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.
• 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. Maximum period is 24 months for students studying at School of Medicine.

 

Specific requisites for Masters & PhD students

• Must be enrolled on a full time Master or PhD program at the time of application
• The proposed mobility period must fit into the Master or PhD student’s program of study/research
• Must have identified a potential supervisor at the host institution if there is going to be thesis work/research

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) (valid for 2 years after the test date)
• Special Needs Statement & Proving documents (if applicable)
• Substitutive documents for children of martyr and veteran people (if applicable)
• Substitutive documents for students who are covered by the 2828 numbered Social Services Law (if applicable)

**You may pick it up from the Registrar’s Office. It doesn’t need to be your official score card, the Registrar’s Office can give you a copy, certified with a “True Copy” stamp on it. Please keep in mind that it will take a couple of days for Registrar’s Office to issue your TOEFL or IELTS score card. You are asked to upload your English Proficiency Proof on the online application form (https://kuapp.ku.edu.tr ).

If you do not have a valid TOEFL or IELTS score card, 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 student submits a IELTS and TOEFL score, which has 2 yrs of validity. 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. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

 

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:

 

Watch the demo video of 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.
• In addition to academic achievement and language score, if the applicant has benefited from another Lifelong Learning Program or Erasmus+ mobility scheme while pursuing the same level of academic degree, 10 points will be subtracted for each and every activity utilized (regardless of whether internship or education) when calculating academic achievement and language score averages.
• Disabled students receive +10 points if proving documents are provided in the application.
• Children of martyr and veteran people receive +15 points if proving documents are provided in the application.
• Students who are covered by the 2828 numbered Social Services 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 deduction of 5 points.
• If a student fails to submit the commitment letter to confirm his/her attendance in Erasmus+ program within the timeframe given by OIP, 10 points will be deducted when the student applies for any Erasmus+ program in the future.
• After being selected, students who wish to renounce their right to participate are responsible of informing OIP via email (kuapp@ku.edu.tr) by the deadline set by OIP. If students do not inform OIP, a reduction of -10 points will be implemented from their application if they apply to any Erasmus+ program in the future. A student, who cancels his/her participation after submitting his/her committment letter and/or being nominated to a partner university, will face 10 point deduction from his/her application if he/she applies to any Erasmus+ program in the future. These rules might be considered invalid if there is a “force majeure” situation that a student is facing. Under such circumstances, the student is responsible of informing OIP with supporting documents/information regarding the “force majeure” situation.
• The OIP calculates and lists the average score of each applicant based on the calculation explained above.
• All applicants are ranked from the highest to the lowest score by faculty, and the top scoring students are selected depending on faculty quotas, by the selection committee.
• Results are notified to all applicants in written format via e-mail and OIP website, and are also announced on OIP’s Bulletin Board.

Additional Evaluation criteria for PhD students:

• PhD students are advised to identify potential supervisor(s) at the host institution before applying for Erasmus+ Worldwide study program.

IMPORTANT: Special Cases

If an application and selection round for Erasmus+ Worldwide Study and Internship program takes 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+ 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 a written petition.
• 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.

Announcement of Results

Erasmus+ placement results are announced on Kuapp system and an e-mail sent by OIP. To view your results, you may check the selection list announced by OIP or 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! The school you have been placed into must be seen on the system. Please hand in your Erasmus+ commitment letter to OIP immediately.
• If your status has been changed to “Substitute”, you are wait-listed for all of your school preferences, not just for one that we have determined randomly. These people will be placed after the students who have already been placed do not turn their contracts in the office on time and therefore declare that they reject the Erasmus mobility.
• Being placed into an Erasmus+ partner 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.

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 .

Overview

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

Grants are paid to students in two instalments. 70% of the grant is paid before departure in 45 days following the submission of documents to OIP, and the remaining 30% is paid after the student submits all required 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+ Worldwide Study program provides monthly stipend as well as travel grant to selected participants. Koç University student going to a partner country receives 700€ per month.

Selected participants also receives travel grant. The calculation is done based on the distance between Koç University and the host city. Calculation is done by Distance Calculator

 

Important: these unit costs represent the linear distance between the city where the university of origin and the city where the host university are located. This is calculated automatically by a website indicated by the European Commission and cannot be subject to any change. The financial support allocated to the “travel distance” is the maximum allowed by the Erasmus+ Program and is intended to contribute to the round trip back between the home and host institutions. In the event that the assigned value is insufficient to pay for the desired trip, the scholarship holder must find another sources of funding.

Grant Deduction and Repayment

Deductions and/or repayment may apply to students who do not fulfil 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 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 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 a student leaves the host organization/country for more than 7 days (including weekends, excluding official holidays and breaks), student is not paid for that duration. If the student was paid for those days, then he/she is asked to return that amount 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+ Worldwide 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+ Worldwide 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 

After you are selected please note that you will be expected to submit documents below to OIP:

• Erasmus+ Study Program Commitment Letter (Turkish)/ Commitment Letter (English): This letter should be read by the student carefully and signed version should be submitted to OIP.

• Learning agreement for Study: Students have to fill in all the parts on the Learning Agreement electronically. Hand-written Learning Agreement is not accepted by OIP. Students are asked to fill in the Learning Agreement and sign it. Students should also get the signature of the host university’s representative, KU Departmental Erasmus Coordinator. Electronically filled out and fully signed LA should be submitted to OIP office. To see how to fill out a learning agreement, please check here.

• Letter of acceptance: You are asked to submit the “Letter of Acceptance” when you receive it from the host university.

• Course Equivalency Form: Similar to Learning Agreement, you are asked the fill out the Course Equivalency Form in coordination with your Departmental Academic Erasmus Coordinator. Participant is required to submit the approved & signed form to OIP office. College of Engineering students go through an online CEF procedure. These students are still required to submit the approved document to OIP.

• Insurance Coverage: Students are required to have an international insurance coverage for the duration of their mobility and submit the proving paperwork to OIP. The following coverage is suggested:
  • Health insurance coverage: Usually basic coverage is provided by the national health insurance of the participant as well during his/her stay in another EU country through the European Health Insurance Card. However, the coverage of the European Health Insurance Card or private insurance may not be sufficient, especially in case of repatriation and specific medical intervention. In that case, a complementary private insurance might be useful. It is the responsibility of the sending institution of the student to ensure that the participant is aware of health insurance issues.

• Online Linguistic Support (OLS): Once students complete above-mentioned documents, they will be assigned an online language test via e-mail by OIP. This test has to be completed within the timeline provided. If it is not completed on time, sanctions mentioned in the grant agreement will be implemented.

• Grant Agreement: Once the student completes and submits all the documents to OIP office, a draft version of the Grant Agreement is shared with the student by OIP. The student is obliged to fill in necessary places (i.e. bank account details, etc.), sign each page of the agreement and sign the signatory part of two copies of the agreement. The student is then asked to submit 2 signed copies to OIP office.

• Roadmap for Students with Special Needs & Special Need Support Request Form: Students with special needs should follow the steps described in the roadmap  and Special Need Support Request Form.

 

Important Notes:

• You must attend one of the pre-departure sessions organized by OIP.  Students who do not attend orientation programs are responsible from the problems and hardships that they go through due to lack of knowledge. Students who do not attend will also face deduction of points in case they apply Erasmus+ mobility programs in the future (please check Application & Selection & Nomination part for more information).
• If you are receiving any grants from KYK (Kredi ve Yurtlar Kurumu) or other institutions, it is your responsibility to check with them to see if they have any additional requirements/obligations.
• Every student is responsible of his/her own Erasmus+ process. Please proceed with attention to the validity of your contact information and follow every step on your own unless there is a force majeure (such as death, illness, impairment etc.)