UIC students who apply to participate in either the Erasmus or one of the bilateral exchange programmes are first vetted by the University.
The student's university of choice must feature among the many partner institutions of the UIC. The partnership agreement signed by the UIC and the university in question stipulates the subject areas on offer, the places available and the duration of the exchange period.
The Erasmus programme allows students enrolled at any European university participating in the programme to study part of their course at a partner institution. The duration of the programme can range from three months to a full academic year (corresponding to the academic year of the host university).
The courses studied overseas are subsequently recognized by the student’s home university. This recognition process depends on a transfer of academic credits which must be fulfilled by each participant and must also meet the approval of the academic coordinator of the department responsible for the exchange.
The Erasmus programme offers participants a wide range of academic and economic benefits. For example, each university which participates in the Erasmus programme must run an intensive course in the relevant language (normally held at the beginning of the academic year), which is offered free of charge to exchange students.
In addition, participants of the programme have the same entitlement to the services and facilities provided by their host university to full-time students (including, among others, information on academic places and university accommodation, access to library services, the university cafeteria and sports facilities) under the same terms and conditions. Logically, these services and facilities vary significantly at each university.