Internship Abroad with Erasmus+

Would you like to do an internship in another European country? Erasmus+ Internship offers you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the working world across Europe – regardless of whether an internship is part of your degree program or a personal goal.

Your advantages at a glance:

• You will develop entrepreneurial and creative skills that future employers greatly value.
• You will improve your foreign language skills, your interpersonal and intercultural skills, and your ability to work in a team.
• You will get to know another country and immerse yourself in a different culture.

As part of Erasmus+, TH Köln supports study-related internships lasting 2 to 12 months in over 30 European countries.

• Enrollment at TH Köln
• Internship position in another European country
• Internship duration of 2 to 12 months
• Full-time internship in accordance with customary working hours in the country
• Relevant academic and professional connection to your studies
• Internships at EU institutions and other EU bodies are excluded
• Language skills are assessed in an online language test

Only students can receive funding for stays abroad in a program country that is not the country of the sending university and is not their country of main residence at the time of signing the Grant Agreement.

Erasmus+ graduate internships: Erasmus+ internships offer the opportunity to receive funding for an internship within one year of completing your studies, provided that your total funding limit of 360 days has not yet been fully used. The above conditions apply. Applications must be submitted during the last semester of university — as long as you are still enrolled.

Graduate internships are intended to facilitate the transition from higher education to the labor market, therefore graduate internships between bachelor's and master's degrees (if this is the goal) are not eligible for funding.

Please submit all of the following application documents at the latest eight weeks prior to the beginning of the traineeship in Mobility Online. In exceptional cases, we will examine whether an application submitted after this deadline is possible.

• Learning Agreement for Internships bearing a confirmation of the internship by your employer and your faculty. Please note that only complete training agreements can be accepted.
• Grant Agreement - The Department of International Affairs will mail this document to you once you have submitted all application documents. Prior to the traineeship, please make sure that you have taken out adequate insurance (health, accident and liability insurance), as this has to be attested to in the Grant Agreement.
• Letter of motivation including your reasons for having chosen your traineeship. This letter should make reference to your academic discipline and your future professional career.
• Signed CV/résumé
• Certificate(s) of enrollment. Certificates of enrollment for the timeframe of the traineeship may be handed in at a later point in time if you are not in possession of them at the time of your application.
• Up-to-date transcript of records
• The following applies to applicants for Graduate Traineeships: Graduates have to be removed from the register of students for the duration of the traineeship and are required to submit a corresponding confirmation (Exmatrikulationsbescheinigung) or their diploma. Alternatively, a confirmation by the university that all examinations have been passed is accepted as well.

• Grant Agreement: Once you have uploaded all your application documents to Mobility Online, a decision will be made on whether to award you funding. If your application is approved, the next step is to provide you with the Grant Agreement (GA) online. This agreement specifies the amount of your funding and requires you to provide proof of insurance coverage. You will receive the first part of the agreed funding amount (80%) after you have submitted the complete original GA and confirmed the start date of your internship in Mobility Online.

You will receive 80 percent of your grant at the beginning of your traineeship; the remaining 20 percent will be paid once you have completed your traineeship and have handed in all required documents and reports.

For the mobility year 2025, the monthly scholarship rate will be determined by the country of your stay. The following rates apply:

• Group of countries 1:  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden

Monthly rate = 600 euros

• Group of countries 2:  Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Cyprus

Monthly rate = 540 euros

• Group of countries 3:  Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Turkey

Monthly rate = 540 euros

One month equals 30 days. A mobility of 3 months and 10 days will for instance be reported as an aggregate mobility of 100 days and will be funded as such.

Top-ups

internships:150,- Euro / month

for students with less opportunities*: 250,- Euro / month

for sustainable travel: additional 2, 4 or 6 travel days

For internships from 01.09.2025, travel grants will also be paid.

Equal opportunities are a key concern in the Erasmus+ program. Students with fewer opportunities* receive an additional €250 per month on top of their Erasmus grant.

* In the 2024 and 2025 project, this applies to:

• Students and graduates with a disability of at least 20% or a chronic illness

• Students and graduates who are spending time abroad with children

• First-generation academics (students from non-academic backgrounds)

• Working students

Please indicate your specific needs when applying in Mobility Online and contact us regarding the next steps.

Alternative to the top-up:

Funding of additional costs through an real cost application:

If you expect additional costs of more than €250 per month that are not covered by other funding agencies and/or if you are planning a preparatory trip to your destination (possibly with an accompanying person), please contact the Office of International Affairs at an early stage. In this case, you can submit a separate application for actual costs, in which your grant will be calculated individually (max. €15,000 per semester). This requires individual receipts for costs incurred and clarification with other funding agencies. The application must be submitted at least 2 months before the start of your internship.

If you are interested, please contact us as early as possible.

Internship abroad with a child

Students who receive Erasmus+ funding for an internship abroad and travel abroad with their child/children can apply for a monthly top-up amount (top-up for students with fewer opportunities), which is paid in addition to the regular Erasmus+ funding rate.

Regardless of the number of children traveling with you, the monthly allowance is €250.

Here, too, an application for actual costs can be submitted up to two months before the mobility period to cover additional costs incurred. Please submit your application in good time in cooperation with the International Affairs Office. The NA DAAD decides on the approval of funds.

Further useful information on studying abroad with children, with internal and external links, can also be found on the following website.

It is generally possible for you to extend your traineeship as long as the duration of the traineeship does not exceed 12 months. You are required to request each extension of your traineeship with Ms. Alice Herma at least four weeks prior to the end of the originally scheduled end of your traineeship.

Within the current Erasmus+ generation, Online Language Support is provided through the EU Academy, the European Commission's learning management platform - for participants of both funding lines (Erasmus in Europe KA131 and Erasmus worldwide KA171).

Online Language Support learning content:
The open area provides some basic language learning content. Here, teaser and taster videos are gradually made available, introducing the languages and some elementary aspects of language learning.
The second area, also called the core area, provides Erasmus+ participants with access to Online Language Support. In the core area, additional features are available, such as the placement tests for Erasmus+ participants (so-called self-assessments) or the designation of a community manager who can support participants in their language learning. In the core area, the language offering will be expanded to 29 languages and additional learning levels and content will also be developed.

What you need to know:

TH Köln's Erasmus+ team will invite you by email to register in the EU Academy's OLS before the start of your mobility. With the help of this hyperlink, participants will directly access the core area of OLS and thus have the possibility to access the learning content and also to perform self-assessments.

Participants are entitled to online language support if their physical stay exceeds 14 days.

The pre-departure testing requirement is contractually stipulated in the Grant Agreement for students.

Participants are not yet linked to a project. As a result, the progress of participants cannot be monitored by the university.

The DAAD has therefore abandoned the verification of whether participants have taken a language test before leaving the country as of August 12, 2022.

Access to the Online Language Platform is available for three years.

Please submit the following documents at the latest four weeks after the end of your traineeship:

• Traineeship Certificate on the Learning Agreement or the original copy of your employer’s letter of reference
• Detailed final report as PDF-file
• All students who have participated in an Erasmus+ mobility are required to fill out the EU Online Survey following their mobility. You will automatically be sent the link to the survey once you have completed your traineeship.

The recognition of achievements abroad plays an important role in the Erasmus+ program. For this reason, it is regulated in the Learning Agreement for Traineeships. This document must be completed and signed by the relevant contact persons in your department and the internship institution before the start of the internship abroad.

After completing the internship, the Learning Agreement After the Mobility/Internship Certificate must also be submitted. Mandatory internships should be listed in the transcript. Voluntary internships, on the other hand, should be recorded in the Diploma Supplement, which you will receive at the end of your studies.

Further information on recognition can also be found on the TH Köln pages on recognition and under the section "back in Germany".

Erasmus+ Sustainability & Green Travel

If you choose not to fly to your host country and instead travel for the majority of the journey (more than 50% of the arrival and/or departure) by train, bus, carpool, or bicycle, you will receive funding for up to 6 additional travel days, depending on the distance to your destination.

When applying, you must indicate in the Mobility Online platform whether you intend to travel sustainably.

To receive the subsidy, you must upload the Green Travel declaration of honor at the beginning of your mobility period and proof of transportation, such as tickets, at the end of your mobility period in Mobility Online. The template for the declaration of honor can be found in your Mobility Online file under “Download Documents.” . Students indicate the type of transportation they mainly use here.

TH Köln reserves the right to announce and carry out random checks.

The additional travel days do not count toward the minimum or maximum duration of mobility or the total Erasmus days per study phase.

• 2 travel days: 0–499 km between TH Köln and your internship location
• 4 travel days: 500–1999 km between TH Köln and your internship location
• 6 travel days: 2000 km or more between TH Köln and your internship location

The advantages of traveling by train are the virtually unlimited luggage allowance and the slow travel. Night trains are also highly recommended.

To travel cheaply, those under 27 can take advantage of the My Bahncard 25 or 50, which are available at affordable student rates.An Interrail Pass is also a good option if you want to explore the country directly.

The Erasmusbytrain project has been very committed to promoting Interrail passes for young people.

TH Köln is a member of the Go2UNIS network and supports the mission of Go2RAIL – Travel Together. Go2RAIL helps students travel together by train by connecting students with similar travel routes. It is a new way to discover Europe, make friends, and reduce your CO2 footprint at the same time.

Questions? Send an email to:

outgoings@th-koeln.de

According to the European Commission, students completing an Erasmus internship are required to have adequate health, liability, and accident insurance coverage.

No insurance coverage is associated with an Erasmus+ mobility grant. Neither the EU KOMM nor the NA DAAD nor the TH Köln are liable for damages resulting from illness, death, accident, injury to persons, loss or damage to property in connection with Erasmus+ stays abroad (studies, internships, guest lectureships or Erasmus+ training measures).

Before your departure, clarify whether and to what extent your health insurance is also valid abroad. As a rule, you have student insurance that is also valid in other European countries through the EHIC. Further information can be found on the website of the European Commission.

However, coverage by the European Health Insurance Card or private insurance is often insufficient, especially if repatriation or special medical treatment is necessary. For such cases, especially repatriation, supplementary private insurance should be taken out.

Therefore, check with your German health insurance provider about the benefits of your insurance and, if in doubt, take out additional international health insurance.

Health insurance for paid internships:

As soon as you take up employment (even minor) in your host country or receive remuneration as part of an internship, the social security law of the host country applies. This means that you must take out health insurance in the host country.

Please check with your internship provider for more information. Contact your health insurance provider in Germany and inform the relevant social security institutions in your country of residence that you have taken up employment.

Further information on statutory health insurance during your internship can be found at the German Liaison Office for Health Insurance Abroad.

Other insurance (liability and accident insurance):

Please note that you are not insured through TH Köln during your internship abroad. Therefore, please check with your employer to see if you are covered by accident insurance through them. If you are not covered by accident insurance through your employer, you must ensure that you have adequate insurance coverage.

For Erasmus interns, the DAAD offers combined health, accident, and personal liability insurance.

ERASMUS scholarships are mobility scholarships funded by public funds from the European Commission in Germany and are tax-free in accordance with §3 No. 44a EStG.

Furthermore, scholarships from the EU's ERASMUS program do not reduce the education allowances under § 33a (2) EStG (ruling of October 17, 2001 [III R 3/01], Federal Finance Court in Munich).

In principle, however, an ERASMUS scholarship must be reported to your local tax office, your child benefit office, and your health insurance company.

TH Köln is subject to tax recording and reporting obligations. It therefore transmits the following data to the tax authorities on an annual basis: first and last name, address, tax number, and date of birth of the payee, type of entitlement, amount, and date of payment. In the case of recurring payments, it also transmits the date of the first payment, the payment method, and the expected duration of the payments.

The scholarship recipient is responsible for fulfilling tax recording and reporting obligations with regard to income from ERASMUS to the tax authorities (§ 12 MV).

You have the opportunity to provide feedback on your Erasmus+ stay via the feedback management system at TH Köln. Of course, we hope that you felt well looked after throughout the entire process and had the “time of your life.” If we were able to contribute to this, you are welcome to leave us or your faculty a positive review via the official feedback management system at TH Köln.

But sometimes things in life don't go as we hope they will. So if you have a legitimate reason to complain or suggestions for improvement, you can also do so via the above-mentioned feedback management system. This can also be done anonymously.

However, you can also contact us at any time during our weekly office hours if you need to talk.

When planning a stay abroad, safety should also be taken into account.

It is therefore recommended that you always follow the travel and safety advice of the State Department for your destination country.

In addition, you should register with the crisis prevention list Elefand. After your return, it is important to deregister there.