FAQ Erasmus+ Traineeship after Graduation

All graduating students from all Flemish universities and universities of applied sciences (which are part of the Flanders Traineeship Platform consortium) who graduate in a programme and (will) obtain a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD degree are eligible.
Students graduating from a postgraduate programme are therefore not eligible.

No, the traineeship must follow an associate, bachelor's or master's programme (or advanced bachelor's and advanced master's). A postgraduate is therefore not eligible.

The student has graduated when the examination board of the programme/faculty notifies the student that the necessary credits have been acquired and the degree has been awarded. A (provisional) certificate is delivered to the graduating student, on which a date is mentioned. The date mentioned is the date of graduation.

Before your own graduation date. If you wish to do a traineeship after graduation and want to apply for an Erasmus+ grant as financial support for this placement, you must apply for the grant before graduating i.e. when you are still a student (and in your final year of studies).
If you are interested in doing a traineeship after you graduate, you are advised to submit your application immediately. At the time of application, it is not necessary that you already have found a traineeship abroad.

Student, holiday and weekend jobs are no obstacle to applying for an Erasmus+ scholarship for traineeship after graduation. If it is a regular job in the labour market, the following rules apply:

1. If during your studies or in the period between graduation and the start of the traineeship you are in a regular job that is not related to your studies, you may apply for an Erasmus+ grant for traineeship after graduation.
2. If during your studies or in the period between graduation and the start of the traineeship you are in a regular job that is related to your studies, you cannot apply for an Erasmus+ grant for traineeship after graduation.

No. However, it is advisable to start looking for a traineeship in the final months of your studies, not only because the period of the traineeship has to fall entirely within the year after graduation, but also because an Erasmus+ grant is only awarded after a full Learning Agreement for Traineeships has been submitted to VLUHR. (Please note: the student must also have graduated).

Yes. Per study cycle (bachelor’s/master’s/PhD), you may spend a maximum of 12 months on mobility through Erasmus. The number of months you spent on Erasmus mobility (study or traineeship) during the study cycle from which you most recently graduated will be deducted from the maximum of 12 months.
So if you graduate in a Master's programme, the number of months you have or have not participated in the Erasmus programme in the Bachelor's programme you followed is not taken into account, but the number of months you have already participated in the Erasmus programme in this (or another) Master's programme is.

Please note: if you received a scholarship for an Erasmus Mundus course, the months for which you received a scholarship will also be deducted from the maximum period.

No. The restriction of maximum 12 months Erasmus mobility per cycle also applies to the period of a traineeship without a grant (zero-grant). If you have reached the maximum of 12 months, you can no longer do a placement under the Erasmus+ programme, regardless of whether it is with or without a grant. For example, if you are still entitled to four months' mobility as a graduate, you can only get a contract for those four months. From the fifth month onwards, you are no longer entitled to Erasmus+ status.

If you want to do a traineeship that is longer than 6 months, this will be covered by a zero-grant. This means that the grant will be capped at a maximum amount of 6 months but that your learning agreement and insurance will continue until the end of your traineeship. Please note: according to Erasmus rules, trainees from underrepresented groups cannot go on a zero-grant traineeship. As a result, they can only apply for a traineeship grant for a maximum of 6 months.

If you are going to do an internship in Danish, German, English, French, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech or Swedish then you have to take an online language test (European OLS tool) and you can get a licence for an online language course (European OLS tool). However, there is no possibility of awarding funding for any other form of language training, whether or not prior to the actual placement period.

Possibly not, this cannot be said with certainty in advance.
Erasmus+ grants are awarded according to the ‘first come, first served’ principle on the basis of the upload date of the most recently uploaded document (diploma/certificate or learning agreement). This means that at the moment the student graduates and has uploaded a ‘Learning Agreement for Traineeships’ signed by all parties involved in the online system, a check will be made (by VLUHR) whether funds are available to award an Erasmus+ grant.

From 1 June 2024, there is the possibility of receiving conditional approval. This conditional approval is done on the ‘first come, first served’ principle based on the upload date of a fully completed and signed learning agreement. The budget for your grant is then reserved on condition that you upload your diploma or certificate on time.

Once the following steps are completed, the registration is complete. Please note that all these steps must be completed before graduation.

1. Complete the online form for registration.
2. Create an account and login to Placement-Online (see email you received after completing the online form).
3. Download and sign the registration form and upload it again in Placement-Online.

The Learning Agreement for Traineeships is signed on behalf of the higher education institution from which the student will graduate by a lecturer of the programme concerned or by the international coordinator of the programme/faculty or by someone from the International Relations Office.

No, the Learning Agreement must be signed before the start of your traineeship. This means that the trainee, the mentor and the contact person of the higher education institution have to sign the learning agreement on the first day of the traineeship at the latest. If the higher education institution is unable to sign in time but has been notified in time, the Learning Agreement will also be accepted.

The Erasmus+ grant is awarded by the Flemish Higher Education Council (VLUHR), which also manages these grants on behalf of the Flemish higher education institutions (which are members of the consortium). Students receiving a grant will have to sign a grant agreement (also signed by VLUHR).

In the learning agreement lays down a number of agreements (schedule, tasks, supervision, evaluation, possible expense allowance, etc.). The learning agreement provides a basis to fall back on in case of problems, and for this reason, it is required. It is not possible to do a traineeship without a learning agreement. The learning agreement has to be signed before the start of your traineeship.

In that case, you will have to officially submit the changes to the learning agreement. You can download the document from your workflow. To extend your traineeship period you have to contact the administrator via info@flanderstraineeshipplatform.be at least one month before the original ending of your traineeship.

No. A traineeship extension must be requested no later than 30 days before the original end date. If the first enquiry is made later, the traineeship extension will not be accepted.

You have to apply for a new visa in the host country where the traineeship will take place. It is not possible to apply for a new visa in Belgium. You can find more information about visa in EU countries via this link: EU Immigration Portal - European Commission (europa.eu)