Tranieeship

With the Erasmus+ programme students are able to complete an Erasmus+ Traineeship. First you must find a host and then contact your department’s Erasmus coordinator to determine whether the traineeship can be completed within the Erasmus+ programme. You can find a list of Erasmus coordinators on KUnet. You may want to contact your local counselling office to find out if they know of any concrete traineeships.

It is possible to complete an Erasmus+ Traineeship after you have finished your studies.

Application deadline
There is no application deadline. Applications will be reviewed on a first come, first served basis until the school’s Erasmus grant is used up.

Requirements for the Erasmus+ Traineeship

• You must be a full-time student at Design School Kolding
• The traineeship must be completed outside of Denmark and not in the student’s official country of residence.

Where can you complete your traineeship?

• You can complete your traineeship in any country that is part of the Erasmus+ programme. 34 countries are part of the programme because they are EU members, aspire to become so, or EFTA or EEA countries (see list of countries below).
• At private and public companies, research centres, other institutions and organisations. You can also complete your Erasmus+ Traineeship at a university (no bilateral agreement between the two universities is required, however the receiving university must have a Erasmus Charter of Higher Education) – please do not confuse this with Erasmus+ Exchange
• The traineeship cannot be completed at EU institutions, at institutions that adminster EU programme funds, or at Danish representation officies abroad (e.g. embassies).

How long can you be a trainee?

• The traineeship can last between 2 and 12 months
• The traineeship cannot overlap academic years (spring + fall semester)
• The Erasmus+ programme now allows you to complete several Erasmus visits (either Erasmus traineeship or Erasmus study visit). You can go for up to 12 months during your BA programme and 12 months during your MA programme. You can divide your stays into short stays of e.g. three months. However, this means that if you wish to combine an Erasmus traineeship with an Erasmus study visit, both stays will be included in the total of 12 months per BA and MA level. For instance, during your BA studies, you can complete an Erasmus study visit of 5 months and an Erasmus traineeship of 7 months (5+7=12). Please note, however, the school’s internal rules concerning exchange and traineeship.

What is the scholarship amount?
The monthly scholarship for the Erasmus+ programme differentiates depending on the country. Because Denmark is a high-cost country, Danish students are never awarded maximum rate because the EU Commission has decided that students who travel from one high-cost country to another high-cost country can only receive medium rate.

Maximum rate is reserved for students who travel from countries with medium or low living costs to a country with high living costs. For Danish students this means that there are only two rates available: the medium and the low-cost rate.

Medium rate – 400 Euros per month: Denmark, Ireland, France, Italy, Austria, Finland Sweden, Great Britain, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland (for Switzerland read more below).

Low rate – 350 Euros per month: Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Germany, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Iceland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia.

The scholarship rate depends on the funds that the school receives by the EU Commission that specific academic year.

The above rates are for the academic year 2014-2015.

The Erasmus+ scholarship is a supplement to your SU (State education grant) and covers extra costs in relation to your study visit.

Switzerland
Switzerland does not participate in the Erasmus+ programme in 2014-2015. This means that you can only get a scholarship for a traineeship at a university. Your host university will therefore manage the procedure and payment of your scholarship.

What does it mean that the traineeship must not prolong my studies?
That the traineeship must not prolong your studies means that if you cannot receive maximum ECTS points in connection with your traineeship (30 ECTS 7 semester), you must agree with your supervisor how to make up for the lacking points so that your total time of study will not be prolonged.

• It us up to you to find a suitable host in one of the 34 Erasmus programme countries. The school’s Centre for Career and Business Development and your head of subject can help you with this. 
• Your traineeship must be approved by the head of subject and by Rector. Fill out and sign the school’s contract. You can find it on the school’s intranet. 
• Afterwards, contact the International Office to get your traineeship approved as an Erasmus+ Traineeship. 
• You and the host company must fill out and sign the Learning Agreement for Traineeship form and you must hand it in to the International Office.
• You must make sure that the host company fills out and signs the Acceptance Form. Send it to the International Office. 
• Then you will receive a grant notification letter/Erasmus+ Grant Agreement that you must fill out, print and scan and send to the International Office prior to your departure.
• Then you complete a language test if the language of instruction is not your native tongue. 
• 80% of your Erasmus+ grant will be paid out to you. 
• When you have completed your traineeship, you must send in the Traineeship Certificate filled out and signed (the last part of your Learning Agreement for Traineeship), a learning report (your department will give you more information about the report). You must pass the report before the Erasmus+ Traineeship can be finally approved. 
• You must complete another language test and finally complete an electronic evaluation of your traineeship.
• The remaining 20% of the grant will be paid out to you.

Insurance during Erasmus+ Traineeship
With the new Erasmus+ programme the requirements concerning accident and liability insurance coverage have been tightened up. In the Learning Agreement you must state whether your host institution/organisation covers you in those two areas.

Students at Design School Kolding are not covered by the school’s insurance.

The requirements concerning insurance are also listed in article 5 of the Erasmus+ Grant Agreement. By signing the Erasmus+ Grant Agreement you accept that you are responsible for taking out the required insurance policies.

Please be aware to check if you are covered by your host institution/organisation’s accident and liabililty insurance or whether you need to take out your own.

As an Erasmus student you must also remember to order a European Health Insurance Card (the blue health insurance card) and consider whether you need to take out additional health insurance.

Please note: You will not receive your Erasmus scholarship until we see proof that you have accident and liability insurance. If you are not covered by your host, please send us a copy of your insurance policy.

Read more about the blue health insurance card here

Application procedure

• Students at MA level: minimum 3 months before completing your education, you must fill out and submit the Learning Agreement for Traineeship form as well as a copy of the traineeship agreement to the International Office. The Learning Agreement for Traineeship must be signed by your head of subject and your host institution (contact person responsible for you during your traineeship).
• Students at BA level: minimum 3 months before completing your education, you must submit the Learning Agreement for Traineeship form. The Learning Agreement for Traineeship must be signed by your head of subject and your host institution (contact person responsible for you during your traineeship). 
• The Erasmus scholarship will be paid to you within three months after we have received your application – however, no sooner than month before the start of the traineeship. 
• When you have completed your traineeship, you must submit the ”Section to be completed after mobility” of the Learning Agreement signed by the host institution to the International Office.

What is the scholarship amount?
The monthly scholarship for the Erasmus+ programme differentiates depending on the country. Because Denmark is a high-cost country, Danish students can only be awarded either the medium or the low cost rate. For more information see Traineeship with the Erasmus+ programme. Students who complete their traineeship after completion of their studies will not receive extra funds.

Traineeship after completion of studies with Erasmus+ funds is possible as of the academic year 2014/2015.

Danish unemployment benefit rules in connection with Erasmus+ Traineeship after completion of studies
You cannot receive unemployment benefits during a traineeship abroad. Therefore you must suspend payments during the period where you will not be available to the Danish job market.

• With regards to uemployment fund membership for graduates, it is possible to take leave from the payment of uemployment benefits for up to 12 months. During your leave you are not required to be available to the job market. You will not lose your two-year right to unemployment benefits because it must be used within three years.
• Please note, that it is your responsibility to keep updated on the above-mentioned rules.