Guidelines on how to use the Learning Agreement for Studies

The purpose of the Learning Agreement is to provide a transparent and efficient preparation of the study period abroad and to ensure that the student will receive recognition in his/her degree for the educational components successfully completed abroad.

This template is applicable to Erasmus+ mobility for studies between Programme Countries (KA1), between Programme and Partner Countries (KA1), and for Higher Education Capacity Building projects involving Partner Countries (KA2).It is recommended to use this template. However, if higher education institutions already have an IT system in place to produce the Learning Agreement or the Transcript of Records, they can continue using it, provided that all the minimum requirements listed in this document are made available. Further fields can be added, if needed (e.g. information on the coordinator of a consortium), and the format (e.g. font size and colours) can be adapted.

BEFORE THE MOBILITY

Administrative data

Before the mobility, it is necessary to fill in page 1 with information on the student, the Sending and the Receiving Institutions. The three parties have to agree on this section to be completed before the mobility.

In case some administrative data is already available to the three parties, there is no need to repeat it in this template.

On page 1, most of the information related to the student, Sending and Receiving Institutions will have to be encoded in the Mobility Tool+ (for Capacity Building projects, in the EACEA Mobility Tool).

Educational components (Tables A and B)

The study programme includes the indicative start and end months of the agreed study programme that the student will carry out abroad.

The Learning Agreement must include all the educational components to be carried out by the student at the Receiving Institution (in Table A) and it must contain as well the group of educational components that will be replaced in his/her degree by the Sending Institution (in Table B) upon successful completion of the study programme abroad. It is necessary to fill in Tables A and B thoroughly before the mobility. Additional rows and columns can be added as needed. However, the two Tables A and B must be kept separated. The objective is to make clear that there is no need to have one-to-one correspondence between the components followed abroad and the ones replaced at the Sending Institution. The aim is rather that a group of learning outcomes achieved abroad replaces a group of learning outcomes at the Sending Institution.

In countries belonging to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) an academic year of full-time study is normally made up of educational components totalling 60 ECTS credits. It is recommended that for mobility periods shorter than a full academic year, the educational components selected should equate to a roughly proportionate number of credits (or equivalent units in countries outside the EHEA). In case the student follows additional educational components beyond those required for his/her degree programme, these additional credits (or equivalent) must also be listed in the study programme outlined in Table A.

The Sending Institution should indicate in Table B the group of educational components counting towards the student’s degree that would normally be completed at the Sending Institution and which will be replaced by the Study Programme at the Receiving Institution. The total number of ECTS credits (or equivalent) in Table B should correspond to the total number of ECTS credits (or equivalent) contained in Table A. Any exception to this rule should be clearly stated in an annex of the Learning Agreement and agreed by all parties. Example of justification for a discrepancy in the total number of ECTS credits (or equivalent) between Table A and Table B: the student has already accumulated the number of credits required for his/her degree and does not need some of the credits gained abroad.

The group of components can be included in Table B as follows: