Study Abroad

Incoming Students

Erasmus Exchange

Erasmus is a European exchange programme which enables students to study or work in another Erasmus participating country as part of their degree. You will study in classes alongside full time British and international students.  As well attending lectures, you will also take part in smaller seminars and tutorial classes, giving you the opportunity to work closely with, and get to know, other students on your course.

To be considered as an Erasmus student for study placement, the subject department of your home institution needs to hold an inter-institutional agreement with the same subject department at the University of Portsmouth.

Erasmus (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University students) forms part of the operational framework of the European Commission for higher education and it is a part of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) 2007-2013.

Your first point of contact to apply as an Erasmus student will be your home institution's Erasmus Departmental Coordinator/International Office. If your Erasmus Departmental Coordinator gives you approval, we will be informed that you have been nominated to participate. The Erasmus Departmental Coordinator will also provide you with an Exchange application form which you must complete and send to the Study Abroad/Exchanges Team at the University of Portsmouth.  You will be sent your official acceptance from the University by email.  This acceptance will be:

• an official Offer Letter if you are an EU national
• an official Offer Letter if you are a non-EU national applying for a Student Visitor visa
• a Certificate of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) if you are a non-EU national applying for a Tier 4 General student visa

To check the available units, please visit the Unit web search or click on one of the following:

• Portsmouth Business School
• Department of Geography
• School of Pharmacy and Biological Science 

If you will be studying at the School of Languages and Area Studies, please email the Course Administrator, Jessica Brown to obtain the list of the units available - slasexchange@port.ac.uk 

Please check our Erasmus Departmental Coordinators List (.pdf) if you wish to contact them prior to your arrival or if you have any concerns regarding the units.

All Erasmus study placements carry some form of academic recognition as part of a degree programme. The most common method of recognition in the framework of the Erasmus programme is the European Credit Transfer and Accummulation system (ECTS). This is a learner-centred system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a programme specified in terms of the learning outcomes and competences acquired.

120 UK credits are attached to the workload of a full time year of formal learning (academic year) and the associated learning outcomes. As such, UK credits are ordinarily converted into ECTS on the basis of 2 UK credits = 1 ECTS. For example, students may study 120 UK credits for a year at the University of Portsmouth, which will then also be noted as the equivalent of 60 ECTS on the student's University of Portsmouth transcript. Please note however, that credit transfer does not guarantee grade conversion, and students should contact the Erasmus Coordinator of their home institution for more information on whether their grades will be transferable.

All incoming students should complete and submit their Learning Agreement with their Exchange Application form by the given deadlines. Students should contact the relevant University of Portsmouth Departmental Erasmus Coordinator for details about the units available and the equivalent ECTS credits. Contact details can be obtained either from the home institution's Erasmus Coordinator, or from the Study Abroad/Exchanges Team.

More information about the ECTS system can be found in the ECTS User Guide.