How to set up KA131 Erasmus+ mobility at your university

KA131 is the Erasmus+ action used by higher-education institutions to organise student and staff mobility. Your institution normally applies to its National Agency and delivers the project under a grant agreement. The current Erasmus+ Programme Guide and your National Agency's annual call are the documents that determine the eligible destinations, budget categories, deadlines and any national rules for your project year.

• Your institution needs a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) when it applies and throughout delivery.
• Students must be enrolled at a participating higher-education institution, except for eligible recent-graduate traineeships arranged before graduation.
• Study mobility takes place at a partner higher-education institution. Traineeship mobility takes place at a host organisation such as a company, research institute, NGO, public body or other eligible organisation.
• The mobility must include a physical period in the host country. Online activity can complement a blended mobility, but it cannot replace the physical period.
• Mobility outside the countries normally covered by your KA131 project may be possible only under the conditions and budget limits in the annual Programme Guide and your grant agreement. Do not promise these places before checking both.

Treat the National Agency grant agreement as the operational boundary of the project. A student may be academically suitable but still be ineligible because the destination, duration, activity or budget line does not fit that agreement.

A single coordinator can manage a small cohort, but the work crosses academic departments, finance, student services and legal or data-protection functions. Decide who owns each decision before students start asking for nominations, grant figures or host approval.

Keep a named deputy for each operational role. Mobility deadlines do not pause when a coordinator is on leave, and a missing signatory can delay a departure or grant payment.

Study and traineeship mobility use different partnership arrangements. Do not try to use a university-to-university agreement as proof that a company can host a trainee, and do not leave recognition to be discussed after the student has returned.

For a traineeship, check the host's legal name, address, supervisor, working language, proposed tasks and ability to sign documents before nominating the student. A job title alone does not show that the placement has educational value.

Inter-institutional agreement

An agreement between higher-education institutions that sets the framework for student study mobility. It should be in place before study mobility is carried out and is commonly managed through Erasmus Without Paper.

Learning Agreement

The document agreed by the participant, sending institution and receiving organisation before mobility. For studies, it records the educational components and recognition. For traineeships, it records the work programme, learning outcomes, supervision and monitoring.

Recognition

The sending institution's formal process for awarding the agreed credits or recording the agreed traineeship outcome after the participant completes the approved activity.

Traineeships need closer host checks than study exchanges because each placement is different. The host must offer supervised, relevant work rather than simply a desk, an informal promise of tasks or a fully remote arrangement.

1. 1
   Approve the host and role

   Check that the organisation is eligible under the Programme Guide and that the proposed role has defined tasks, learning outcomes, supervision and a realistic workload. Confirm who will sign the Learning Agreement.

2. 2
   Match the student to the placement

   Use the student's course, prior learning, language ability and support needs to test the match. Record why the placement supports the student's learning objectives.

3. 3
   Agree the Learning Agreement for Traineeships

   Complete it before departure. Include dates, tasks, expected competences, monitoring arrangements, evaluation method and recognition route. Amend it formally if the work programme changes.

4. 4
   Check practical conditions

   Confirm workplace location, attendance expectations, insurance responsibilities, health and safety information, visa or residence requirements where relevant, and an emergency contact at the host.

5. 5
   Monitor the placement

   Set at least one scheduled contact point during the mobility. A missed supervision arrangement or substantial change in duties should trigger a documented review, not an informal email exchange alone.

Publish one selection process that students can understand and staff can defend. The ECHE requires transparent, fair and inclusive selection. This means publishing the criteria, deadlines, available destinations or placement routes, expected duration, support available and the method for appealing or raising a concern.

• Separate academic suitability from financial need, unless your institution's published rules lawfully combine them.
• Use a scoring grid for criteria such as course relevance, learning objectives, language preparation and readiness for the host environment.
• Record decisions and retain evidence showing how applicants were assessed against the published criteria.
• Explain that grant levels depend on the project rules, destination group, duration and any eligible top-ups. Confirm the actual amount only after applying the current National Agency rates and your available budget.
• Offer additional support measures and top-ups where the current programme rules allow them, including for participants with fewer opportunities.
• Give unsuccessful applicants a clear outcome and, where possible, a route to later rounds, alternative destinations or future calls.

Set internal deadlines earlier than the National Agency deadlines. You need time for selection, signatures, payment processing and corrections to documents before the participant travels.

The most common operational failures are not complicated: a Learning Agreement signed after departure, dates that differ across documents, missing arrival evidence or no record of how a grant amount was calculated. Keep one participant file and use the same dates and activity description throughout.

Use the current templates and reporting instructions required by your National Agency and Erasmus+ digital systems. Do not reuse a form from an earlier project year without checking that it is still valid.

A placement can be academically sound and still fail because the participant cannot find accommodation, does not understand local registration rules or has no response when the host changes the work plan. Build support into delivery rather than treating it as an optional extra.

• Give participants a written pre-departure briefing covering documents, grant payment timing, accommodation, insurance, emergency contacts, local registration and their right to raise a concern.
• Agree who handles a host complaint, a request to change supervisor, an early return or a serious welfare issue. Give participants a contact outside their academic department.
• Collect only the personal data needed to administer mobility, set access permissions and retention periods, and make sure external providers receive only the data they need.
• Use Erasmus Without Paper processes where required for inter-institutional workflows, but keep a local tracker for participant-level deadlines and missing signatures.
• Plan recognition before return: identify who receives the final documents, who updates the student's record and how long the decision should take.

A short post-return review is useful evidence for the next call. Track recurring issues by host, destination and process step, rather than relying on informal staff memory.

If you are setting up or resetting a KA131 process, start with the operating model rather than an attractive student-facing announcement. The following sequence is workable for a first recruitment round, provided your grant agreement is already in place.

1. 1
   Days 1 to 15: confirm scope and capacity

   Read the current call, grant agreement and applicable National Agency guidance. Confirm available budget, eligible activity types, destinations, staff owners and internal approval routes.

2. 2
   Days 16 to 35: prepare partners and templates

   Review study partners, identify traineeship host sources, prepare selection criteria, and update your Learning Agreement, grant agreement, insurance and incident-management workflows.

3. 3
   Days 36 to 55: publish and select

   Open the call with a deadline that leaves time for assessment and documents. Score applications consistently, communicate results and retain the decision record.

4. 4
   Days 56 to 75: confirm every mobility

   Secure host acceptance, academic approval, signed agreements, participant support arrangements and grant-payment instructions. Resolve date discrepancies before payment.

5. 5
   Days 76 to 90: deliver departure readiness

   Run pre-departure briefings, issue contact details, set monitoring dates and check that participant files are complete before travel.

Start by auditing one recent or planned mobility file from recruitment to recognition. If you cannot quickly identify the host approval, signed Learning Agreement, grant calculation, actual dates and recognition decision, fix the workflow before scaling participant numbers.

• Compare your current templates against the latest Programme Guide, ECHE commitments and National Agency instructions.
• Map every handover between the international office, faculty, finance and host organisation.
• Choose a realistic first cohort size based on the number of hosts you can vet and participants you can support properly.
• Set a review date after the first departures, not only at the end of the project.

For institutions that need operational help with KA131 traineeship mobility, host matching, documentation and participant logistics, [Piktalent's mobility programme support](/mobility-programs) is one option to consider.