Erasmus+ Mobility Timeline: A 12-Week Coordinator Checklist

Quality begins at selection. The participants you accept in week 12 determine almost everything that happens later: their language level dictates which destinations are viable, their field dictates which sectors you must source, and their personal motivation determines mid-mobility dropout risk. A 45-minute structured interview at this stage is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.

• Confirm participant list, language level and field preferences.
• Brief students on the Erasmus+ Quality Charter and what they can expect.
• Open host-company search (in-house or via an intermediary).
• Lock the destination country and city to start visa/housing scouting.

Lock the destination at the end of week 9 even if you do not yet have a confirmed host. Country choice unblocks the rest of the timeline — visa needs, public-holiday calendars, accommodation lead times and OLS language assessments all depend on it. Drifting on country choice past week 9 is the single biggest reason coordinators slip into a compressed 8-week run-up.

This is the legal backbone of the mobility. The OLA, the participant grant agreement and the insurance certificates must all carry consistent dates — start date, end date, project reference, host details — because the Beneficiary Module cross-checks them at reporting. A single mismatch (for example a one-day discrepancy between the OLA and the grant agreement) can flag the whole mobility as ineligible.

• Confirm host company, supervisor and detailed task plan.
• Draft and sign the Online Learning Agreement (OLA) for traineeships — three signatures required.
• Sign the participant grant agreement (model from National Agency).
• Issue or confirm civil-liability and accident insurance.

Pre-departure is logistical and psychological at the same time. The OLS assessment, accommodation booking and EHIC checks are the visible deliverables, but the briefing is what prevents most of the avoidable issues that surface in the first fortnight: cultural friction, banking problems, missed registration deadlines at the local town hall, and confusion over the host's working hours.

• Complete the OLS (Online Linguistic Support) initial assessment.
• Book accommodation; confirm arrival logistics.
• Run a 60-minute pre-departure briefing covering culture, code of conduct and emergency contacts.
• Send the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) checklist.

Build a one-page "first 72 hours" sheet for every participant: airport-to-accommodation route, host company address, supervisor's mobile, local emergency numbers, the nearest hospital, and your own 24/7 contact. Coordinators who hand this sheet out at the briefing report measurably fewer panic calls in the first week.

Monitoring is not surveillance — it is structured listening. Two checkpoints (week 2 and week 6) catch almost every emerging issue while there is still time to act: a task plan drifting away from the OLA, a supervisor who has been reassigned, an accommodation conflict with flatmates, or a participant whose language confidence is collapsing. Document each check-in even if everything is fine; the audit trail is required at reporting.

• Confirm safe arrival within 48 hours.
• Run a 2-week and 6-week check-in with both intern and host supervisor.
• Document any changes to the Learning Agreement (LA After Mobility section).

The mobility is not closed when the student lands back home — it is closed when the Beneficiary Module accepts the entry. Most National Agencies allow 30 days from the mobility end date to upload final documentation; missing that window means the activity is funded at a reduced rate or, in the worst case, fully clawed back at the project audit.

• Collect the signed Traineeship Certificate from the host.
• Issue the Europass Mobility document.
• Trigger the EU Survey participant report.
• Enter mobility in the Beneficiary Module within the project deadline.

The Europass Mobility is more than an administrative formality — for participants entering the labour market, it is the single most recognised proof of an international placement. Issuing it cleanly, with all language and competency boxes filled, is the most direct contribution your office makes to a participant's employability.

When a National Agency monitor arrives for a project audit, they ask for the same artefacts every time. Build the file as you go — not in the panicked week before the visit. The pack below is what we hand over for every Piktalent-managed mobility and is what auditors expect to see, regardless of host country.

• Signed OLA (Before Mobility) plus any tracked OLA During Mobility revisions.
• Signed participant grant agreement and proof of grant transfer to the participant.
• Civil-liability and accident-insurance certificates valid for the full mobility period.
• OLS initial assessment screenshot or PDF (and final assessment if completed).
• Traineeship Certificate signed by the host on company letterhead.
• Issued Europass Mobility document.
• Submitted EU Survey confirmation.
• Beneficiary Module mobility entry with start/end dates matching all of the above.

Even disciplined offices lose two or three weeks per cohort to predictable risks. Building a small buffer into each phase — rather than running every week at full capacity — is what lets a coordinator absorb shocks without rebooking flights or renegotiating host agreements.

• August / Christmas blackouts in Southern Europe — host signatures stall for 2–3 weeks; pre-empt by closing OLAs in July.
• Visa lead times for KA171 partner-country students — Schengen short-stay visas can take 4–8 weeks in peak season.
• Late grant transfers from the National Agency — keep a small institutional float so participants are not delayed at boarding.
• Last-minute accommodation cancellations — keep one back-up address per destination, validated within the previous 60 days.