Too little time spent abroad / early return Lack of ECTS
79.4% 28.1%
Failed exams 28.1% 0% 10% 20% 30% 50% Figure 53: Cases when students are required to pay back their Erasmus grant 40% (in % of the HEIs, n=423, multiple answers possible)
60%
70%
80%
performance as stated in the study programme, in some countries home HEI might ask to pay back the grant. The surveyed institutions ask students to return the grant in several cases. The most common reason for this, underlined by 79.4% of the universities is when the student spent too little time abroad or came earlier from the exchange. It is explained by Spanish National Agency: “According to the rules set out by the Commission, the Erasmus grant is calculated per month. This implies that if the certificate of attendance reflects a lower duration of the stay than the one established in the financial agreement, they have to pay back part of the awarded grant.� 28.1% universities responded that they asked students to pay back the grant if students lacked ECTS or failed their exams. Fortunately, such situations are not a common practice. According to the study, 7.8% of the students awarded with a grant had to pay back a part of or their entire grant. The reasons for this cover the ones listed by HEIs. They can be found in an early return (53%), failed exams (30%) or a general lack of ECTS gained (16%). On average, students had to pay back 26.5% of their grant, the mode and median both being 20%.
Too little time spent abroad / I came back earlier than I thought
53.3%
Failed exams Lack of ECTS credits or equivalent 50%
30.3% 16.3%
Lack of information from the host institution 0.2%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Figure 54: Reasons for having to pay back the grant (in % of the students, n=638)
50%
60%
70%
Sometimes, institutions do not spend all the money they received to provide grants to their students. The research shows that universities have different ways to use this money. 49% of the HEIs send the remaining funding back to their National Agency. 45% of the universities redistribute it to the Erasmus students. 16.9% of the universities spend this money for the promotion. Only 3.3% redistribute money for organisations and 4.1% for training of university staff. The Erasmus grant covers only part of the costs of students’ stay abroad. More than half of the HEI underline that their outgoing students receive additional financial help to cover their expenses for their stay abroad. 35.8% responded that there are various
Facts and figures 55