NEW: Staff Exchange FAQ

Staff members can now find answers to the most frequently asked questions about the Erasmus+ Staff Exchange Program in our Staff Mobilities-Faq Document.

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

Description of Mobility

Erasmus+ extends beyond Europe, allowing for mobility from and to other parts of the world (between 33 Program and 84 Partner Countries). Program Countries are those countries participating fully in the Erasmus+ program. Türkiye is one of the 33 Program Countries. Partner Countries cover the rest of the world outside the European Union.

Erasmus+ Worldwide/ICM program offers the chance to participate in an exchange program at a Partner Country. Each year Koç University applies for mobility funding for specific institutions in Partner Countries. Once KU is granted with Erasmus+ ICM funding, the list of countries and partner institutions are announced and promoted to KU community. The list of Erasmus+ Worldwide/ICM countries and partners may change every year. Therefore, same institutions may not be available for mobility every academic year.

An Erasmus Bilateral agreement is required for faculty and staff exchange program as part of Erasmus+ Worldwide/ICM program.

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. For this call for application, maximum duration of mobility is 5 consecutive working days + 1 travel day. Travel day is only provided if the arrival/departure to/from the host city is 1 day before/after the start of the mobility program at the partner institution. Teaching Staff is required to deliver 8hrs of teaching at the partner institution.

 

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 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 Partner country institutions.

STAFF EXCHANGE: STAFF MOBILITY FOR TRAINING (STT)

Koç University administrative staff can also benefit from the staff mobility training (STT) in an Erasmus Worldwide partner university.

 

For this call for application, maximum duration of mobility is 5 consecutive working days + 1 travel day. Travel day is only provided if the arrival/departure to/from the host city is 1 day before/after the start of the mobility program at the partner institution.

Staff mobility training (STT) includes:

  • 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.

 

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

Duration of Mobility

Teaching periods

Teaching periods can have a duration of 5 days – 2 months, on condition of minimum 8 lecture hours per week, excluding travel date(s). However, as the Program budget allocated to KU changes every year, the maximum duration of the teaching mobility may subject to change. 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 5 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.

Training periods (job shadowing, workshops, etc.)

Training periods can have a duration of 5 days – 2 months, excluding travel date(s). However, as the Program budget allocated to KU changes every year, the maximum duration of the training mobility may subject to change. If the mobility stated on the participation certificate is less than 5  days, the mobility is accepted as invalid and  the participant is required to return the Erasmus grant.

Partners & Quotas

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

Here below you could find the available quotas for the academic and administrative staff members. Koç University Erasmus+ Selection Committee has the right to change the number of quotas.

Country Partner University Quota from 2022 and 2023 projects
China Renmin University of China 1 (2023)
India Institute of Management Technology 1 (2023)
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BOMBAY
Chile PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE 1 (2023)
Costa Rica INSTITUTO CENTROAMERICANO DE ADMINISTRACION DE EMPRESAS 1 (2023)
Mexico ITAM 1 (2023)
Uruguay Universidad de Montevideo 1 (2023)
Azerbaijan Khazar University 1 (2023) + 2(2022)*
ADA University
Georgia CAUCASUS UNIVERSITY LTD 1 (2023)
Jordan MUTAH 1 (2023)
UNIVERSITY OF JORDAN
Lebanon AUB 1 (2023)
BEIRUT ARAB UNIVERSITY
Morocco L’UNIVERSITE MOHAMMED VI POLYTECHNIQUE-UM6P 1 (2023) + 1(2022)*
Ghana University of Ghana 1 (2023)
South Africa UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA 1 (2023)
Kosovo AAB COLLEGE 2 (2023)
Bosnia and Herzegovina UNIVERZITET-SARAJEVSKA SKOLA ZA NAUKU I TEHNOLOGIJU PU 2(2023)
UNIVERZITET U SARAJEVU
Russian Federation Higher School of Economics 1(2022)*

 

These quotas are indicated as common quotas for teaching and training activities. Selections will be made for 2022 and 2023 project years. *Staff members who are selected from the 2022 project must finalize their mobilities until the end of July 2025.

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.

Application Documents

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

Application Method

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

Application on both platforms is mandatory. Applications without both will be 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+ WORLDWIDE STAFF EXCHANGE SELECTION CRITERIA

(Please check the second table which is “Erasmus+ Worldwide Staff Exchange”)

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+ KA107 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)

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 outgoing@ku.edu.tr

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 Koc 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 and for the specific Partner country.

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 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 Yapi Kredi Bank.

 

Daily Grant Amount

 

Participants receive 180€ per day up to 5 days of mobility. Erasmus grants will be distributed to selected participants depending on the available quota and program budget. Travel support canalso be provided, ranging from 275-1500€ according to distance between Istanbul and the city of the host university. Distances can be calculated with the Distance Calculator tool of the EU Commission, which indicates the maximum amount of payment for travel.

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.

KM Range Travel Grant Amount
20-99 km 20€
100-499 km 180 €
500-1999 km 275 €
2000-2999 km 360 €
3000- 3999 km 530 €
4000- 7999 km 820 €
8000 km and above 1.500 €

 

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 initially paid before shall be refunded by the participant.
  • If the participant does not complete the online final report after mobility, 5% 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 Koc 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 (5 days) and return home country without any force majeure reason, the mobility activity will be considered void 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+ Study program 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 kuapp@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 after the nomination of the staff member is accepted by the host institution. However, if there is any change in the plan, then an updated version of the agreement has to be submitted to OIP.
  • Invitation Letter: issued by the partner university
  • 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 after the nomination of the staff member is accepted by the host institution. 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)

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/