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Student applicants must be registered on a degree at another Higher Education institution outside of the UK, in an Erasmus+ Programme Country (EEA + Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia), either at undergraduate or postgraduate level.
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Graduate students are only eligible for a traineeship after graduation if they apply ahead of their graduation. If you are interested in following an Erasmus+ Traineeship after your graduation please contact your home institution’s international office to see if you are eligible.
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Students must already have been chosen by their home institution to participate in an Erasmus+ traineeship.
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Students must identify and receive an offer from a King’s academic supervisor from an appropriate area of research for their area of study. You can find a supervisor in the area of interest via the King’s College Research Portal.
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The Erasmus+ Traineeship is only open for research placements, provided the student can find a suitable academic supervisor independently.
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This programme can be used by non-EEA citizens who wish to come to King’s but due to UK Visa and Immigration restrictions, the procedure is different as Traineeships are considered as work, even if unpaid. IF YOUR PLACEMENT IS DUE TO START IN 2021, this then may apply to all student regardless of nationality, depending on the Immigration changes following Brexit.
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Students seeking Clinical or Hospital placements should apply for:
Medicine to the Clinical Electives Placement programme run by the GKT School of Medical Education.
Psychiatry/Mental Health to the Clinical Electives Placement run by the IoPPN.
Dentistry to the Dental Electives run by the Dental Institute.
Nursing, a clinical placement is not currently possible within Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care.
The Clinical Electives Placements are incompatible with Erasmus+ and we cannot facilitate students looking to do a clinical placement under Erasmus+.
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PhD students from Universities outside Erasmus+ may apply to the Visiting Researchers scheme.
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The minimum period of an Erasmus+ Traineeship is two months, 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.
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Traineeships must enrol on the first Tuesday of the month and so should start their placement on that day. The permitted start date are:
- Tuesday 4th August 2020
- Tuesday 1st September 2020
- Tuesday 6th October 2020
- Tuesday 3rd November 2020
- Tuesday 1st December 2020
FOR 2021: Due to the highly likely change in Immigration rules affecting EEA-nationals following Brexit, we cannot at this stage accept applications for placements starting in 2021. Placements might still be possible, but under the same current rules as for non-EEA nationals. We advise you check back 3 months before the date of your intended placement, when we will hopefully have clearer information.
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. 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.
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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.
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Please note for Non-EEA nationals, 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.
2021: for placements starting in 2021, this might apply to ALL students regardless of Nationality, depending on new immigration rules likely to be introduced post-Brexit. For this reason, we will not accept applications for placements starting in 2021 at this stage.
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To apply, students should complete and submit an online application form for the Erasmus+ Traineeship programme. Students must use the accompanying guidance notes while completing their application. Please make sure you complete the application form which is most suitable to your current cycle of study.
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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. 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.
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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.
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Your arrival documents, if required by your home university, should be signed by your supervisor, you do not need to visit the Study Abroad office.
An overseas student has contacted you to do a research placement (for their own research or to help 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 many cases they must also meet B2 language requirements, but this will be assessed at application by Admissions) 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. Students in their first year after graduation can also qualify, as long as they arrange it before graduation and it finishes within that first year. The minimum length of the placement is 2 months.
However if the student is not an EEA national (needs a visa to work in the UK), then the process is more complicated, please see below under Non-EEA. Please note that for placements due to start in 2021, this might apply to all students, regardless of nationality, depending on the new immigration rules post-Brexit.
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.
- For EEA nationals (at an Erasmus university): they will then need to apply through the King’s Admissions portal, at least a month in advance of their intended stay. 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.
- For Non-EEA nationals (at an Erasmus university), or potentially any student from 2021: they will need to apply for a Work Visa, as Traineeships, even if unpaid, are considered work under UK immigration rules. 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 non-Erasmus partner University. If they are from a University with whom we have a study exchange agreement (They should check with their home university), 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 agremeent just for this purpose, it has to be already in place.
- For students from non-partner universities which are 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 PGR Admissions. A fee is charged for stays over 3 months. Non-PhD students (PGT and UG) are not currently able to apply to do research at King’s. Please discuss this directly with Admissions if you have any queries about this.