Erasmus+ Traineeship

• The minimum period of an Erasmus+ Traineeship is two months (not 8 weeks), up to a maximum of 12 months. It is recommended that students apply for at least a three month traineeship, as this will give them more time to gain the necessary experience and complete the required tasks in a department at King’s. 
• Placements originally scheduled for up to 6 months might not be able to be extended behind 6 months once started, as a change of visa would be required, that can only be done from outside the UK and for which an official English Language test is required.
• Traineeships must enrol on the first Tuesday of the month and so should start their placement on that day. The permitted start date are at present:
• Tuesday 1st February 2022
• Tuesday 1st Mrach 2022
• Tuesday 5th April 2022
• Tuesday 3rd May 2022
• Tuesday 7th June 2022
• Tuesday 5th July 2022

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. However, traineeships must start on one of the dates listed above.The application must be completed at least 1 month ahead of the intended start date, but preferably 3-5 months ahead of this date. If the placement is over 6 months, then you will need to apply for a Student Visa, so applications at least 3 months in advance are needed for you to receive the visa in time.

Please note, if the application is submitted later than 4 weeks ahead of the start date, the start date will move to the next enrolment date a month later. 

• Students can only apply to an Erasmus+ traineeship after being accepted by a King's academic supervisor. Once accepted, then they must apply online and receive an offer from the Study Abroad Admissions team before their Erasmus+ traineeship is confirmed.

• Please note for graduate students (students doing a Traineeship after they have graduated and will no longer be current students at their university during the placement), the process is different and longer. Your university will need to apply on your behalf for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from the British Council first, then you apply for a Tier 5 Visa. The process should be started as close as possible to 3 months in advance of your planned arrival. You will not be enrolled as a King's Student and therefore must not complete the King's online application. Instead your King's supervisor will need to contact our Human Resources department, ahead of your arrival. You/they might want to contact the Global Mobility Office to clarify the exact procedure.
  

• To apply, students should complete and submit an online application form for the Erasmus+ Traineeship programme. Students must use the accompanying guidance notes (at the bottom of this page) while completing their application. 
  
  Student must have a Learning Agreement, fully signed and completed, by their home university and their supervisor at King's, before they apply online.

• As applications take at least 4 weeks to process, the application must be completed at least 1 month ahead of the intended start date, but preferably 3-5 months ahead of this date. For placements over 6 months, students will need to apply for a Student Visa , so need to apply to King's at least 3 months in advance. Please note, if the application is submitted later than 4 weeks ahead of the start date, the start date will move to the next enrolment date a month later. 

• If you have any questions about your application, and have already made an online application, please contact the Admissions team via the messaging facility on the Application Portal. If you have not yet applied, please contact studyabroad@kcl.ac.uk.

An overseas student has contacted you to do a research placement (for their own research/thesis or to gain experience by helping in yours).

First you need to make sure that their project is appropriate for your specialty, they have the right background for the project and their role in it, you are satisfied their level of English is suitable for the work (in some cases they must also meet B2 language requirements, but this will be assessed at application by Admissions, if required) and of course you have the time to supervise them in the period they are planning to come.

If you are happy to supervise the student, then there are different routes depending on where they are from:

• For Students currently studying in any university in an Erasmus+ country (that is the EEA, Turkey, Serbia and Macedonia), then the Erasmus+ Traineeship is suitable.  The minimum length of the placement is 2 months, and up to 12 months.
  
  However if the student is in their first year after graduation, they can also qualify, as long as they arrange it before graduation and it finishes within that first year, but the process is more complicated, please see below under Graduates.
  
  In all cases, the student will need to complete an Erasmus+ Learning agreement for traineeships, provided by their home university. You will be responsible for signing on behalf of the ‘host institution’. This document will detail what the student will do and/or learn while here, and is a guideline for what can be expected from all parties involved. As supervisor, it is your responsibility this is followed, and that the student has enough work for a full-time placement.
  
  One part of the agreement asks about Insurance provided by the host institution: You should select No for Accident insurance, and Yes for Liability.
  
  Please do not sign any other document than those titled "Erasmus+ Learning Agreement for Traineeships" without checking with the Global Mobility Office first.
  
  - For current students (still actively enrolled at their home university for the whole duration of the placement): they will then need to apply through the King’s Admissions portal, at least a month in advance of their intended stay (3 months if the placement is over 6 months). Please note enrolments for those students happen on the first Tuesday of each month so they can only start their placement on that date, or later that month if they have been enrolled (please see under Traineeships length and start date.) No fee will be charged by King’s.
  Please note that studetns can only stay in the UK under 6 months without needing a student visa. So it is strongly advised for a 6 months placement that dates are agreed to be slightly under 6 months, to take into account that students will most likely not arrive on the 1st day and leave on the last of the placement.
  
  - For Graduate students (in their first year after graduation): they will need to apply for a Work Visa, as Traineeships, even if unpaid, are considered work under UK immigration rules. Whilst current students can avoid it because the placement is research only, non-current students cannot. They therefore cannot attend King’s as ‘Students’ but only under a visiting appointment. To obtain their visa, their university will need to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from the British Council first. King’s cannot sponsor them directly. You will be required to provide them with an an acceptance letter confirming the start and end dates of the work placement and the roles and duties to be carried out by the participant, on King’s letter headed paper and signed, dated and stamped, as well as the Erasmus+ Learning Agreement for Traineeship which has been signed by all parties. Once they have obtained the CoS, at the same time they apply for the Tier 5 visa proper, they will need to let you know, so you can contact ukvi@kl.ac.uk (cc Nathan Jones), who will provide you with the Visiting Appointment Request Form that needs to be completed and returned to them, so that HR can prepare for the researcher’s arrival.

• For students from a partner University without Erasmus Traineeships.  If they are from a University with whom we have a study exchange agreement (they should check with their home university or the Global Mobility Office), they can attend for research as an exchange student. Please note enrolments for those students can only happen on the first Tuesday of each month so they can only start their placement on that date, or later that month once they have been enrolled. There is no fee charged by King's.Please note it is not possible to setup an exchange agremeent just for this purpose, it has to be already in place.

• For students from non-partner universities, not in Erasmus+ countries. 
  -PhD students should apply through the Visiting Research Student programme. This programme is not run by the Global Mobility Office, and queries should be directed to your Faculty's PGR Admissions Team. A fee is charged for stays over 3 months.
  - Non-PhD students (PGT and UG) are normally not currently  able to apply to do research at King’s under that program. Please discuss this directly with PGR Admissions if you have any queries.