Staff Mobility - Training

Erasmus+ Staff Mobility

QUICK LINKS TO INFORMATION ON ERASMUS STAFF TRAINING MOBILITY:

What is Erasmus Mobility for Staff Training?   
What is DELTA?   
How can I apply for Erasmus Mobility for Staff Training?    
What are the criteria for selection?   
If my application is successful, what steps will I need to follow?

Training via the Erasmus Programme for university staff at enterprises and HEIs abroad - General Information

The Erasmus+ Programme includes grants for short visits by university staff to enterprises or Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in other participating countries (i.e. EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Turkey and the Republic of North Macedonia) for the purposes of training. This scheme is open to all categories of staff employed by the University: administrative, technical, research and academic.

This mobility scheme aims to allow staff of HEIs to acquire knowledge or specific know-how from experiences and good practices abroad, as well as practical skills relevant for their current job and their professional development.  Activities that may be considered eligible would include official training courses/programmes, training programmes tailored to individual needs, job-shadowing, or workshops with a focus on training.  Please scroll down to the boxed text for information on Erasmus + DELTA, a  parallel scheme aimed at teaching staff who wish to avail of an Erasmus mobility period to find out more about teaching and learning in their discipline in another European country.

There should be some demonstrable justification for travelling abroad to engage in the proposed training, i.e. funding will generally not be granted for attending training courses abroad where similar courses are available in Ireland.  Research collaboration activities are NOT eligible for funding under this scheme, nor is attendance at conferences.  Please note that the grant includes an allowance for travel and subsistence, but it does not cover course fees: staff members would have to meet this type of cost themselves.

University of Galway's funding for staff training mobility  will cover only a limited number of visits.  The minimum duration of these training visits is 2 full working days, and regrettably it will not be possible for us to support visits in excess of five working days.  Eligible activities may take place up to September 30^th, 2025.  Applications should be presented in the form of a DRAFT Staff Mobility Training Agreement.  This does not need signatures at this stage, as content and dates may need to be adjusted, but it should be accompanied by (i) an invitation from the host organisation (a brief e-mail will suffice), and (ii) confirmation that the proposed visit has been approved by the relevant Head of Unit at University of Galway.  The deadline for submitting your draft training agreement to the International Affairs Office is Friday, 8th March, 2025 at 5pm.   Please send it to kim.oflynnkelly@universityofgalway.ie. 

Some teaching staff may be interested in making their Erasmus staff training mobility application within the scope of the DELTA scheme: see below. "Teaching staff" may include any staff who are involved in pedagogical activities.

How should I go about applying for Erasmus funding for training abroad?

For ALL types of Erasmus+ staff training, the onus is on the individual staff member to 

• identify a suitable host enterprise or higher education institution in a participating country, and draw up a programme of training activities, between 2 and 5 days in duration, that is relevant to the staff member's area of responsibility at University of Galway; 
• secure provisional approval by the host organisation;
• complete a draft staff mobility training agreement;
• obtain the consent of their own Head of Department/Section here at University of Galway if applicable. 

 A useful source of information on training opportunities abroad is the IMOTION database.

Selection criteria

Persons to be awarded an Erasmus grant for staff training will be selected on the basis of the draft staff training agreement (standard or DELTA) submitted by the applicant. The essential elements should be:

• overall aim and objectives
• expected results in terms of the additional expertise/competences to be acquired
• activities to be carried out (and, if possible, a programme for same)

The following are guidelines set down by the HEA, the Irish National Agency for Erasmus, in relation to Erasmus Staff Mobility for Training:

• The objectives and expected results of the visit should be clear and realistic, and the work programme appropriate to achieving the objectives.
• The training activity abroad will have a greater potential value than similar training in the applicant’s home country, and it is clearly demonstrated that the applicant will benefit from this experience in terms of professional and personal development. 
• There should be a clear match between the training envisaged and the applicant’s training needs. The envisaged training should appear likely to have a positive impact on the applicant’s professional development and his/her higher education institution/enterprise, and to strengthen the links between the higher education institutions or between the higher education institution and the enterprise concerned.

In addition, please bear the following important points in mind:

It's essential that you demonstrate how the training proposed relates to your area of work and that you describe clearly the real benefits it will bring.  Simply cutting and pasting the content of a training course from a website or brochure is not enough: you must link the subject matter to your current role and show what specific need or gap in your skills or expertise it will address, and how this will benefit both your professional development and the work of your department or unit.

While you should certainly aim to provide adequate detail, please keep in mind that the reviewers of your application may not be familiar with your area of expertise.  You should set out your case clearly and concisely, in language that is comprehensible to a layperson unfamiliar with specialist jargon, so that the reader can readily grasp the background to your application, the significance of your area of work, why you feel you require a particular type of training and why you have chosen a specific host organisation or contact person. There is no need to provide a reference list as with an academic publication.

Academic Staff should note that the purpose of these visits is strictly TRAINING, the acquisition of skills/technical know-how, etc, and not research collaboration with colleagues abroad, for which other funding schemes are available. The HEA have asked us to make this very clear to candidates: a detailed programme of TRAINING activities must be put forward and signed off by the host institution.

Nationality: Teaching and non-teaching staff participating in staff mobility shall be employees of a HEI participating in the Erasmus+ programme, regardless of nationality.

Paperwork and Procedures for Successful Candidates

Successful candidates are notified soon after the deadline, and they should be sure to read the Important Information re. Erasmus+ Mobility. 

Before the visit

You may need to make some changes to your Staff Mobility Training Agreement (the document you submitted in draft form as your application).  When it's finalised and approved by the International Affairs Officer (the "responsible person" at University of Galway), it must be endorsed (i.e. signed and stamped) by a representative of the host institution. The award of an Erasmus grant is subject to approval of the visit by the host organisation. 

You will need to complete and sign an Erasmus Grant Agreement, which is a contract between you and University of Galway. This document will be sent to you by the International Affairs Office; you should sign it and return it to the International Affairs Office as soon as possible, and certainly no less than one week before you are due to travel.  We can proceed to pay the first instalment of your mobility grant after we receive your signed grant agreement.

Please don't forget to read the Important Information re. Erasmus+ Mobility!

You will also need to complete a Bank Details Form. 

During / After the visit

You should download the Staff Training Attendance Certificate ‌ and have it signed and stamped before you leave the host organisation. This, along with flight tickets, etc, should be submitted to the International Affairs Office as soon as possible after the visit. You will receive a request from the European Commission for an online report on your training visit.

As soon as you can confirm receipt of your grant, please fill in the Receipt of Payment (Staff) and return it to this office.

Erasmus opportunities for Administrative Staff

Erasmus Staff Training Weeks at partner European Higher Education Institutions

The Erasmus Programme now contains provision for short visits by university staff to enterprises or Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in other participating countries (i.e. EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Serbia, Turkey and the Republic of North Macedonia) for the purposes of training. The objective of this type of staff mobility is to allow staff of HEIs to acquire knowledge or specific know-how from experiences and good practices abroad, as well as practical skills relevant for their current job and their professional development. The stay in the partner organisation can be termed a short secondment period, job-shadowing scheme, study visit or workshop. 

European universities sometime run “Staff Training Weeks” which are open to administrative staff and would qualify under the above-mentioned scheme. Such opportunities are almost always listed in the IMOTION database.

For any formal Staff Training Weeks, interested staff should complete the Draft Staff Mobility Training Agreement that can be found on the main Staff Mobility page and submit it to the International Affairs Office,  noting the deadline indicated.  If you find a suitable training week after the deadline, it may be worth making an enquiry, because funding does sometimes get freed up in the course of the year.  Please note, however, that we will only ever be able to fund about 10 visits in total per year, due to the limited financial resources available for this scheme.

It is also important to note that approval of a staff member's Erasmus funding application by University of Galway's International Office does not imply a guarantee that they would get a place on the particular course.  You would make a separate application to the host institution and it would be for the host institution to select participants; often they receive a large number of applications and may even use a lottery to allocate places. You would, of course, have the possibility of applying first to the host institution by filling in a registration form, but if you are not approved for Erasmus funding from University of Galway then you would then have to meet all costs yourself if you decided to accept a place on the course. We will, of course, endeavour to inform candidates as soon as possible about the outcome of their application for Erasmus funding.

Please note that administrative staff are also eligible to apply for an independently-organised training visit to a HEI in one of the named countries, i.e. where the staff member makes contact with a counterpart in another university and arranges a programme of training/job-shadowing.  Please make sure to read the information on the main Staff Mobility page.