Application Call for Erasmus+ Traineeship Program/ 2021-2022 Academic Year (Summer Semester) (2021-1-TR01-KA131-HED-000003125)

Application Call for Erasmus+ Internship Program in the 2021-2022 Academic Year (Summer Semester, Call Year 2021) 

Dear Students, there have been critical changes compared to the previous application periods in accordance with the rules of the 2021 Contract Period, which covers the Erasmus internship mobility that will take place in the 2021-2022 Academic Year, with the agreement of our University with the Turkish National Agency. It is important that all of our students read the following announcement carefully and attend one of the online information meetings. The online meetings schedule is announced on our website.

All announcements during the application period will be published on the erasmus.uskudar.edu.tr website and your @st.uskudar.edu.tr addresses will be used as the communication channel regarding the process. We highly recommend that students should check the e-mails and announcements frequently.

Important Note: The internship program should be planned to end on 31.10.2023 at the latest.

Students who would like to participate in the Erasmus Internship Program in the 2021-2022 Academic Year’s Summer Semester should follow the instructions below:

Application Dates: 

Starts: 31 January 2022, Monday, 10.00 (a.m) 

Ends: 04 March 2022, Friday 17:30 (5:30 p.m) 

English Proficiency Test:

10 March 2022, Thursday

The exam will be held online by Üsküdar University Preparatory School/Foreign Languages Coordinatorship and is planned to consist of 2 sessions. More details on how to take the exam will be announced to successful applicants at the end of the application period.

Announcement of Winners: 

21.03.2022, Monday, 20:00 (8:00 p.m)

Eligibility Criteria:

Having been enrolled in a full-time study program at the university, the applicant must have satisfactorily completed the first semester.

• For the First Cycle (associate degree, undergraduate degree) students,  CGPA must be at least 2.20/4.00.
• For the second and third cycle (Master's degree, Ph.D.) students, CGPA must be at least 2.50/4.00.
• For graduate students (MA or Ph.D.) who are enrolled in a study program at Üsküdar University; even if they have not completed one semester by the time application ends, they can complete their applications on the condition that they have a minimum average of 2.5/4.00 in the higher education diploma obtained from their former program graduated at a higher education institution.
• Transfer students may use their latest transcript issued by the former higher education institution with a condition that they meet the aforementioned minimum GPA criteria.
• The issue date of the Transcript of Records cannot be older than 1 month before the submission date.
• The student must have a signed Letter of Acceptance/Letter of Invitation with exact dates, sent by an institution/university where he/she will do internship in EU member or candidate countries,

The following organizations are not eligible for the Erasmus+ internship program:

European Union institutions and EU agencies (see https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/institutions-bodies_en) 

National Agency carrying out EU programs etc. organizations.

Links that can help to find internship companies/instutions:

(Students are obliged to find the companies/institutions by themselves, the links added below may help to find the internship companies/institutions),

- https://erasmusintern.org/  

- https://leonet.joeplus.org

- https://www.iagora.com/work/en/internships

- http://www.praxisnetwork.eu/

- https://www.mediamonks.com

- https://worldinternships.org/

- http://euconnect.org/

-http://www.erasmusgram.com/

-info@internshipcentre.com

Things to Consider in the Application

• Students studying in a double major can apply from only one major in the same application period.
• Students who freeze their registration cannot participate in the Erasmus+ study program during the frozen semester.

Application Steps:

You can find the application guide here.

Students will start their applications through the Online Application System. The TC/Foreign Identity number will be used as the user name, and the password will be the same as the OBS system password. Afterwards, students will follow the 'Register§Apply' section and click on Erasmus>Student>Outgoing.

Application Documents

1. Signed Online Application Form,
2. Signed Consent Form,
3. Letter of Acceptance/Letter of Invitation,

After the online application is completed, the application form and the Consent Form must be downloaded from the system, signed and uploaded to the relevant place. It is sufficient that the Consent Form is uploaded only in Turkish or only in English.

**Applications uploaded to the Erasmus Online Information System with missing signatures will be deemed invalid.**

English Proficiency Exam

All candidates will be invited to the English Proficiency exam prepared by Üsküdar University Foreign Languages Coordinator.

• The exam will be at B2 level.
• Candidates who have previously participated in the English proficiency exam held for the Erasmus Program by the Üsküdar University Foreign Languages Coordinator on 18-19 February 2021 and 20-21 April 2021 can use their exam scores for this application. The proficiency exam scores they have participated in earlier will be deemed invalid. In order for students to be able to count the language proficiency exam they have entered on the above-mentioned dates, they must upload the document on which the exam result is announced, to the relevant field in the application system.

Candidates who have a valid (B2) exam result document belonging to one of the exams stated in the table below in the last two years must add their certificates to the relevant field in the application system in order to use the exam result they have taken.

  Table-1 Types of Exams to be Accepted

The place and time information of the foreign language exam to be held on March 10, 2022 will be announced on the Erasmus Office website (https://erasmus.uskudar.edu.tr/en)  and by e-mail to the candidates who have successfully completed their application.

Selection Criteria

• All applicants are evaluated as winners, from the highest to the lowest, regardless of Vocational School/Faculty and Graduate School.
• GPA is 50% and English exam result is 50% effective in determining the final score.
• For each Erasmus+ Program that the applicant has attended a program at the same level of education before, 10 points are deducted from the final ranking score in the next application.
• If Erasmus activities have been used before within the current education level, the total mobility period cannot exceed 12 months with the new activity.
• For students who were selected in a previous election period within the same education level but did not perform their activity without a force majeure reason, a “-10 point” reduction is applied for each activity for which the activity was not carried out despite being entitled.

Total Mobility Duration

• A student cannot benefit from the Erasmus+ program (even without a grant) for more than 12 months in the same education level (undergraduate, graduate, doctorate).
• Internship mobility cannot be shorter than 2 months.
• Internship activity should be done uninterrupted. It should be rescheduled to complete a minimum of 60 days in case of a break (the time when the organization is closed, public holidays, etc.). In internship mobility, if the internship company is closed due to a holiday, the internship may be interrupted. Grant payment is made for the period when the business is closed. In order to ensure the minimum activity period, the dates when the internship will be closed should be investigated in advance, and it should be ensured that the minimum period is provided even after the vacation period is removed. Weekend holidays are not holiday periods to be subtracted from the activity period.

Post-Graduation Erasmus+ Internship Mobility

• Erasmus+ Internship must be completed within 12 months after the official graduation date.
• It should be planned for a minimum of 2 months.
• Applications cannot be made after graduation. The post-graduation internship activity covers the candidates who applied before graduation and became eligible.

The selection criteria and weighted scores to be used in evaluating applications for the 2021-2022 academic year (summer term) are as follows:

Table-2 Selection Criteria and Scores

1According to the 21st Article of the Anti-Terror Law dated 12/4/1991 and numbered 3713, as well as the war veterans and their spouses and children, and the wives and children of the war martyrs;  “Officials while performing their duties at home and abroad, or even if their title is removed, the spouses and children of those who were injured, became disabled, died or killed due to terrorist acts and the coup attempt carried out on 15 July 2016, pursuant to Article 7 of Decree-Law No. 667 of 23 July 2016, and The spouses and children of those who lost their lives due to the actions or the disabled civilians and their spouses and children are prioritized if they apply for Erasmus + student mobility

2The applicant must submit a letter from the Ministry of Family and Social Policies stating that there is a protection, care or accommodation decision in accordance with Law No. 2828.

3Traineeship in digital skills: any traineeship where trainees receive training and practice in at least one or more of the following activities: digital marketing (e.g. social media management, web analytics); digital graphical, mechanical or architectural design; development of apps, software, scripts, or websites; installation, maintenance and management of IT systems and networks; cybersecurity; data analytics, mining and visualization; programming and training of robots and artificial intelligence applications. Generic customer support, order fulfillment, data entry or office tasks are not considered in this category.

Estimated Quotas

Erasmus Internship mobility quotas are determined by the Election Commission appointed by the Rectorate according to the grant amount allocated to our University by the National Agency for the 2021 contract year, and on the basis of the principles specified in the Implementation Book of the Turkish National Agency.

• It is foreseen that 50 (estimated) students will benefit from internship mobility in 2021 contract year.

Erasmus+ Grants

• Erasmus+ Student Internship Mobility cannot be shorter than 2 months. Our students are awarded up to 2 months. With partial grants, students can plan their internship activities for more than 2 months.
• Grants are only contributions and not intended to cover the entire cost of the student's mobility.
• If it is understood that the student has left the country he/she has been visiting for more than 1 week, a deduction is made for the entire period of the student's departure.
   

You can see the monthly grant amounts determined by the Turkish National Agency for the contract year 2021 below.

Table-4 Monthly grant amounts by country groups

Additional Grant Support in Student Mobility

Additional Grant Support may be provided to disadvantaged participants in addition to the grant they deserve. In order to be able to grant the said grant, the disadvantaged participant is defined as an individual with limited economic and social opportunities and who fits into the following sub-categories.

1. Those who are subject to Law No. 2828 (Those who have protection, care or shelter decision by the Ministry of Family and Social Services pursuant to Law No. 2828)
2. Students for whom protection, care or accommodation decision has been taken within the scope of Child Protection Law No. 5395
3. Those who receive an orphan's pension
4. Children of Martyrs / Veterans
5. Those who are granted a needy pension for themselves or their families (the student, his/her parents or guardians have received financial support from municipalities, public institutions and organizations (Ministry, Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations, General Directorate of Foundations, Kızılay, AFAD) proving that they received financial support at the time of their Erasmus application. It is sufficient to submit the document.)
    

Credit and Hostels Institution scholarships and similar scholarships, other grants, aids and scholarships in the nature of success scholarships, one-time aids are not considered within the scope of financial aid.

The following amounts of Additional Grant Support can be provided to students who meet the above scope, upon their request and on condition that they document their situation, depending on the type of mobility:

Travel Support

In the following cases, participants will receive the following amounts in additional support of their travel expenses: Disadvantaged student participating in short-term mobility (See Additional Grant Support in Student Mobility above for the disadvantaged group description).

Based on the travel distance per participant. Travel distances must be calculated using the distance calculator provided by the European Commission (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/resources-and-tools/distance-calculator). A one-way travel distance should be used to calculate the EU amount to support a round trip.

Green Travel Support for Students Who Don't Get Travel Support

If students, who do not receive travel support, choose green travel an additional one-time grant (50,00 Euros) can be given for up to 4 days for travel days.

Inclusion Support

Inclusion Support is available to students to encourage students with special needs (potential participants whose physical, mental or health condition does not allow them to participate in the mobility activity) to participate in the program. Students with special needs are expected to contact the Erasmus+ Office with their supporting documents. eg. If the special needs person is related to the Inclusion Support disability, he/she is expected to submit a doctor's report (not older than 3 months) or a photocopy of the disability card, which includes information on the disability and its level, and a doctor's report for chronic diseases. After the student is selected, an application will be made by the Erasmus+ Office as requested by the Turkish National Agency and the result will be awaited.