Erasmus+ Study 2023-2024 First Call Application Announcement

Erasmus+ KA103 is an EU program intended to promote student and faculty mobility and encourage cross-border cooperation between European universities. Grants are available for exchange programs and also for student internships. Students studying abroad in the 28 EU member countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the FYR of Macedonia, and Türkiye are eligible to apply for Erasmus+ grants.

• Undergraduate students must have completed at least one academic year and graduate students must have completed at least one semester of their academic program at the time of application.
• Applications are received regularly for the following academic year and this means that a 1st year student accepted for Erasmus attends the university abroad (host university) in his/her second year in either Fall or Spring semester.
• Türkiye scholarship students are allowed to participate in the Erasmus+ exchange program, but they will not be receiving a scholarship  from YTB during their exchange period. In order to participate in the program, students should inform Koç University Office of International Programs (OIP) with a petition.
• Students participating in the Erasmus program continue to pay tuition fees at KU but are exempt from tuition at the host university, where they spend their semester/year abroad.
• Students may continue to receive scholarships, grants and loans as if they are in Türkiye.
• Participating in the Erasmus program does not mean the student is transferring to another university. Students can participate in the Erasmus program for a maximum of 12 months. Students must return to KU at the end of the Erasmus period and complete their program at KU.
• Important Note: Switzerland is not an Erasmus+ program country. Even though the selection and application process is conducted by our Office for all countries, students who are nominated to Switzerland are not funded by Turkish National Agency. The country has its own grant for these students. Applications for Switzerland is done as part of Global Exchange program.

Mobility is conducted according to the minimum  and maximum duration of time determined by the  European Commission. Study mobility should be minimum 2 months, maximum 12 months. KU students usually are able to spend a semester (2 to 5 months) at one of the partner universities.

A student may receive Erasmus mobility grants for a maximum of 12 months in any study cycle (Bachelor/ Master/PhD).

However, this rule is different for programs such as integrated PhD programs and for programs where two cycles of study are combined such as Medicine. The max. duration of mobility for such programs is 24 months in total.

Extension of Mobility

Extension of the exchange semester could only happen if the following conditions are met:

• Semester extension can only take place from Fall to Spring. There cannot be a break (except for official holidays, semester break, etc.) between semesters.
• The student must inform Koç University OIP team regarding the extension request in late October in the Fall Semester.
• The extension can only take place if there is an available student quota /budget for the partner university.
• The student cannot extend his/her term as a “zero-grant” student. Mobility should be fully funded. If Koç University does not have enough budget left for a partner country, extension is not be approved. (Rule for participating in the program as a “Zero-grant participation” is different than the extension rule as a zero-grant participant. It is possible to participate as a zero-grant student but the student accepts not to receive grant for the exchange duration in the beginning of the process; right after the selection & placement procedure by Koç University OIP.)
• Extension requests are evaluated at the same time and students are placed based on their initial placement score.

Interruption of Mobility

• Mobility should be completed without any interruption. For study mobility semester breaks and official holidays are not counted as interruptions.
• In case the mobility is interrupted due to a force majeure*, the grant is paid just for the actualized period of the mobility if the force majeure is documented.
• If the mobility is interrupted without any force majeure, the mobility is cancelled and the grant already paid has to be fully refunded (70% of the total grant) to Koç University.

(* Force Majeure is an unforeseeable exceptional situation or event beyond the participant’s control and not attributable to error or negligence on his/her part and prevents participant from fulfillment of liability under the Agreement)

• If there is a “Force Majeure” (mücbir sebep) situation, the student should immediately get in touch with OIP and OIP will seek Turkish National Agency’s advice and approval on the matter. If Turkish National Agency approves the situation as “Force Majeure”, then OIP will inform the student and the student will be able to return home before the end of the mobility period.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

• Applicants must be registered at KU as full-degree undergraduate or graduate students at the time of application.
• Undergraduate students must have completed at least one academic year and graduate students must have completed at least one semester and have a valid CGPA score. They must also continue studies at the same level at KU in the following year, i.e. the year of the exchange.
• Students studying in the English Language Preparatory Class are not eligible to apply.
• Undergraduate students should have at least 2,2 CGPA, Graduate students should have at least 2,5 CGPA. Required English Proficiency Score is min. 80 TOEFL (IBT) or min. 550 Koç Institutional TOEFL or min. 6.5 IELTS and min. 60 KUEPE
• The student must not have been on an Erasmus+ exchange for more than a total of 12 months per study cycle (Bachelor’s, Master’s and research studies are counted separately), including the time period applied for in this application.

Specific requisites for PhD students

• Must be enrolled on a full-time PhD program at the time of application
• The proposed mobility period must fit into the PhD student’s program of study/research
• Must have identified a potential supervisor at the host institution

Application Requirements

• Minimum required CGPA 2.20 for undergraduate, 2.50 for graduate and postgraduate students.
• Language Requirement: Koç University Institutional TOEFL*(550 PBT), TOEFL (550 PBT/ 80 IBT) or IELTS Score Card (min. 6.5), KUEPE** (Min 60) Students can apply using their expired language scores as well.
• In addition to this, Graduate students can apply with the GRE Verbal Reasoning (min. 157 is accepted), and GMAT Verbal Session (min. 35 is accepted).

Students who wish to apply using their KUEPE scores must check the Erasmus+ Partners accepting KUEPE list before making their preferences.

*Students can get their Koc TOEFL scorecards from the Registrar’s Office.  Please keep in mind that it will take a couple of days for Registrar’s Office to issue your TOEFL or IELTS scorecards. You are asked to upload your English Proficiency Proof on the online application form (https://kuapp.ku.edu.tr ).

**Students who wish to apply using their KUEPE scores will need to take a screenshot of their KUSIS homepage, where KUEPE scores are shown. If students have any technical issues with screening their KUEPE results on their KUSIS homepage, they must contact the IT department to solve the issue. Students can also contact the Registrar’s Office and English Language Center to get their KUEPE results as well.

If you do not have an official TOEFL, IELTS or KUEPE scorecard, you have to take a new test. Please note that you need to plan your application accordingly as it takes time to get the result of English Proficiency tests.

Exceptions to the English proficiency tests (TOEFL, IELTS) include only lifetime residents of Australia, Canada (other than Quebec), New Zealand, United Kingdom or the United States (other than Puerto Rico). Students who have recently and successfully completed at least 4 years of rigorous academic studies in one of the countries listed might also be exempted.  Their English proficiency score calculated on KUAPP will be the min. English  Language admission requirement of the program at KU they are admitted. Students English Language Score will be automatically calculated as the equivalent of 80 TOEFL IBT unless the student submits an IELTS or TOEFL score, Placement will be based on 50% GPA and 50 % TOEFL, so the higher scores students have, the better chance of placement students will have.

Application Documents

The following documents should be uploaded on kuapp at the time of the application.

Application Method

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

NEW: Students will be required to submit their applications through http://erasmusbasvuru.ua.gov.tr/ as well. A guide for the e-government application will be provided in the Useful Documents section when the applications begin.

Watch the demo video of the application process here;

Selection

• Erasmus students are selected by their sending higher education institution in a fair and transparent way.
• Selection is done based on 50% Academic achievement + 50% Language score.
• Previous participation in any Erasmus+ program in the same study cycle: -10 points
• Students with special needs receive +10 points if proving documents are provided in the application.
• Children of martyrs and veterans receive +15 points if proving documents are provided in the application.
• Students who are covered by 2828 numbered Social Services Law or 5395 numbered Child Protection Law receive +10 points if proving documents are provided in the application.
• Students who want to participate in mobility programs in their birth country receive -10 points.
• Not attending the required orientation/pre-departure orientations organized by OIP in previous Erasmus+ mobility exchange experience will result in a deduction of 5 points.
• Not notifying OIP about the participation after being selected for the program in the previous applications will cause -10 points in future applications.
• Applying to multiple Erasmus+ Programs (Erasmus+ and Erasmus+ Worldwide Study, Erasmus+ Study and Erasmus+ Internship) at the same time will cause in a deduction of 10 points based on the applicant’s choice.
• Results are notified to all applicants in written format via e-mail and OIP website.

Additional Evaluation criteria for PhD students:

IMPORTANT: Special Cases

If an application and selection round for multiple Erasmus+ programs take place at the same time, and if a student applies to both programs at the same time, then the following applies:

• If a student has not participated in an Erasmus+ Study program before: 10 points are deducted from the student’s overall score for one of the programs (either study or internship), and the student selects the program for deduction to be implemented. The student informs OIP about this decision via e-mail.
• If a student has participated in an Erasmus+  program before: 10 points are deducted for the program that the student has participated before and 20 points are deducted for the other program that the student applies to.

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 reserve 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 .

Nomination

Being placed into an Erasmus+ ICM partner school does not guarantee your eventual acceptance from the host university. The partner universities reserve the right to accept/reject student applications for exchange. Your acceptance will be valid only after their confirmation.

An eligibility check is done before nominating a student. Nominations are conducted by the Office of International Programs. You are not required to do anything for the nomination process except submitting your Student Commitment Form to OIP.

Please note that nominations take time and that Fall semester students are nominated before Spring semester students.

Overview

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

• Being selected for and nominated to a university within the Erasmus+ program does not automatically guarantee Erasmus+ funding. The amount of funding available and the number of students that can be funded with that amount in any year can only be known after the funds have been made available by the Turkish National Agency.
• The amount of available funding and the minimum requirements are subject to change. The guide published by the National Agency should be consulted for valid rules and regulations of the application term.
• Koç University receives the Erasmus grants from National Agency and therefore the grant distributions are assented for each student around July.

Grants are paid to students in two instalments. 70% of the 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 student submits all required after mobility documents, depending on the mobility duration as verified by the Certificate of Attendance and taking into account the student’s level of success and fulfilling their responsibilities. Payments are made in Euros, which requires a Euro bank account in Yapi Kredi Bank.

Grant Amount

Erasmus+ Study program provides monthly stipend to students based on the table below. Koç University holds the right to determine the maximum duration for grant payment.

Grant Deduction and Repayment

Deductions and/or repayment may apply to students who do not fulfill their responsibilities and/or are unsuccessful. Grant deduction and/or repayment may take place in case of the following:

• When participant completed the 19-11 ECTS course load successfully, 30% of the grant based on total duration of mobility shall be deducted. When participant completed the 10-0 ECTS course load successfully, the grant that has been paid before the mobility (70%) shall be refunded by the student.
• 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 partner university transcript of records and approved certificate of participation which are the proof for fulfillment of the mobility, the grant that has been paid before shall be refunded by the student.
• If the participant does not complete the online final participant report(EU Survey) after the mobility, %20 of the grant will be deducted. If OLS exams (before and after mobility) are not completed, 5% of the grant based on total duration of mobility shall be deducted. If the student fails to complete the second test,5% of the grant will 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 a student returns home country before the end of the mobility period and/or before the min. required duration (min. 3 months), then sanctions regarding the Erasmus+ grant will be implemented. If there is a “Force Majeure” situation, student should immediately get in touch with OIP and OIP will seek Turkish National Agency’s advice and approval on the matter. If Turkish National Agency approves the situation as “Force Majeure”, then OIP will inform the student and the student will be able to return home before the end of the mobility period. The student will only receive the grant for valid days of mobility. If the student returns home without getting in touch with OIP first, then the mobility will be considered as invalid and the student will be asked to return the initial grant (70%) back to Koc University.

Zero Grant Students

Students are able to participate in Erasmus+ Study program without receiving a grant. However, it should be noted that the students 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 students with disabilities and health conditions wishing to participate in an Erasmus+ placement and 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.
• Student’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 student 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
• Roadmap for Students with Special Needs 
• Special Need Support Request Form 

Additional Grant Opportunity for Students with Financial Needs

This part is only applicable to students who hold Turkish citizenship:

Economically disadvantaged students who are selected for the Study Mobility will be paid an extra grant of 250 € per month from the study mobility budget, in addition to the amount of monthly grant specified in the grant table.

• Students who are covered by the 2828 numbered Social Services Law (official proving document is needed)
• Students who receive orphan’s pension (official proving document is needed)
• Children of martyr and veterans (official proving document is needed)
• Student or the student’s parents receive financial aid (muhtaçlık aylığı)

(In order to benefit from the additional grant, during the application phase, the student must submit the document indicating either the student or the student’s parents receive financial aid from municipalities, public institutions such as Ministries, Social Welfare and Solidarity Foundations, T.R. Directorate General of Foundations, Turkish Red Crescent, Ministry of Interior Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). Information regarding the way and the period in which the document is to be submitted to OIP will be announced to the students in the program announcements and/or via e-mails by OIP)

NEW: Green Travel Grant

With the new Erasmus+ Program students are encouraged to use low-emissions means of transport for the main part of the travel, such as bus, train or car-pooling.

Students who will use these means of transport will receive a single contribution of 50 EUR as a top-up amount to the individual support and up to 4 days of extra grant to cover travel days for a return trip, if relevant.

At the end of the mobility, students are obliged to present documents (bus ticket, train ticket etc.) proving that the green travel has taken place.

Zero-grant students are not eligible for green travel grant.

NEW: Train instead of Plane (TIP) Scheme for UNIC Universities

Students who will study at one of UNIC partners and use train to travel to host destination will be eligible for applying for UNIC Train Instead of Plane (TIP) scheme.

For detailed information about the scheme please visit: Go Green: Train Instead Plane

• If you are participating in the program for one semester you are obliged to take 30 ECTS credits (15 KU credits).
  • Students who achieve between 19-11 ECTS in total will not receive rest of their grant (30% of the total grant). Students achieve  10 ECTS and lower must return the grant they have received (70% of the total grant).
• If you are participating in the program for one trimester you are obliged to take 20 ECTS credits (10 KU credits).
  • In order to receive the rest of the grant (30%), minimum 2/3 of the 20 ECTS should be successfully completed.
• If you are participating in the program for two semesters you are obliged to take 60 ECTS credits.
• After your mobility you have to transfer the courses taken at the partner university with their grades and credits (Full Recognition).

Passport

If you do not have a passport or you need to extend it when you submit an application, please download your “student letter” via e-devlet and use that document for passport fee exemption when you apply for a passport.

Visa

Remember that the country that you are traveling to may require you to obtain a visa. Please make sure that you know the requirements of the visa application for that country. Check the website of its consulate. Note that only the consulates can provide correct/up-to-date information about the visa procedures; our office is neither authorized nor capable of overseeing your visa applications. Consulates often require a Letter of Acceptance (signed and stamped) and a letter proving your financial funds.

Students can download their visa letter from KUAPP. System automatically writes your monthly grant amount on the visa letter, it does not mean your grant is guaranteed until OIP announces the grants to all selected students.

Residence Permit

• You may need a residence permit during your stay at the host country
• Please read any pre-arrival material provided by the host university
• Get necessary documents ready before your departure
• Follow Erasmus/ International Office’s instructions while you are there

Accommodation

• Many partner universities offer on/off campus accommodation
• Please note that accommodation arrangement is your responsibility
• Mind the deadlines/procedures regarding housing application provided by the host university
• Make research on student recommendations
• For private accommodation, we advise you to check the following;
  • Area: is the area safe? Do other students choose to live there?
  • Location: is it near the campus? If not, what is the transportation cost? Do the university provide free-transportation card?
  • Price: does it include bills?

Health and Safety

• Follow the rules & regulations of the host country
• Keep your distance from any large political demonstrations
• Show respect and sensitivity for cultural, political and social issues
• If there is a secuity concern, contact your family/university ASAP
• In case of theft; keep a couple of copies of your passport and residence permit at different locations
• If your passport is stolen, inform Turkish Consulate ASAP
• If you have an accident or major health problem, inform your family, host university and KU OIP ASAP
• Inform your host university & close friends about your emergency contacts’ details

UPDATED: Erasmus+ FAQ 2023 

NEW: Erasmusbasvuru.gov.tr- Application Guide 2023

______________________

Exchange Opportunities for KU Students Presentation

NEW: KA131 Erasmus+ Study First Call Grant Distribution – Grant Final

Commitment Letter_Taahhütname (Turkish)/ Erasmus study committment letter (English)

Roadmap for Students with Special Needs 

Special Need Support Request Form

Learning agreement for Study 

How to fill a Learning Agreement

Course Equivalency Form

Grant Agreement (Draft) (Please DO NOT fill)

Certificate of Attendance 

Cancellation Petition (in Turkish)

Cancellation Petition (in English)

Erasmus+ Study Mobility Info Session Presentation

Erasmus+ Fall 2019 Pre-Departure Orientation Presentation

Erasmus+ Spring 2021 Virtual Exchange Orientation

KUEPE-Erasmus-Partners-3

NEW: Erasmus+ FAQ

NEW: Erasmus+ Second Call Quota List (For 2022-2023 AY/ Spring 2023)

EU Academy – English Placement Test Guide

NEW: 2022-2023 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Second Call Placement Results

2022-2023 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study First Call Placement Results

2021-2022 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Third Call Placement Results

2021-2022 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Second Call Placement Results

2021-2022 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study First Call Placement Results

2020-2021 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Third Call Application Placement Results

2020-2021 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Second Call Application Placement Results

2020-2021 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility First Call Application Placement Results

2019-2020 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Third Call Application Placement Results

2019-2020 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Second Call Application Placement Results

2019-2020 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Application Placement Results

2018-2019 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Third Call Application Placement Results

2018-2019 Third Call Application Quota List

2018-2019 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Second Call Application Placement Results

Second Call Selection List (please search with CTRL+F)

2018-2019 Second Call Application Quota List

2018-2019 Academic Year Erasmus+ Study Mobility Application Placement Results

Selection list (please search with CTRL+F)