can have a duration of 2 days – 2 months. If the mobility stated on the participation certificate is  less than 2 days, the mobility is accepted as invalid and  the participant is required to return the Erasmus grant.

 

(For this call for application, maximum duration of mobility is 5 working days + 1 travel)

Partners & Destinations

FACULTY EXCHANGE: STAFF MOBILITY FOR TEACHING ASSIGNMENTS (STA)

To be able to participate in this mobility program, your Department/School/Faculty/Institute must have a valid Erasmus+ Faculty exchange agreement with the partner institution you intend to visit. The current list of our partners is provided in the Institutional Partner List.

If you wish to visit an institution that is not yet our partner, we urge you to contact the Office of International Programs (partner@ku.edu.tr ) to initiate the procedure for signing a new agreement. Please note that an institution must have an Erasmus Charter to be able to take part in this mobility.

STAFF EXCHANGE: STAFF MOBILITY FOR TRAINING (STT)

Erasmus agreement is not required for administrative staff exchange program. Therefore, administrative staff members can identify the institution before the application procedure.

Quotas

**QUOTAS FOR 2023-2024 A/Y / FIRST CALL OF APPLICATIONS:

Staff Exchange Quotas

(From 2022* and 2023 Project)

Teaching Mobilites Training Mobilities
18 18

*Staff members who will be selected from 2022 project must complete their mobilities until July 2024.

Previous quotas:

QUOTAS FOR 2022-2023 A/Y / SECOND CALL OF APPLICATIONS:

2022 Project
Total Quota Teaching Training
13 6 7

QUOTAS FOR 2022-2023 A/Y / FIRST CALL OF APPLICATIONS:

Staff Exchange Quotas
2020 Project 2021 Project 2022 Project
Teaching Training Teaching Training Teaching Training
3 10 7 13 6 7

 

Important note: Staff members who are selected from the 2020 Erasmus+ Project must complete their mobilities until May 2023.

Staff members who are selected from the 2022 project must finalize their mobilities until the end of July 2025.

OIP will inform which staff members are assigned to the relevant projects when the results are announced.

Application Dates

Please refer to OIP’s Application and Selection Calendar.

Application & Selection

Who is Eligible to Apply?

Faculty/ Administrative staff members have to be full-time/part-time employees of Koc University. Faculty/ Administrative staff members who has a contract with Koc University can also participate in the program despite the fact that the employee does not have a tenure at KU.

Important note:

The staff intending to participate in a staff mobility program must be a full/part-time personnel employed in an ECHE-holding higher education institution (HEI) in Türkiye and effectively working in that institution. It is not required to have a permanent employment contract wih the HEI they effectively work at for the staff to benefit from the staff mobility program. The staff who have a contract with the higher education institution can benefit from the program in that HEI. The staff who have a permanent contract with a HEI, yet, effectively work in a different HEI under a fixed term contract shall participate in the staff mobility program in the institution they effectively work, not in the institution they have an indefinite contract with. Since there is no contract between the staff and the HEI they effectively work at when the staff is employed in that HEI through service buying, the staff cannot benefit from the staff mobility program.

Application Documents

Please check the application documents for both Academic staff members and for Administrative staff members by clicking this PDF document here: ERASMUS+ STAFF EXCHANGE APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

Applications must be completed with all the inquired documents before the given deadline. Applications with missing documents or requests to submit missing documents after the deadline will be considered invalid.

Application Method

Application is done via OIP’s online application system and and ERASMUSBASVURUPORTALIhttps://kuapp.ku.edu.tr/

Application on both platforms is mandatory. Applications without both will be considered invalid. Applicants must open and complete their application from the correct application type (staff exchange for training for administrative staff & staff exchange for teaching for academic staff) in the TURNA Portal. The application of the personnel who complete their applications from the wrong application type will be automatically considered invalid.

If you have not applied to any of the Mobility Programs offered by OIP via kuapp.ku.edu.tr, please first create a “Preliminary Application” for yourself as shown below:

Watch the demo video of application process here

Application video for Outgoing Administrative Staff:

Application video for Outgoing Academic Staff:

Selection Criteria

Please check the selection criteria for both Academic staff members and for Administrative staff members by clicking this PDF document here: ERASMUS-STAFF-EXCHANGE-EVALUATION-CRITERIA

Important Notes:

In case more than 1 applicant receives the same score;

  • Priority is given to the applicant who has no prior or less participation in Erasmus+ KA103 staff mobility program
  • Priority is given to the applicant who has more job experience at KU (calculation is made based on year, month and day)
  • In case an administrative staff member and a faculty member receives the same score for staff mobility for training applications, the administrative staff member will have the priority, as indicated in the Erasmus+ Programme Handbook.

IMPORTANT: If an applicant is applying to both Erasmus+ KA103 and Erasmus+ Worldwide KA107 Faculty & Staff Exchange Programs, there will be a deduction of -5 points in one of the programs upon the applicant’s choice.

Announcement of Results

Erasmus+ placement results are announced on Kuapp system. To view your results, you may check the result by logging into your Kuapp account at kuapp.ku.edu.tr.

The following would help you understand your status on kuapp:

  • Coordinator Approved” notification on your KUAPP system means; your documents are checked and approved. It does not mean that you are selected for now.
  • If your status has been changed to “Accepted”, congratulations! You have been selected for Erasmus+ Faculty/Staff Exchange program. Please hand in your Erasmus+ commitment letter to OIP immediately.
  • If your status has been changed to “Substitute”, you are wait-listed. These people will be placed after the staff members who have already been placed do not turn their commitment letter in the office on time and therefore declare that they reject the Erasmus mobility.

 

OIP also sends an e-mail announcement for the placement results and Selection & Placement list is also shared via OIP bulletin board.

Right to Appeal

Selected candidates will not have more than seven days to accept or reject the offered grant via

If your application was neither selected for a grant nor included in the substitute list, you will be informed about the reasons and have at least one week to appeal against this decision to the Selection Committee of Koç University via  outgoing@ku.edu.tr.

Erasmus Grant & Payment Procedure

Overview

Financial support is available for the academic staff members to spend teaching periods abroad and for the administrative staff to have training at an institution or university.

The number of grantees is determined by the National Agency in accordance with the grant allocated to Koç University for the year.

Grants are calculated with the basis of the provided tables below, however, they are calculated automatically with the European Commission’s system.

The grantees are required to submit all the necessary documents to OIP, in order for their grants to be calculated and to initiate their grant process. The Office of International Programs is not responsible for any late document submissions and the issues related to late document submission of the participant. The grants will be processed after all the necessary documents are submitted.

After calculation, grants are paid to staff members in two instalments. 70% of the total grant (daily grant & travel grant) is paid before departure in 30-45 days following the submission of before mobility documents, including the signed original copy of the participant’s Grant Agreement (its draft will be shared with the participant for signing) to OIP, and the remaining 30% is paid after the staff member submits all required after mobility documents, depending on the mobility duration as verified by the Certificate of Attendance. Payments are made in Euros, which requires a Euro bank account in Yapı Kredi Bank.

Daily Grant Amount

Erasmus+ Staff mobility program provides daily stipend to staff members based on the table below. Koç University holds the right to determine the maximum duration for grant payment. Grant payments are made in Euro without being subjected to tax cuts.

Financial support is available for the academic staff to spend teaching periods abroad and for the university staff to have trainings abroad. Staff members are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant for a max. of 5 working days + 1 travel days grant. The total grant of the staff will be calculated for 6 days (5 mobility + 1 travel days), however, the +1 travel days will be based on the staff’s actual sufficient documents. The staff members are required to stay more than their mobility dates abroad if they would like to receive the mentioned +1 travel day. Otherwise, after their documents are checked upon their return, if their stay days are only their mobility days, the initial +1 travel date will be deducted from their remaining 30%. The participants are eligible for maximum 1 travel dates.

Any grant cannot be paid for the days without an activity or being certified.

Travel support is provided according to distance between Istanbul and the city of the host university (varies between 20€-1500€). Distances can be calculated with the Distance Calculator tool of the EU Commission, which indicates the maximum amount of payment for travel.

Please note that Erasmus+ Grant may not cover all your expenses during your mobility. Participants are responsible for all other incurred expenses.

Country Group Host Country Grant Amount Per Day (Euro)
1. Group Program Countries Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway 162
2. Group Program Countries Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Cyprus, Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, Malta, Portugal 144
3. Group Program Countries Bulgaria, Latvia, Macedonia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary 126

For staff mobility activities lasting more than 14 days; %70 of the above-mentioned amounts must be taken into consideration as daily grant after day 15 and more.

Any grant cannot be paid for the days without an activity or being certified.

Travel Grant

Travel grant must be calculated via distance calculator according to the table below. The grant amount is for a round trip and cannot be multiplied. Connecting flights are subjected to the same procedure.

Travel Distances Amount (€)
Between 10-99 km  €           20.00
Between 100-499 km  €         180.00
Between 500-1999km  €         275.00
Between 2000-2999 km  €         360.00
Between 3000-3999 km  €         530.00
Between 4000- 7999 km  €         820.00
8000km and more  €     1,500.00

 

Grant Deduction

  • If the participant does not complete the required after mobility documents in line with the terms of the agreement, 30% of the grant based on total duration of mobility shall be deducted.
  • If the participant does not submit the approved certificate of participation which is the proof for fulfillment of the mobility, the grant that has been paid before shall be refunded by the participant.
  • If the participant does not complete the online final report after mobility, 20% of the grant based on total duration of mobility shall be deducted.
  • If a participant fails to submit and complete all the required paperwork to Koç University on time, the participant will be obliged to pay the grant received (70%) back to Koc University.
  • If the participant does not complete the min. duration of mobility (2 days) and return home country without any force majeure reason, the mobility activity will be considered invalid and the participant will be asked to return the initial grant (70%). If there is a force majeure situation, the participant has to inform OIP before returning to home country and wait for OIP’s confirmation. In such cases, the participant is only paid for the actual duration of stay and may be asked to return a part of the initial grant.

Zero Grant Participation

Participants are able to participate in Erasmus+ Staff Exchange programs without receiving grant. However, it should be noted that the participants have to go through the same application & selection procedures and also submit the required documents (before-during-after mobility) to OIP.

Erasmus Disability Grant

  • Additional grants are available for participants with disabilities, where participation would not be possible without extra financial support.
  • The allowance is offered when disabilities or health conditions lead to additional mobility costs, which exceed the maximum grant allocations allowed, and which cannot be recovered from other sources. The grant covers approved actual costs.
  • Applications for the Erasmus Disability Grant must be submitted to OIP prior to the start of the mobility.
  • Participant’s application must include a statement from a doctor or other authority confirming the disability or health condition, its severity, the impact on the Erasmus+ mobility, additional requirements and additional costs to be met. A detailed estimate of costs is required.
  • The application should provide information on any other sources of financial support that the participant receives and why this is insufficient to cover extra costs.
  • If you have any questions please send an e-mail to outgoing@ku.edu.tr.
  • Special Need Support Request Form 

Before Mobility Procedure & Documents

The participant is required to submit the following documents to OIP before the mobility takes place.

Academic Staff (Teaching Activity)

 

  • Commitment Letter (Turkish) / Commitment Letter(English)
  • Teaching Agreement (Detailed teaching plan should be indicated): Teaching Agreement is submitted during the application phase. However, if there is any change in the plan, then an updated version of the agreement has to be submitted to OIP.
  • Grant Agreement: will be provided by OIP upon the submission of documents listed above

Administrative Staff (Training Activity)

 

  • Training Agreement (Detailed training plan should be indicated): Training Agreement is submitted during the application phase. However, if there is any change in the plan, then an updated version of the agreement has to be submitted to OIP.

After Mobility Procedure and Documents

The participant is required to submit the following documents to OIP after the mobility takes place.

Academic Staff (Teaching Activity)

 

  • Certificate of Attendance: Has to be signed by the representative at the host institution.
  • Copy of the boarding pass/ passport pages that shows the entry & exit to host country
  • EU survey: the participant will receive an automatic message from European Commission’s system and the survey has to be filled out by the participant.

 

Administrative Staff (Training Activity)

 

  • Certificate of Attendance: Has to be signed by the representative at the host institution.
  • Copy of the boarding pass/ passport pages that shows the entry & exit to host country
  • EU survey: the participant will receive an automatic message from European Commission’s system and the survey has to be filled out by the participant.

Cancellation

To cancel your application after submitting the Commitment Letter, you need to submit the cancellation petition to OIP. (English Version of the Cancellation Petition)

It should be noted that participants, who cancel their exchange after the “notice period” provided by OIP right after the announcement of selection results, would lose -10 points if they apply for Erasmus+ Program again in the future.

Contact

For any inquiries regarding exchange programs, please open a track-it by sending an e-mail to outgoing@ku.edu.tr or open a track-it via  https://trackit.ku.edu.tr/