Student Guide
Accessible exchange studies
Special needs and inclusion grants
You can receive special needs or inclusion support if your special needs create additional expenses to your exchange studies and you cannot get similar support from elsewhere. The grant can be awarded for e.g., accessible accommodation, assisted mobility or such study-related special arrangements as learning materials, preparatory visits and personal assistants. However, you cannot get this support for expenses you would also have in Finland.
The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) grants special needs and inclusion support for students, teachers and staff participating in Erasmus+ and Nordplus programs.
In addition, Erasmus+ programme offers fixed fewer opportunities top-up for students. The student can be entitled to both the inclusion support and the fewer opportunities top-up for the same mobility period.
You should apply for the support well before your exchange. The application period is ongoing. Please contact the exchange coordinator of your school to assist with the accessibility support application process. The applicant and the school will fill in their specific parts to the same form. Afterwards, the school will send the application to the National Agency for Education.
The application process is completely confidential. The application is easy to fill, and the expenses caused by special need can be estimated roughly. As all special needs are unique, all of the applications will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The minimum support amount is 200 euros. The sum always depends on the needs of the applicant and each case is reviewed individually.
Further instructions as well as the application forms can be found in EDUFI webpages.
Instructions
- Contact your school's exchange coordinator or the accessibility contact person well in advance (preferably approximately 6 months) before your departure.
- Find out about accessibility at your exchange destination using the university’s website, the HEAG database, or MapAbility map. You can contact the university’s accessibility coordinator directly.
- If you use services under the Act on Services and Assistance for the Disabledor receive regular rehabilitation: contact the providers at an early stage (e.g., Kela or the insurance company).
- If you use accessibility aids: ensure the validity of their insurance abroad.
- If you use medication: please bring all the medicine, you need during your exchange from Finland. Check the rules for importing medicines of the airline and the destination country.
- If you need special arrangements for a disability or illness during the exchange, check what kind of expert statements the exchange university requires. Practices may vary by university and country. Get the necessary statements, translate them into English, and submit them to the university 2–3 months before the start of your exchange.
- When your student exchange is confirmed, agree on a communication plan with your home university.
As of the academic year 2022 - 2023 in Finland students who
- have families (student has an underage child or children),
- are family caregivers (student has an agreement of informal care with the municipality),
- have disabilities (students with EU’s disability card or who have a right for the card disabled students, at least moderate functional deficiency),
- suffer from a severe or chronic health condition (at least moderate functional deficiency), or
- have received international protection (refugees, asylum seekers, students who have been granted international, subsidiary or temporary protection, or the student has a refugee’s passport)
and who go on short- or long-term mobilities within the Erasmus+ programme are entitled to a fixed-fee additional grant on top of the ordinary Erasmus+ mobility grant. The student has to prove belonging to one of the aforementioned groups by submitting the declaration for fewer opportunities top-up + appendices to his/her school's exchange coordinator in order to get the grant. These grants are awarded by student's home institution who will also give further information and instructions on the application process.
- Declaration form for applying the fewer opportunities additional grant
In addition to the fixed additional support mentioned here the student can also apply for the inclusion support based on real costs if they have more expenses than what the fixed additional grant covers, or if they face also other barriers than for which the fixed additional grant was awarded.
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