Study abroad

• You are generally required to have completed the first-year subjects of your bachelor programme.
• Take time to prepare. Preparations for studying abroad may take nine to twelve months, so start your orientation as soon as possible.
• Contact your faculty contact person who is in charge of internationalization regarding course-specific matters; see below for contact details.
• Draft a Learning Agreement with the help of your faculty contact person and have it approved by your faculty examination board. This way, you are sure EC’s obtained abroad will count towards your degree here.
• The specific conditions for studying at a foreign partner university differ per study programme. Visit the Study Abroad Canvas page of your faculty; see below for the links to the Canvas pages. And your faculty contact person for more information, see below for contact details.
• Travelling is only allowed in safe countries. Please check this link for more info.

Do you want to ... broaden your horizon? Have an unforgettable experience? Live in a country abroad and learn about its culture and language?

Living and studying abroad can be a very rewarding experience. It is an incredible opportunity to meet other like-minded students in your programme. Also, it enables you to look at yourself, your world, and your studies from a different perspective. You are able to gain invaluable life skills and change and grow as a person. Moreover, studying abroad sets you ahead of your peers in terms of your current and future position in our globalizing world.

The easiest way to study abroad is by participating in an exchange programme. This means you will go to a university that has a cooperation agreement with the UT. The two largest advantages are not paying tuition fees at the foreign university and taking courses abroad that count towards your degree at the UT.

Typically this is a full semester abroad. During this semester you will be enrolled as an exchange student at a partner university of the UT. Because of special agreements we have with a number of universities, you can take classes free of tuition charges. In each BSc programme, the so-called minor space (modules 9 & 10) can be used to spend a semester abroad. Approval of the list of subjects needs to be given by the student adviser. Following courses abroad, during your, MSc programme might be possible as well. In this case, approval needs to be given by the Head of your Research chair and/or the Examination Board.

The institutions for higher education below have all signed an agreement with the University of Twente allowing UT students to study at their institution. Keep in mind that partner institutions may only allow a limited number of students to study at their institution. Always contact your faculty contact person, see below for the contact details, for more information about studying at these UT partners. Also, almost every faculty organizes information meetings about studies abroad. All UT students who will do their study abroad have to register via the registration system Mobility-Online.

Please note: if you notice differences between the information on the site and Mobility-Online, you can contact the departmental exchange coordinator.

If you want to go abroad you have to arrange a lot of things. Make sure that this fits within your personal study plan. You can always discuss your study plan with your study adviser or track coordinator. To give you a rough overview of the steps you have to take, a timeline is provided in this section. Note that this timeline is a guideline, the information provided gives no guarantees.

In the pre-application phase, you can orientate yourself on all the possibilities you have. Register for (and read the information in) the Canvas site, talk with students who have been abroad and/or students from abroad who are currently visiting the UT, go to events, join Facebook groups, etc.

After you have decided that you want to go abroad and what you want to do abroad, the next step is to register in Mobility-Online. Make sure that you register for the right activity and academic year! After registration of the activity, you will be able to log in to continue with and monitor the status of your application for this activity.

General deadline for applications:

• Deadline for start in Fall semester: 24 January
• Deadline for start in Spring semester: 24 August

After you have applied successfully and you have permission to 'go-ahead', you will need to arrange some practical matters for your study abroad. Think of arranging transport for your journey, health/travel/... insurance, accommodation, vaccinations, etc. 

Make sure that you will have enough time to arrange the paperwork which is part of the application procedure. 

It is time to pack your bags!

You are obliged to let the UT know that you arrived safely and started your time abroad by filling in your foreign address and return date in Mobility-Online!

For information about what to do upon return, check the section about what to do after your stay abroad and the Canvas page of your faculty, see below. And perhaps you would like to help others getting such a great time as you’ve had? In that case, register as a Buddy at the University of Twente!

For more details regarding each step please see the Canvas site of your faculty.

Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Faculty of Engineering Technology 
Faculty of Science and Technology