Students can apply for a grant to participate in short-term study opportunities at UI partner schools in Europe, such as single courses and summer programmes. Short-term mobility enables more students to take part of their studies abroad.
Students must be active UI students and cannot participate in summer programmes after their graduation.
Undergraduate and Master's students are only eligible for one short-term mobility per academic year.
PhD students are eligible for one short-term mobility grant per semester up to a maximum of five during their studies.
Students can apply for an Erasmus+ grant for short-term stays (5-30 days) at a partner university in Europe.
Erasmus+ short-term courses at the undergraduate and graduate level must include a virtual component. This means that the stay needs to be blended where part of the course occurs physically and a part of it virtually. Doctoral students can go on short-term mobility without the virtual component. The on-campus part of the course cannot be shorter than 5 days and not longer than 30 days.
Students apply for the course at the host institution by themselves. If the host institution requires the student to be nominated by the University of Iceland, students can contact the International Division to examine whether it is possible to nominate them.
Every year there are two application deadlines for Erasmus+ short-term grants for single courses:
- 15th April for mobilities in June-December
- 15th November for mobilities in January-May
It is possible to send in applications after these deadlines. In those cases, it is necessary to send an email to shortmobility@hi.is to inform that an application has been submitted.
Late applications are not a priority for grant allocations.
- The applicant needs to be an active and registered student at University of Iceland and must have paid the registration fee. Exchange students and other guest students at University of Iceland cannot apply.
- There must be an agreement between the University of Iceland and the host institution. The agreement either needs to be open, in the subject of the student or have a clear connection to the student’s studies.
- Undergraduate students can only apply if their programme at UI is at least 90 ECTS credits.
- Undergraduate students need to have finished at least 30 ECTS at University of Iceland in their subject before the start of the mobility.
- Graduate students can only apply if their study programme is at least 60 ECTS.
- The faculty needs to grant the student permission for the mobility. By granting permission, the faculty is not automatically agreeing to evaluate the course at University of Iceland.
- If the faculty has additional requirements, the student must fulfill them before the start of the of the mobility.
It is important to note doing study mobility in your final semester can delay graduation since some host universities issue transcripts after the graduation deadline of the University of Iceland.
Applications are submitted here. For applications to be valid, students must attach the acceptance letter from the host university and a transcript of records in English, with ranking.
Applications for grants are prioritized in accordance with the Application Evaluation guidelines of the International Division.
Erasmus+ short-term courses at the undergraduate and graduate level must include a virtual component. This means that the stay needs to be blended where part of the course occurs physically and a part of it virtually. The virtual component requires the interactive participation of the student. Individual work and home exams do not fulfill the Erasmus+ virtual component requirement.
The course at the host institution must award at least 3 ECTS (the physical and virtual components combined).
Please note that diploma students on the undergraduate level cannot apply. Graduate students whose program is at least 60 ECTS can apply.
Erasmus+ short-term learning agreement.
Students must contact their faculty to verify whether the course will be evaluated into their studies at University of Iceland. Before the stay abroad, the student needs to submit a learning agreement.
OLA for shorter exchange studies - Instructions
In the rare occasion that a host institution cannot sign an Online Learning Agreement, students can contact the International Division to get a paper version of the learning agreement.
Where the recognition of the awarded ECTS credits is not possible, the 3 ECTS credit feature should be considered as a guideline for workload.
Students apply for Aurora courses directly to the host university*. Students who have been accepted to participate in an Aurora-organized course or event abroad that entails a short physical mobility abroad can apply for an Aurora grant for up to 10 days.
Please note that the allocation of grants does not happen by default and is dependent on the availability of funds and on the International Division approving the grant application.
For applications to be valid, students must attach the acceptance letter from the Aurora host university and a transcript of records in English, with ranking. It is expected that participation in Aurora courses is recognized as part of the student´s studies, either by transferring completed ECTS credits or by registering the activity in the student´s diploma supplement.
*Once in a while the host university requires University of Iceland to nominate students to the Aurora course. In such cases, students submit an application to the International Division before they apply to the host institution.
- The applicant needs to be a registered student at University of Iceland and must have paid the registration fee. Exchange students and other guest students at University of Iceland cannot apply.
- The host institution needs to be in the Aurora alliance.
- Undergraduate students must have finished at least 30 ECTS at University of Iceland in their subject before the start of the mobility.
- The faculty needs to grant the student permission for the mobility. By granting permission, the faculty is not automatically agreeing to evaluate the course at University of Iceland.
- If the faculty has additional requirements, the student must fulfill them before the start of the of the mobility.
The application deadline for Aurora grants is twice a year:
- 15th April for mobilities in June-December
- 15th November for mobilities in January-May
Applications are submitted here.
Students must contact their faculty to verify whether the course will be evaluated into their studies at University of Iceland. Before the mobility, students must make an Aurora learning agreement, which must be signed by the student and the relevant international coordinator. The learning agreement must depict whether and/or how the course will be evaluated at University of Iceland.
Bachelor and masters students can apply for Nordplus grants for short-term mobilities (5-60 days) at one of the Nordlys partner universities. The mobility must be related to the student's programme at UI and be recognised towards their degree. Courses that are shorter than 30 days must be recognised with ECTS credits.
- Undergraduate students can only apply if their programme at UI is at least 90 ECTS credits.
- Undergraduate students need to have finished at least 30 ECTS at University of Iceland in their subject before the start of the mobility.
- Graduate students can only apply if their study programme is at least 60 ECTS.
- Doctoral students are not eligible for Nordplus grants.
Students can for example apply for a grant to participate in a summer course or a single course at UNIS in Svalbard.
Students must apply for courses at the host institutions themselves. If the host institution requires a nomination for students (to waive course fees) students can contact the International Division for more information.
The application deadlines for Nordplus grants for single courses are twice a year:
- 15 April - for courses taught June - December
- 15 November - for courses taught January-May
It is possible to apply after the deadline but in those cases it is necessary to send an email to outgoing.europe@hi.is to inform the International Division that an application has been submitted. It is also necessary for students to contact their faculty to check whether the stay can be recognised towards their UI degree.
Students must attach a transcript of records (with ranking). This is available at the Service Desk in Háskólatorg or through Ugla - My Ugla - Confirmations and Transcripts. Masters students with no grades on their transcript must submit a transcript from their undergraduate studies with their application.
Nordplus learning agreements
Students must check with their faculty whether the course they want to take abroad can be recognised towards their UI degree. Before departure students must complete a learning agreement. If the mobility is less than 30 it is not mandatory to a learning agreement but it is recommended. The template can be found here.
Grant amounts
The Nordplus grant consists of a travel grant of up to 660€ and a subsistence grant of up to 250€ per month. For short-term stays, at least 5 days, the grant is a max of 70€ per week.
Further requirements
- Students must be enrolled at the University of Iceland and be active students. They must also have paid the UI registration fee. Exchange students and other guest students at UI cannot apply.
- The host university must be a Nordlys partner. It is important to check whether the university has any subject specific restrictions.
- The student's faculty must approve the mobility. By allowing the mobility the faculty is not automatically committing to automatically recognising the course.
- If the faculty has any additional requirements the student must fulfil those before the start of the mobility.
Note that if students go on mobility in their last semester they might have to postpone their graduation as some host institution only publish the grades after the UI graduation.
The grant award is dependant upon the host institution approving the student's application. The acceptance letter should be attached to the grant application, along with the transcript. If it is necessary to select between students who are applying, then the same application evaluation rules apply as for traditional exchange studies.
School of Social Sciences
- Faculty of School of Business
Students are not allowed to take courses that are similar to a course they have done already or will do later in their studies at the University of Iceland. Faculty of Law
Bachelor students at the Faculty of Law can take part in single courses abroad at one of UI‘s partner universities. However, credits awarded for courses cannot count towards the student‘s degree at UI.
Master‘s students must request faculty approval of credit accreditation. To apply, the student must submit the course description (including an overview of reading material, schedule and course assessment) to the faculty‘s study committee.
School of Humanities
Faculty of Icelandic and Culture
Icelandic as a second language:
Students who have completed 60 ECTS credits at the undergraduate level (BA degree) may apply for a short-term exchange stay (5–30 days).
Students must consult the programme coordinator regarding course selection before submitting their exchange application through the application portal in UGLA (the University intranet).