International internships (outgoing interns)

Preparations for trainee exchange | Grant application | During the trainee exchange | 

After the trainee exchange | Important documents and links

Outgoing orientation material for 2024-2025

Please note! Before buying flights or making other travel arrangements, paying deposit for accommodation, etc. make sure you have

• training agreement signed by all three parties
• necessary documents to enter the country of exchange (residence permit/visa, if it is required)

If you have, for example, bought the flights and your visa is delayed or rejected, you may not get the money back!

Purpose of the instructions

These instructions guide students to follow the correct procedure when applying for a training period abroad and whilst there. Well planned training abroad brings about the best results and will enhance students' professional and personal skills. These instructions proceed chronologically.

NB! Students of health care (Nursing, Physiotherapy, Radiography and Radiotherapy, and Biomedical Laboratory Science) must follow the student exchange process as all training placements are organised through a partner university!

Preparations for trainee exchange 

1. Acquiring a training placement

There is no set deadline for acquiring a training placement abroad but Student Mobility Services recommends securing a place (contract / agreement) at least two months before commencement date. All announcements of training placements in Finland and abroad are placed in the Jobiili (for Nursing, Physiotherapy, Radiography and Radiotherapy, and Biomedical Laboratory Science students). Students are free to acquire a placement themselves as well and can ask for more information from their international coordinator or placement supervisors in the degree programme.

Far Away but Still So Near - exchange postcard blog

2. Approval by degree programme

Before signing any binding documents, students must get approval for the traning placement from the person(s) responsible for training in their degree programme. The training must be a part of the student's degree programme at TAMK and must yield full credits upon successful completion.

3. Signing a contract/agreement

Minimum requirements for support for training abroad:

Minimum length: 2 months (60 days)

Minimum credits: 5 cr/month

After confirmation from the degree programme, the student must fill in a contract/agreement, which will be signed by all three parties (student, employer, TAMK).

Students should first get the signatures from the receiving end by sending a filled document to the employer as an email attachment (filled in as far as possible) and ask them to send it back with the appropriate signatures. The TAMK supervisor's signature should be the last one gathered.

Make sure you fill in the correct document (only one of the following):

1) For Erasmus+ countries:

2) For non-Erasmus+ countries:

4. Application in SoleMOVE

After you have all the required signatures in the completed training agreement, you must log into the SoleMOVE system and fill in the application according to these instructions:

5. OLS (Erasmus+ Online Language Support, Erasmus+ exchanges only)

You will be invited via e-mail to participate to OLS. Read more here!

6. Mandatory "International Experiences and Competences" course

All students heading abroad from TAMK complete a compulsory online course "International Experiences and Competences". The fundamental purpose of the course is to help you to enjoy your experience abroad as much as possible and to give you tools for getting all the possible benefits from it. The contents include cultural orientation, setting objectives for the period abroad, and personal evaluation. The international period during your studies is valuable capital while considering your future careers, so an open and ambitious attitude towards this period will be an asset.

1. Enroll yourself to the course NN00CU60-3009 Intercultural Experiences and Competences in Pakki and Moodle

https://moodle.tuni.fi/course/view.php?id=44695

Enrolment key is "iec2024"

Please remember that there are tasks in three sections in the course:

1. Before the take-off
2. During the exchange
3. After the return

You should do the first section before heading abroad.

7. Insurances

All students going abroad for practical training must have a broad insurance cover. Here you can see which insurances are required and whose responsibility they are:

You can print these insurance documents if the receiving organisation requires to see them:

All students must acquire a travel and health care insurance for free-time activities, this is also one condition of the grant. The grant will not be paid unless you fill in the insurance number and the name of the insurance company to the grant agreement (Additional information box on the Grant information leaflet).


For practical training in the EU/EEA or Switzerland you need:

• Travel and health care insurance for free-time activities (including medical costs and repatriation)
• European Health Insurance Card, which completes but does not replace the travel and health care insurance. The European Health Insurance Card is available to everyone covered under the Finnish health insurance system.

For practical training outside the EU you need:

• Travel and health care insurance for free-time activities (including medical costs and repatriation)

Grant application

Grants are applied through the SoleGRANT system. You can apply for a grant as soon as you have

• training agreement signed by all three parties
• confirmed exchange application in SoleMOVE
• purchased a travel insurance (see section Insurances below)

SoleGrant application instructions (MP4 video)

Important

• The first installment of the grant (80 %) will be paid no earlier than 1 month before departure date.
• The second installment of the grant will be paid after the exchange. The final grant amount will be calculated once Student Mobility Services outgoing.tamk [at] tuni.fi (outgoing[dot]tamk[at]tuni[dot]fi) receives a copy of the student's certificate of arrival/departure or other verification of actual exchange dates. After final calculations the student will be either awarded the remaining grant or sent an invoice for the outstanding amount.

Annexes to grant agreement (for Erasmus+ only) :

• Annex I :  Learning Agreement for Studies
• Annex II : Yleisehdot / General Conditions
• Annex III : Erasmus+ Student Charter

ERASMUS+ GRANTS FOR EXCHANGE STUDIES / TRAINING ABROAD 2024-2025:

* Erasmus+ grant available only for Double Degree students going to the University of Salford

Travel grant and green travel 

From autumn 2024 onwards, all Erasmus+ exchange students are entitled to a travel grant. The grant sum is defined by the length of the distance from home city (home institution city) to exchange destination, according to the table below. The distance is calculated using the European Commission's Distance calculator. If you travel in non-green ways, you can be paid daily grant for 0-2 days.

If you choose a green way of travel, you are entitled to a higher travel grant. In addition, you can be paid daily grant for up to 6 days. Green travel means travelling in which the journey or part of the journey is made using low-emissions means of transport (such as bus, train, car-pooling. Note that ferry does not count as green travel). You are entitled to the green travel grant when the main part of the travel (in km) or at least one direction of the round trip has been made using low-emissions means of transport.

Travel grant for student exchange is paid according to the table below.

Students do not need to apply for the travel grant separately, it is calculated automatically in to their Erasmus+ grant. However, if you want to receive the green travel top-up, that needs to be proven with a declaration on honour signed by both the student and TAMK Student Mobility Services. The scanned form can be sent via email to the Student Mobility Services outgoing.tamk [at] tuni.fi (outgoing[dot]tamk[at]tuni[dot]fi). 

Application forms:

Fixed additional grants in Erasmus+ programme (fewer opportunities top up)

 As of the academic year 2022 - 2023 students who

• have families (with minor children),
• are family carers,
• have disabilities,
• suffer from a severe or chronic health condition, or
• have received international protection

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 only prove belonging to one of the aforementioned groups in order to get the grant. The supplement is available for both studies and traineeship abroad.

The right to the fewer opportunities top up grant is proven with a declaration on honour signed by both the student and TAMK Student Mobility Services.

Application forms:

Kela

If you are eligible for Kela support in Finland, you are also eligible for support while abroad. Apply online, you can find more information here.

Health and safety issues

FSHS offers nothing else but a certificate only for mandatory exchanges. For voluntary exchanges, the student must apply for certificates from either private or welfare area operators. Laboratory/X-ray examinations required for exchanges - that is, also for mandatory exchanges - should always be obtained from private or welfare sector operators, as they are not part of the FSHS services.

Other health and safety measures you should undertake

• File a travel notification to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Finnish / in English).
• Check the travel destination information for your destination country (by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only in Finnish).
• Check the vaccination guide for your destination country (only in Finnish).
• Tuberculosis screening: Students going abroad to work or study in the health care field or social services, please check Guidelines for students and educational institutions on tuberculosis screening
• If you are taking regular prescription medication, make sure to bring the medicine prescriptions with you and enough medication for your exchange duration. For further information about travel and medicine, see Kanta, Kela and Choosehealthcare.
• Make sure any electronic devices you take with you are secure, in case you lose them or they are stolen. Keep copies of your files in multiple places (a cloud, USB-drives) to avoid losing important documentation and material.

During the trainee exchange

Training

Students keep in contact with their supervising teacher and make sure by email before changing any duties, tasks or responsibilities within the training placements. If there are conflicts during the training, the first priority is to resolve the matter, and interruptions should be avoided if at all possible.

Cancellation/interruption of the period abroad

Should the need to arise to cancel or interrupt the exchange, contact must be made first to the Student Mobility Services (outgoing.tamk [at] tuni.fi) before making any arrangements i.e. booking flights, stopping payments on rent. Interruptions of exchanges may result in claiming back all or part of the grant issued before the exchange, and therefore require a decision from either TAMK or the Finnish National Agency for Education EDUFI.

After the trainee exchange

SoleMOVE

All students submit a feedback in SoleMOVE and upload a copy of their

1) Certificate of Arrival / Departure

2) Work certificate / Transcript of Records.

If you have one document stating both the dates of the period abroad and the credits aquired, please upload the same document twice to avoid reminders from the system to upload missing files. Once the feedback and uploads are completed, students receive the second installment of their grant, which is recalculated based on the actual attendance dates at the destination.

Sign in with your normal TAMK access codes and passwords (login type HAKA) and click on Application form for outgoing student mobility which shows you all previous applications. Click on the pen symbol in front of the application you wish to upload to and finalise.

Please send a message to outgoing.tamk [at] tuni.fi (outgoing[dot]tamk[at]tuni[dot]fi) when you have completed all necessary steps in order to receive your second installment of the grant.

ERASMUS+ students / trainees

All students receiving an Erasmus+ grant for studies or training abroad receive an automatic feedback (EU Survey) request directly from the EU Commission.

Second installment of the Erasmus+ grant can only be paid after the mandatory feedback is given.

NB!!   REMEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR CERTIFICATES TO GET YOUR ACCREDITATION

Once you receive your transcript / training certificate, contact your training supervisor at TAMK in order to get accreditation to the study registry.

Important documents and links

SoleMOVE system

SoleGrant application instructions (MP4 video)

Vakuus - kiinteän yksilöapurahan korotus (.doc)

Declaration on honour - fewer opportunities top-up (.doc)