Information for University of Reading Staff
Erasmus+
As of the 31 May 2023 UK HEIs are no longer part of the Erasmus+ KA103 programme (Europe). The last date of UK current involvement in KA107 (non-Europe) was Monday 31 July 2023.
Arrangements are in place to continue our partnerships with our European partner institutions.
For more information about Erasmus+ and the University of Reading’s participation in the programme, please visit our Erasmus+ webpage.
Mobility Agreements
All student study mobility arrangements (lasting a term or longer) should take place under the auspices of a valid bilateral agreement between institutions and must receive formal approval before an agreement with the partner institution can be entered into.
It is strongly recommended that departments / schools considering entering into a new student or staff agreement contact the Study Abroad Office (studyabroad@reading.ac.uk) in order to discuss your options and for clarification of the process to be followed.
All new mobility partnerships will need formal institutional approval to proceed.
1. Student exchange partnerships
Reading will send students abroad as well as receive students from partner institutions.
- Application: Reciprocal Student Exchange agreement application
- Guide: Guide to completing Student Exchange agreement application
Proposals will usually be assessed by the Study Abroad Partnerships Committee, with applicants informed of the decision normally within 6 weeks of the submission date.
2. Study Abroad partnerships
Reading will receive fee-paying students from partner institutions where there is no intention of sending Reading students abroad on a reciprocal arrangement.
- Application: Non-reciprocal Study Abroad agreement
Proposals will usually be assessed by the Study Abroad Partnerships Committee, with department / schools informed of the decision normally within 6 weeks of the submission date.
3. Incoming fee-waiver partnerships
Schools wanting to receive non-fee paying study abroad students from an overseas institution but does not intend to send students abroad i.e. partnership has a wider strategic basis.
Any such proposals will require a strong business case, and must be approved by the PVC International and the University of Reading Fees Sub-Group. Please email the Study Abroad Office (studyabroad@reading.ac.uk) for further information.
Study Abroad Coordinators (SACs)
The Study Abroad Coordinator (SAC) is the primary point of contact and person responsible for all incoming and outgoing student mobility activities taking place within their subject area.
As part of the role they are responsible for ensuring the successful promotion, administration, and dissemination of information of all mobility programmes and activities within that subject area. They also offer front line academic and pastoral support to students studying in their subject, as well as act as Academic Tutors to incoming students coming to Reading through exchange agreements studying in that subject area.
They should be consulted about any subject level exchange agreement proposal.
SAC Contacts
A list of Study Abroad Coordinators is available on our Outgoing Students page.
ECTS Credit System
ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) is the credit system for higher education used by universities in the European Higher Education Area, involving all countries engaged in the Bologna Process. The credit system aims to make study programmes easier to understand and compare.
Credits are assigned to modules based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of the particular course of study. A full-time workload for one year of undergraduate study is the equivalent of 60 ECTS. The simple conversion from ECTS to UK credits is 1 = 2.
Further information about ECTS can be found:
- EU Commission’s ECTS Online Users’ Guide 2015 .
- Downloadable ECTS Users’ Guide 2015
Documentation produced by the Study Abroad Office relating to incoming Study Abroad student’s placements at Reading (Erasmus+ or otherwise) will refer to ECTS as the standard default credit system. This includes Learning Agreements and Transcripts.
All module descriptions available from the Study Abroad website and online application will refer to the credit value of a given module in ECTS. The main University of Reading module description pages will refer to ECTS and UK credits.
Students who study abroad within Europe will be awarded ECTS as part of their transcript of studies.
