1. General Rules

According to the rules of the Erasmus+ programme, all courses completed during a study abroad mobility must be included in the student's studies at the home institution.

Traditionally, courses can be recognised in two ways:

1.1. The Recognition of Studies as Compulsory Courses

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) is obliged to recognise those courses as compulsory subjects, which are taken during a study abroad mobility and whose subject description are at least 75% identical to the syllabus of the course to be completed at the home institution. If the match is less than 75%, ELTE has the institutional discretion to decide whether to recognise the course as a compulsory subject.

If a mobility window is not available in the student's degree programme, or if the subject at the host institution is not included in the relevant equivalence database (see more in Section 2. “Tools”), the following preliminary consultations must be carried out:

It is worth browsing the university course lists, considering the curriculum of the home institution for the mobility period. Following the ELTE curriculum, first choose the courses you need to take at ELTE, and then try to find courses at your target university based on these. Then, possibly with several target university course alternatives per ELTE course and their descriptions, contact your programme supervisor or the ELTE course instructor in person and in e-mail to choose which partner course they would accept as a substitute. If you are unable to find a course at the host institution that matches your ELTE course, ask your instructor for alternative reporting options (e.g., essays, weekly assignments, Skype exam).

1.2. The Recognition of Studies as Electives

If a course completed abroad cannot be recognised as a subject in any syllabi, it is registered as an optional course, or elective.

1.3. The Recognition of Traineeships

A traineeship mobility, if it cannot be recognised as a compulsory traineeship, will be included in the Diploma Supplement (except for traineeships after graduation).

1.4. The Recognition of short-term doctoral mobilities

At the end of the mobility, the student can request the recognition of the mobility activity through the the faculty's credit recognition procedure by attaching the "Before the Mobility" and "After the Mobility" section of the Learning Agreement (LA). For more information on the recognition procedure, please see the Faculty Doctoral Regulations.

2. Tools

Starting from the 2021/22 academic year, ELTE will provide the following two tools to help students planning their studies abroad:

2.1. Mobility Window

A mobility window is a period, typically one semester, built into the curriculum, which the student spends abroad "leaving" - or in line with - the home institution curriculum, and returning to the same situation as if they had continued their studies at ELTE.

As a result, students can spend at least one semester in a host institution abroad without any of the "risks" associated with mobility (e.g., needing an extra semester to finish their studies, or a double workload due to parallel completion of studies at the home institution).

ELTE courses due in the mobility semester can be substituted by any academic (!) subjects completed at the partner university. During the credit recognition procedure in the case of a mobility window, the courses and syllabi are not compared or are compared in a flexible way, hence the degree of correspondence is not relevant (see 1.1. “The Recognition of Studies as Compulsory Courses” above).

Starting from the 2021/22 academic year, the mobility window has been incorporated into the curriculum of many degree programmes, and it is planned to be introduced in more. The newly introduced mobility windows therefore apply primarily, but not exclusively, to students enrolling in the 2021/22 academic year.

For further details, please contact your faculty/academic international coordinator.

2.2. Equivalence Database

The equivalence database helps students to find out which ELTE curriculum courses they have to take at the host university to be recognised as compulsory courses at ELTE. Unlike the mobility window, the curriculum does not contain a fixed semester recommended for mobility, but the student can use the database to flexibly plan their studies and choose the semester that is most optimal for the mobility.

In the case of courses included in the database, the syllabi of the ELTE courses and the corresponding courses at the partner institutions have already been compared, the possibility of recognition has been determined, the student does not need to consult with the instructor of the home institution in advance, and they can safely plan their studies based on the database.

For further details, please contact your faculty/academic international coordinator.

The Erasmus Equivalence Database of the Faculty of Humanities (BTK) is available here.

1. Before the Mobility

• Before departure, the student consults the departmental representative (the relevant representative may differ from faculty to faculty—faculty-specific procedures will be available on the website soon, please contact your faculty coordinator for details) and prepares the “Before the Mobility” section of the Learning Agreement (LA), which is a precondition for the payment of the Erasmus+ grant. In Table A of the document, please indicate the subjects you wish to enrol in the receiving institution. In Table B, list the ELTE curriculum subjects that you wish to complete with the courses taken at the partner institution. The document is signed by three parties: the student, the receiving institution, and the sending institution.
• Students may submit a request for a “uniquely tailored study arrangement” (see Section III.1) together with the LA before departure. If the student intends to complete a course from the ELTE curriculum with a course not taken at the partner institution, the application and authorisation for the uniquely tailored study arrangement includes the scope and precise requirements of the subjects to be taken. The Faculty Student Administration Office checks and, if necessary, corrects the student's course registration on the basis of the request.

2. During the Mobility

• After departure, the student indicates any necessary changes to the LA in the “During the Mobility” section of the document according to the final list of courses taken at the host institution and sends the document to the faculty coordinator. The “During the Mobility” section of the LA must be handed in by everyone who has made changes to the courses listed in the “Before the Mobility” section of the LA. Only deleted or added courses should be indicated in the document. If there have been no changes in the course list, the student must notify the faculty coordinator when submitting the equivalence form (see below).
• The course equivalence form is the annex to the “During the Mobility” (or in the absence of change, “Before the Mobility") section of the LA. The relevant form is different for each faculty - faculty-specific procedures will be available on the website soon, please contact your faculty coordinator for details. Every student is required to submit this document.
• The deadline for finalising the course list and submitting the two documents (“During the Mobility” of the LA and equivalence form) is 30 November for the autumn semester and 30 April for the spring semester.
• The 2nd instalment of the student's Erasmus+ grant can only be awarded once the above requirements have been met.

3. After the Mobility

• The student submits the “Transcript of Records” document to the faculty coordinator, and the administrator of the Faculty Student Administration Office records the credits and their corresponding grades using the LA and the equivalence form.

1. Is it necessary for a student on a study abroad mobility to request a uniquely tailored study arrangement?

A request for a uniquely tailored study arrangement is required if the student does not intend to complete their home courses at the partner institution. By faculty decision, the uniquely tailored study arrangement may be substituted by the equivalence form handed in with the “During the Mobility” section of the LA. Please contact your faculty coordinator for details.

Based on the request, the student's semester course records can be checked and, if necessary, corrected. Students with a uniquely tailored study arrangement are exempted from reallocation, which may be relevant if the mobility is not part of the Erasmus, CEEPUS programmes.

2. How are the credits obtained during a study abroad mobility converted?

Credit conversion is based on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). In the absence of ECTS grade conversion, it is based on the terms of the agreement between the partner institution and ELTE. In the absence of either, it is based on individual discretion (see Notes on the meeting of the University Credit Transfer Committee of Eötvös Loránd University, held on 11 April 2014, 9.30 a.m.- only available in Hungarian).

If the student’s Transcript of Records does not include a description of the grading system of the partner country or institution, we recommend the following page on the grading systems of each country to help you compare the partner’s system with the one used in Hungary and make your individual assessment: CIMEA MAGNA CUM LAUDE: A worldwide database of University Grading Systems.

3. Does the student have to pay the fee for credit exceedance (registering for courses above the allocated limit of total credits) with regard to the credits completed during a study abroad mobility?

In the Neptun Education System, the place for recording the course units completed at the partner institution during the study abroad mobility is the so-called special index row. The student does not have to register to these courses, but if they did, the courses must be removed based on the LA. This ensures that these courses are not counted as course enrolments beyond the scope of the option under Art. 49 (2a) of Act CCIV of 2011 on National Higher Education (hereinafter: ANHE) - see Notes on the meeting of the University Credit Transfer Committee of Eötvös Loránd University, held on 11 April 2014, 9.30 a.m. - only available in Hungarian.

4. Will the student be disadvantaged in the academic reallocation process if they are participating in a study abroad mobility during the semesters concerned?

No. According to the legal provisions, the semester of a study abroad mobility does not have to be considered for the purposes of academic reallocation, and the provisions of the Academic Regulations for Students also exempt from reallocation the authorisation for uniquely tailored study arrangement. (See Art. 48 (2) of ANHE and Section 41/B. (6) of the Academic Regulations for Students (ARS)).