Student mobility
The 2006 Education Act (LOE) expresses in its preamble the need to increase mobility and exchanges, with the aim of opening up the Spanish education system to the wider world. The 2001 Act on Universities (LOU) also includes the promotion of national and international mobility, both student`s and teacher’s, among its objectives.
In 2007, the Act Modifying the Act on Universities (LOMLOU) stipulates students’ right to national and international mobility as well as the right to recognition of the knowledge and skills acquired as principles of university policy. This is recorded, where appropriate, in the European Diploma Supplement.
In the case of disabled people, they can fully and effectively exercise their rights on an equal basis as other students, as stated in the University Student Statute. In addition, the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education offers people with special educational needs specific funding measures.
Students wishing to study abroad have financial support through the grants offered by different bodies. The grants and financial support of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training are considered as portable grants.
Apart from the financial support provided by the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education, some autonomous communities also have their own additional aid for this mobility programmes. Besides, some Autonomous Communities finance the international mobility of university students doing graduate and post-graduate studies through programmes outside of the Erasmus+ framework.
ERASMUS+
“Key Action 1-KA1: Learning Mobility of Individuals” include mobility activities for higher education students. This action has different objectives:
- to expose students to different views, knowledge, teaching and research methods as well as work practices in their study field;
- to develop their transversal skills such as communication, language, problem solving, inter-cultural and research skills;
- to develop their forward-looking skills, such as digital skills, that will enable them to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow;
- to facilitate personal development such as the ability to adapt to new situations and self-confidence.
The subsidized activities may vary in types and duration:
- a study period abroad at a partner higher education institution;
- a traineeship abroad in an enterprise, a research institute, a laboratory, an organization or any other relevant workplace;
- doctoral mobility: short-term or long-term physical study or traineeship mobility periods abroad;
- blended mobility: combination of physical mobility with a virtual component facilitating a collaborative online learning exchange and teamwork;
- personal mobility: Training period in an associated higher education institution, enterprise or any other workplace abroad.
Higher education students may also get into mobility actions offered through “Key Action 2-KA2: Organizations and institutions Cooperation”, where Erasmus Mundus can be found. This type of mobility includes Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM), high-level integrated transnational study programmes at Master level delivered by an international consortium of higher education institutions (HEIs) from different countries worldwide. They must:
- include a jointly designed and fully integrated curriculum;
- be delivered by a consortium of HEIs;
- include compulsory physical mobility for all enrolled students;
- promote the exchange of staff and invited scholars.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
The grants for master degree studies in the USA are organised with the collaboration of the Fulbright Commission. The objective of the grants is to encourage the completion of master studies with the purpose of broadening the students’ overall education, as well as guaranteeing the students’ effective presence in these studies in universities and other Higher Education Institutions (from now on, institutions) accredited in the USA.
In addition, the State Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research Plan includes the State Programme for Developing, Attracting and Retaining Talent, which includes subprogrammes that offer the possibility of spending time in foreign and Spanish renowned research institutions, although it is not a national mobility programme in a strict sense. As this Programme promotes the mobility of higher education students, university teachers and researchers, it is described below.
Academic staff mobility
The mobility of university professors, researchers and students is a priority line of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training since the enactment of the 2001 Act on Universities (LOU) and the 2007 Act Modifying the Act on Universities (LOMLOU). Both established boosting the mobility of students, teachers, and researchers as the essential goal.
Spanish policy for mobility is mainly implemented through the State Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research Plan (2021-2023), in the subcategory of the State Programme for Developing, Attracting and Retaining Talent, promoted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation along with the State Research Agency.
One of the main four actions of the State Plan is to “promote talent and employability”, which has among its specific objectives ‘the promotion of the internationalisation of the R&D&i activities of the agents in the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation System and their active participation in the European Research Area’.
Some of the most important specific objectives of the Plan are to encourage scientific and innovation vocations, attitudes and aptitudes; to improve the retention and attraction of talent’; and to help international and intersectional mobility. These objectives come into being in the form of scholarships and grants.
Apart from this national support framework, some Autonomous Communities offer their university professors and researchers the opportunity to spend periods of time abroad through their own programmes.
Scholarships and grants for academic and research staff
| Purpose | help the training of doctors in the areas of human and social sciences, history, law, economics, and political and social sciences at the University Institute. |
| Destination | ‘Salvador de Madariaga’: European University Institute in Florence. |
| Target groups | People in possession of a master's degree or their equivalents, in legal, economic-business, political-sociological, or humanities, and doing a doctorate in these fields. |
| Requirements (among others) |
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| Duration | Maximum of 4 years. |
| Funding |
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Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (National Institute for Educational Evaluation-INEE, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training-MEFP) on the basis of the call.
| 'JOSÉ CASTILLEJO' STAYS ABROAD FOR THE MOBILITY OF YOUNG DOCTORS | |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Favour and promote the mobility of young Doctors so as to enhance the updating of their knowledge or the learning of new techniques and methods for teaching or research. |
| Destination | The institutions the mobility visit is applied for and where the projects are carried out must be placed abroad and must be universities and research institutions that are highly competitive in the scientific area of the applicant. |
| Target groups | Young PhDs with a temporary or contractual (civil servant) relationship as teaching or research staff. |
| Requirements |
During the visit, beneficiaries must keep their contract with the institution of origin. Exceptionally, if, after the deadline for applications, teachers or researchers change their professional level becoming career civil servants, they can take part and be beneficiary through this type, providing that the institution of origin agrees. |
| Duration | Minimum of 3 months, maximum of 6 months. |
| Funding |
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Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (National Institute for Educational Evaluation-INEE, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training-MEFP) on the basis of the call.
INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY GRANTS FOR TEACHING STAFF AND SENIOR RESEARCH STAFF | |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To conduct internships in foreign countries by university teachers and researchers with accredited experience and professional trajectory. |
| Destination | The institutions requested must be located abroad and will be highly competitive universities and research centres. |
| Target groups | People in possession of a bachelor's or master's degree or its equivalents, in legal, economic-business, political-sociological, or humanities studies, in the process of earning PhD in those specialties. |
| Requirements |
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| Duration | Minimum of 3 months, maximum of 6 months. |
| Funding |
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Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (National Institute for Educational Evaluation-INEE, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training-MEFP) on the basis of the call.
| ADDITIONAL AIDS DESTINED TO BENEFICIARIES OF THE UNIVERSITY TEACHER TRAINING SUB-PROGRAMME (FPU) | |||
| SHORT STAYS (IN SPAIN AND ABROAD) | TEMPORARY TRANSFERS (ABROAD) | ||
| Duration | Minimum | 2 months. | 6 months. |
| Maximum | 3 months. | 9 months. | |
| Other aspects | Exceptionally, the visits in a Spanish institution may be extended to 1 month, only when the aim of the visit would be justified in the project. | Only one temporary transfer can be awarded during the maximum 48-month training period set out for the Sub-Programme. | |
| Target groups | Beneficiaries of a FPU aid who have finished a period of 9-month or higher, or those who have finished a 9-month period or higher in previous scholarship or aids similar to FPU aid. The period previously spent will be deducted from the calculation of the maximum period of the FPU aid. | Beneficiaries of FPU aid who have finished a period of 24 months or higher of the FPU aid. | |
Funding | Stay | EUR 25/day if the institution is in Spain and a maximum of EUR 50/day if it is abroad. | A maximum of EUR 1 500/month, as a supplement to the monthly aid of the Sub-Programme. |
| Travel | Up to EUR 150 in Spain; up to EUR 600 in Europe; up to EUR 1 200 in the rest of the world. | Up to EUR 600 in Europe. Up to EUR 1 200 in the rest of the world. | |
| Health coverage | The research staff in training have an accident and healthcare insurance in authorised travels abroad, in the case of countries without an agreement with the Spanish Social Security system or when the agreement offers insufficient coverage. They are also covered by this insurance in the rest of countries, without prejudice to the coverage of the Social Security scheme. | ||
Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (National Institute for Educational Evaluation-INEE, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training-MEFP) on the basis of the call.
Erasmus+
The new Erasmus+ Programme also comprises some mobility actions aimed at the teaching staff employed in higher education institutions, both to teach and to participate in training activities. “Key Action 1-KA1: Learning Mobility of Individuals” includes mobility activities for higher education students. This action has different objectives:
- to expose students to different views, knowledge, teaching and research methods as well as work practices in their study field;
- to develop their transversal skills such as communication, language, problem solving, inter-cultural and research skills;
- to develop their forward-looking skills, such as digital skills, that will enable them to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow;
- to facilitate personal development such as the ability to adapt to new situations and self-confidence.
The subsidized activities may vary in type and duration:
- an academic period abroad at a partner higher education institution;
- a training period abroad in an enterprise, a research institute, a laboratory, an organization or any other relevant workplace.
Academic staff cannot request this type of mobilities directly. Higher education institutions (or the mobility consortiums they belong to) are the ones that request the aids through the presentation of a mobility project. Once the aid is granted, the institution oversees the selection of the academic staff participants through a transparent, coherent and documented process. This mobility actions along with those destined to higher education students shape the Higher Education Students and Academic Staff Mobility Projects and can have one or several actions. That is to say, a project can be made of mobility actions for students, academic and/or training periods for the staff. Erasmus+ Programme also offers the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies to higher education academic staff within the “Key Action 2-KA2: Cooperation among organizations and institutions”, which consist of the creation of European partnerships of teacher education and training providers to set up Erasmus+ teacher academies that will develop a European and international perspective in teacher education. These academies have the following objectives:
- to contribute to the improvement of teacher education policies and practices in Europe;
- to enhance the European dimension and internationalization of teacher education;
- to develop and test jointly different models of mobility (virtual, physical and blended) in initial teacher education and as part of teachers’ continuous professional development;
- to develop sustainable collaboration between teacher education providers with an impact to the quality of teacher education.
Teachers interested in these activities must apply through an organization who requests them. These organizations can be teacher training institutions, ministries or similar public bodies responsible for school education policies, teacher associations, and education centres.