Every year 1000s of IUA students take the opportunity to study or train abroad as part of their degree programme.
Why go abroad?
Improved career and employment opportunities: Research conducted by the European Commission (EC) for example found that former Erasmus+ students were less than half as likely to be unemployed than non-mobile students and that mobile students experience significant progression within their careers.
Higher education performance: mobile students are more likely to attain enhanced academic results and improved academic performance.
Personal development: students rate study abroad and work placement as having a significant impact on their personal development.
The development of language skills: research from the Eurydice Network indicates that the development of language skills has significant implications for the future employment of students. Former Erasmus+ students feel three times as strong in foreign language proficiency than former non-mobile students”.
Funding your Mobility: Erasmus+
Erasmus+ is the European Commission’s flagship scheme for supporting students to study and train abroad. Under the scheme, students can get grants to financially support them while they are abroad. The scheme has proven to be so popular, so synonymous with studying abroad, that most people now actually use the phrase “going on Erasmus” to describe the process of going on an academic exchange in Europe.
Students are eligible for financial support to cover a mobility of 2-12 months. You apply through your university, at the same time you complete your application to study or train abroad. Your institution’s mobility team handle most of the work but there will be a few documents that you will have to fill out for them so they can set your grant up. Your Erasmus+ grant is a;sp compatible with any national funding supports you’re receiving, so (in addition to your Erasmus+ grant) you can continue to access your SUSI and FSD funding while studying/training abroad.
For an idea of how much financial support you might be eligible for, check out the Erasmus Student Network’s grant calculator. You might also want to check out their testimonials page for an idea of what it’s like to study abroad.
Funding your Mobility: Beyond Erasmus+
Outside of Erasmus+ there are a number of other funding opportunities available. However, unlike Erasmus+, many of these schemes require students to directly apply for the funding themselves and are, often, quite competitive. Some of these other opportunities include:
- DAAD: The German Academic Exchange Service. While mainly focused on PhD students and academic staff, there are a variety of scholarships available across a wide range of disciplines.
- JASSO: This scholarship, provided by the Japanese government, is available for students looking to study in a Japanese university. If you’re eligible, your host university will provide you with an application form as part of your application pack.
- University Scholarships: Many universities (particularly in North America) have scholarships for incoming exchange students. Make sure to check out the scholarship page of your host universities website to see what is available.
[Certain social welfare benefits, such as Disability Allowance are not currently not eligible to be brought abroad due to the restrictions associated with the habitual residence condition.]
To learn more about applying to go abroad and the options available to you, check out the websites of our members’ mobility offices below:
Dublin City University
Maynooth University
Trinity College Dublin
TU Dublin
University College Cork
University College Dublin
University of Galway
