Erasmus Exchange Opportunities

The School of Psychology has student exchange agreements with several Universities across Europe under the Erasmus scheme. These agreements allow a limited number of students to spend SEMESTER ONE of YEAR THREE studying abroad. The obvious benefit of this scheme for outgoing students is the unique opportunity to study in a different academic environment whilst living in a different culture. Time spent in another country makes a highly positive addition to your CV. In addition, you will make many new friends and the experience will certainly broaden your horizon and may even open up new opportunities.

Whether we will be able to continue our current exchanges (be it in its current form or as part of new exchange agreements) with our European partners after the UK leaves the European Union will depend on the specifics of the Brexit negotiations. What we do know for certain is that Erasmus exchanges are guaranteed at least until the academic year of 2018-19.

In cases where Psychology students go abroad on the ERASMUS programme in Semester One of Year Three, they complete, in addition to their PSYC3003 Empirical Project: Literature Review (worth 15 CATS points), other courses abroad. The courses taken abroad have to add up to a minimum of 45 CATS (Credit Accumulation and Transfer Schemepoints. European universities will often list how much a module is worth in ECTS points (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)). Luckily, credits in the CATS  system and in the ETCS system can be easily converted into each another. One ECTS point is worth two CATS points. Whilst abroad, students need to pass the modules at the host university but the specific mark will not be taken into account when calculating the overal degree classification.

Psychology’s Links with Partner Institutions

Currently, Psychology has Erasmus links with the following Universities:

 

We have also links to universities outside of the Erasmus scheme, which are located outside of Europe. If you are interested in going to Canada (Western University, University of Guelph), Hong Kong, Australia (University of Adelaide, University of Western Australia, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales), or New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington) please contact the International tutor, Denis Drieghe (Email: D.Drieghe@soton.ac.uk) for more information.

Partner universities have a programme structure similar to our own. The modules that you take during your semester abroad will be marked by local teaching staff.

 

Language Requirements

It is important to note that while it may be possible to take courses taught in English at some of our partner institutions (currently Czech Republic, Copenhagen, (sometimes) Turku, Madrid, Limerick, Amsterdam and Utrecht), other courses are taught in the language of the host country. It is important to consider this point early in your degree, as the language requirements for study abroad may influence your choice of option units. We strongly encourage students who have sufficient language skills to apply for an exchange with one of the partner universities that do not offer English language courses.

There are also many ways to improve your language skills before you go out. For example, the Centre for Language Studies at the University of Southampton offers wide selection of language courses.

 

Further Information

More information on the Erasmus Exchange programme can be found on the University of Southampton’s Study Overseas website.

I am interested…what do I do now?

If you are interested in the Erasmus Exchange programme or going on an exchange outside Europe, or would like to discuss it further, you need to contact our Erasmus and Exchange Coordinator, Dr Denis Drieghe (Email: D.Drieghe@soton.ac.uk), to discuss details of where you would like to go and what you want to learn there.

 

There is quite a lot to organise, so do not leave it too late!

 

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