Student Exchange Program
The Socrates programme was the European Community Action Scheme for the dissemination of advanced knowledge in the sectors of Education and Training. The first phase of the programme was materialized from 1995, 14th of March, until the end of 1999. Adopted on 24 of January 2000 and spanning the period until the end of 2006 (second phase of the programme), Socrates and its Erasmus action were open to the participation of the Member States of the European Union, the European Economic Area countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Turkey as a candidate country.
In 2007 the new Lifelong Learning Programme 2007- 2013 replaced the existing Socrates programme which expired at the end of 2006. Erasmus is one of the four sectoral programmes supported the Lifelong Learning Programme.
Objectives
Higher education plays a crucial role in producing high quality human resources, disseminating scientific discovery and advanced knowledge through teaching, adapting to the constantly emerging needs for new competences and qualifications, and educating future generations of citizens in a European context. All such functions are of vital importance to the long-term to the long term development of Europe
Against this background, ERASMUS contains a wide range of measures designed
- to support the European activities of higher education institutions
- to promote the mobility and exchange of their teaching staff and students
Especially, ERASMUS objectives are:
- The development of the European dimension in all the levels of studies, so that the spirit of the European citizenship will be solidified, in terms of the cultural heritage of the Member States.
- The promotion of the quantitative and qualitative improvement of the knowledge of the European Community languages, especially of those which are the least widespread and taught, so as to strengthen the comprehension and the solidarity among the populations that compose the European Community, as well as the promotion of the cross-cultural dimension in education.
- The promotion of the wide and intensive collaboration among institutions in the member states through all the grades of education, so as to develop their intellectual think-tank
- The encouragement of the mobility and exchange of the teaching staff, so that the studies will be reformed into a European dimension and the teaching staff’s skills will be improved
- The encouragement of the mobility and exchange of the students, by allowing them to spend Erasmus periods in other Member States, in order to consolidate a European dimension in education
- The academic recognition of the diplomas and other qualifications obtained in the Erasmus periods of studies, in order to facilitate the development of an open area of cooperation in the field of education.
- The encouragement of open and distance education in the frames of the activities of Erasmus programme.The promotion of information and experiences exchange, so that the variety and the peculiarities of the educational systems in the Member States will become sources of intellectual enrichment and reciprocal encouragement.
Scholarships of Students’ mobility
The students who wish to attend a study programme in a partner Institution in the framework of the Institutional Convention of the Lifelong Learning - ERASMUS programme will be considered as ERASMUS students as long as the following preconditions are fulfilled:
The students should be a. nationals of the 25 Member States of the European Community b. nationals of the European Economic Area countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) (if they belong to the above mentioned categories, they must be either permanent residents or stateless or refugees in the country from which they want to depart abroad, in the framework of the Lifelong Learning programme).
The students should have completed the first Academic Year of Studies
The students should have enrolled for an official Curriculum of Study of the Tertiary Education, which leads to the acquisition of their degree or diploma or even and a Ph.D title, which is acknowledged according to the procedures of the interested participant country.
the participant countries should have signed an agreement (Learning Agreement) for the mission and the reception of the number of the students at the duration of the Academic Year these students are interested in.
the period of studies abroad should become an integral part of the Curriculum of Studies of the Sending Institution.
A complete Academic Recognition of the period of studies abroad is offered; that is, the Sending Institution is committed to acknowledge the period of studies spent abroad (including the examinations or other kinds of evaluation), considering that this period replaces an equivalent period of studies (including, similarly, the examinations or other kinds of evaluation) in the Sending Institution, even if the Subject Content is different.
Both of the Institutions (Sending Institution-Receiving Institution) and each student sign an Agreement, regarding the Curriculum of Studies, before the student’s departure abroad. The students should be informed, in writing, about the content of the agreement. In the end of the period of studies abroad, the Receiving Institution should provide in writing, a certification in which it will be clearly mentioned that the agreed Curriculum of Studies has been completed; also, the results the student has received will be mentioned in this certification, too.
Not any kind of reward will be paid (fees or registration fees, examination fees, right of use laboratories and libraries, e.t.c) to the Receiving Institution. However, it is possible that the Erasmus students may overload the Receiving Institution with particular expenses, such as their social security, the Students’ Unions and the use of any kind of material, e.g. cameras, laboratory products e.t.c., as the regular students of the Receiving Institution. The Sending Institution may continue to impose academic dues in the coming out students.
· the full payment of the national scholarships and loans to the coming out students will continue to hold.
CHOICE OF SCHOLARS
The students who are interested in winning the Erasmus Scholarship are obliged to fill in an application accompanied by:
a certificate with the analytic marks
A short C.V., in which the reasons of interest of participation in Erasmus- Lifelong Learning Program will be mentioned
A copy of a Language Competence Certificate (if it exists)
After the collection of the applications of the interested students,
in the International Relations and Educational Programmes Office ,these applications are sent to the Academic Departments and the academic staff, who will be in charge for the final choice.
The ones who will be chosen, will have to fill in the forms,if they exist , of the Receiving Institutions or, as long as these forms do not exist, the forms provided by the Sending Institution in these cases, in the International Relations and Educational Programmes Office, related to their accommodation, their reception by the Host Institutions, e.t.c.
The chosen ones will also have to fill in the regular application forms, which are usually sent to the Greek Institutions by the Institution of National Scholarships (Ι.Κ.Υ.) every year, in the end of August or at the beginning of September- when it is possible to define the exact amount of the financial aid- and require the signature by the Chairman and the Secretariat of the Department.
Each student should be personally in charge for the agreements concerning their accommodation by the Receiving Institutions (the signature of the contracts, the payment of the offered accommodation in advance e.t.c.) and, in general, the whole procedure they should follow. The Secretariat’s personnel, on the other hand, should attempt to serve the scholars in their contacts with the Universities, as much as possible (issue of certifications e.t.c.)
Also, before their departure, the students would have to take care of the issue of the Healthcare Fund Form No 128 , which they will be supposed to have with them. This Form is provided by all the Social Security Funds. In case the students do not belong to any kind of Social Security Fund, they should have to be secured in an Insurance Company in their own country , for the period of their stay abroad, or to be secured in an Insurance Company in the Receiving country. |
