In addition to Erasmus+, the University of Graz offers international exchange via two special networks: the Coimbra Group and the Utrecht Network. Incidentally, the University of Graz is the only Austrian university represented in the latter, which opens up the opportunity to study in Australia, America and Brazil.
Another special is the Arqus university alliance. As part of the open agreements at the partner universities of Granada, Graz, Leipzig, Lyon 1, Maynooth, Minho, Padua, Vilnius and Wrocław, there are a large number of exchange places. "The offer is very well received, so it is not surprising that Granada, Padua and Leipzig, for example, were the top destinations last academic year in terms of the number of outgoing students," reports Michaela Krainer from the International Relations Office.
Universities in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal are also very popular as part of Erasmus+, as are universities in Canada and Australia.
Students benefit from Erasmus+ in several ways: they receive a monthly grant for each month of their stay as well as further financial support, including for environmentally friendly travelling. The coursework completed abroad is recognised and one or two additional semesters of tolerance can be granted.
The "Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)" offer a new way to spend time abroad. These are teaching and learning formats that combine physical mobility of 5 to 30 days with a virtual component. At least three universities from three different Erasmus+ programme countries take part in a BIP.
Katrin Angerbauer took advantage of this opportunity. The Romance Student student spent a week in Granada (Spain) in October last year. "The programme included several workshops and modules that dealt with different linguistic aspects of Spanish, Portuguese and other Ibero-Romance languages such as Galician, Catalan and Mirandesian in Europe and America," explains Angerbauer.