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Frequently Asked Questions Action 2 - Higher Education Institutions (HEI) HEI Beneficiaries 1. Under which criteria do Partnerships select students and staff?
Each Partnership has to identify its own common set of criteria in compliance with the principle of transparency and equal treatment to select students and academic staff. Classic tools for selecting applicants comprise CVs, study and exam results, specific requirements for language skills, letters of motivation and letters of recommendation. The Agency reserves the right to verify if the selection of the students and staff has been carried out in respect of the principle of transparency and fair and equal treatment. Only candidates fulfilling the established selection criteria should be included on the main and/or reserve lists. All other candidates should consequently be ineligible and appear on the non-selected lists.
The Partnerships will have to provide the Agency with a description of the methodology applied during the selection of the candidates.
2. How will the mobility scheme budget be calculated?
The budget form annexed to the application form intends to establish the provisional budget and grant requested for the preparation and implementation of the proposed mobility flows. In the budget form, 5 parts can be distinguished: - Organisation of the mobility: a flat rate of 10.000 EUR per eligible partner participating in the Partnership.
- Subsistence allowances: total subsistence allowances covering the period abroad of all individual mobility flows and calculated on the basis of the rates defined in the Guidelines to the Call.
- Travel costs: total amount of travel costs calculated on the basis of the rates defined in the Guidelines to the Call for each individual mobility flow.
- Tuition fees: total amount of tuition fee for incoming students as calculated by the Partnership and, if applicable, revised by the Agency in accordance with the maximum defined in the Guidelines to the Call.
- Insurance: total amount of insurance costs calculated on the basis of the rates defined in the Guidelines to the Call for each individual mobility flow.
3. Who is responsible for the management of the grant within the partnerships?
The coordinating institution is responsible for the distribution of the total amount received from the Agency amongst partners and, depending on the internal arrangements of the Partnership, students and staff participating in individual mobility flows.
Depending on the number of students hosted, the length of their stay, the project coordination workload, it is left to the Partnership to decide and agree on the way the grant awarded for the mobility organisation costs will be distributed between the coordinating institution and the other partners.
4. Who pays the allocated amounts to students and staff and how?
The Partnerships are responsible for paying the grants to the students and staff. Partnerships are free to establish their own payment modalities provided they respect the full amount to be paid out and that the payments are performed on a regular basis, preferable on a monthly basis and for periods not longer than three months.
5. Can Partnerships allocate to mobile individuals different subsistence allowances than those defined in the Guidelines to the Call?
No. The subsistence allowance calculated on the basis of the monthly allowance table included in the Guidelines to the Call must be paid in full to the grantees. However, in order to avoid fraudulent abuses, the payment of subsistence allowances must be paid fractioned and disbursed on a regular basis, preferably every month and for periods not longer than three months.
6. How are travel expenses calculated?
For each individual mobility flow an amount is allocated for travel costs. This amount is based on a fixed sum depending on the distance ("as the crow flies") between on one side the location of origin (for Target Group 2), location of residence (for Target Group 3) or home university (for Target Group 1) of the student/ staff and on the other side the hosting university premises.
A travel grant is calculated for each specific mobility flow, irrespective of the travel costs that will be finally incurred. It is up to the Partnership to define the procedure to be used for the payment of these costs (direct reimbursement to the grantee, direct booking by the Partnership, etc).
The differences, if any, between the amount allocated for each individual mobility flow and the amount actually incurred cannot be compensated with the amount received in concept of subsistence allowances.
Although the total mobility period can be divided in successive periods in the host institution, only one travel amount is calculated per individual student or staff.
If an individual mobility flow includes a stay in different hosting institutions, the Partnership should use the longest distance to calculate the travel amount for the corresponding flow.
7. Can Partnerships charge tuition and registration fees directly to students?
Partnerships may request Community support to cover tuition fees for incoming students. The corresponding amount depends on the duration of the mobility and it must be clearly indicated and justified in the application form. In case of approval of the proposal, the Partnership will receive this amount as part of the overall grant and fees should therefore not be charged to the incoming students. It is responsibility of the Partnerships to distribute to each hosting institution the tuition fees corresponding to the students hosted.
As far as possible, the tuition fees received by the Partnership should include all obligatory costs incurred by students. It is however possible to ask incoming students for the payment of a small additional fee to cover e.g. laboratory or library costs, under the condition that this additional fee is charged on the same basis as to local students.
8. How much can a Partnership requests for tuition fees?
In general this amount is limited to EUR 3.000 per academic year and per student.
Tuition fees cannot be charged for the mobility of students enrolled in one of the partner universities and undergoing a mobility period of less than 10 months in another partner university.
Post-doctorate mobility flows should not include tuition fee unless they concern specialized post-doctorate studies (as opposed to post-doctorate mobility for research purposes). In this case the fee covered by the grant can amount to 5.000 € maximum.
Please, note that these amounts are not a flat-rate guaranteed per individual mobility flow. There are maximum amounts that can be reduced in the light of the practice of the hosting institution.
9. How are insurance costs calculated?
Partnership must provide a full insurance coverage to students and staff participating in an individual mobility flow. For each person, a fixed amount of EUR 75 per month is calculated, irrespective of the real insurance costs finally incurred.
The differences, if any, between the amount allocated for each person and the amount actually incurred cannot be compensated with the amount received in concept of subsistence allowances.
In order to obtain economy of scale benefits, Partnerships are advised to subscribe a global policy for all the individuals involved in the mobility scheme.
10. How will the final grant based on real cost be calculated?
At the time of submission partnerships present a budget based on an estimated mobility flow. The grant for selected partnership is calculated on this estimated budget which is annexed to the specific grant agreement.
At the end of the contractual period defined in the grant agreement, the coordinating institution will have to submit a final report based on the real mobility, thus, cost. The financial part of this report will consist in an overview of the costs related to the organisation of the mobility and a detailed declaration of the individual mobility flows actually implemented. The final amount of the grant will be established after the evaluation of this final report by the Agency.
11. Can part of the Community grant be used to finance language courses before the main courses start?
Yes. Part of the 10.000 EUR granted to each partner for the organisation of the individual mobility can be used by the Partnership to finance intensive language courses at the start of project implementation in order to upgrade the language skills of the students/staff that are going to participate in the mobility scheme. This is possible only within the eligibility period.
12. What kind of services are Partnerships expected to offer to incoming students and staff?
Partnerships are expected to offer practical information and assistance to welcome the incoming students/ staff, and to facilitate their introduction in the hosting university. These services may include linguistic support (language courses), housing facilities, coaching and counselling, welfare services, activities aiming at social integration, services for students with a family or special needs as well as other support measures. Details can be obtained directly from the Partnership concerned.
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