Study Abroad

Outgoing students

What can I do?

The options available for studying or working overseas depend on your degree programme. For some degrees, a period overseas is compulsory. In these cases, you may have discussed your options with your Department as early as the first semester in your first year. Alternatively, it may be that going overseas is an option that you have not considered yet.

In all cases, it is essential that you contact your Course Leader in the first instance to check whether your degree programme can accommodate a period of time spend away from the University. They will be able to advise you about any restrictions (e.g compulsory units to obtain professional accreditation), help you identify suitable placements and put you in touch with important contacts (e.g departmental exchange coordinators, placement office).

Consequently the following information is provided as a guide only for the options that may be available to you:

It is only possible to undertake a study placement at an institution that the University of Portsmouth has a student exchange Agreement with.

Many students prefer this option as it offers a different academic style to the UK system and the opportunity to gain new skills to implement in their academic and vocational life.

To find out our Erasmus and non-Erasmus destinations, please contact the Study Abroad / Exchanges Team.

Students attending one of our Erasmus partner institutions in Europe may be eligible to receive some funding under the Erasmus programme to help with any extra costs incurred while abroad.

If your course requires an overseas work placement (to an Erasmus or non-Erasmus destination), or you wish to gain work rather than academic experience, you can apply to do a work placement. Your Departmental Coordinator must approve the placement to meet certain academic outcomes.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide any links for work placements. Please check with your Departmental Coordinator whether they have existing contacts that may be accepting students to gain work experience.  Otherwise you will need to independently research and locate a work placement.

Students have recently undertaken work placements in Europe, Latin America and Africa. If language is an issue, a number of companies are willing and able to communicate in English, or you could look into the US, Canada or Australia as options.

As with study placements, students working in a European country participating in the Erasmus programme may be eligible to receive some funding to help with any extra costs while abroad.