For study exchange

General Eligibility

To participate in an exchange you must have completed one year of undergraduate study, and remain registered as a full-time student at University of Aberdeen while abroad.  You must also be mindful that during your exchange you will be serving as an ambassador for the university.

Academic Eligibility

Undergraduate students planning a period of study abroad must:

• achieve 120 credits by the end of year 1 and/or 240 credits by the end of year 2. Students going abroad for the full year or first semester must not have any outstanding resit exams
• have achieved a C average* (Engineering students must have the majority of their Grades at A1-A5; Psychology students need a B2 average)
• have the support of the relevant Go Abroad Tutor(s)
• satisfied any other academic criteria as determined by your subject area(s)

If you intend to complete a Joint Honours degree, you must meet the above conditions in both subject areas.

* Average grades will be calculated from your graded results only, pass/fail grades will not be included.

If you are considering applying for study exchange, we recommend that you sign up to our mailing list. We'll keep you up to date about Go Abroad events, information sessions, application procedures and deadlines.

Next, start your research! Consult our list of partner universities, making sure they teach appropriate courses for your degree programme at the right level, and determine where you want to go. You will be able to select up to five host universities across our exchange partners, in order of preference, on the application and exchange study plan.

You should also check for your degree programme if there are any restrictions for your degree subject about when you can go abroad (for example, that you can only study abroad for the second semester of your 3rd year).

We realise that the choice of options can appear a little overwhelming at first. To help kickstart your research, we have compiled a list of destinations by degree, where students have gone for non-compulsory study exchange over the last five years (NB this list does not include Languages/5-yr LLB/MChem or Engineering projects). Please note that this list is not exhaustive, ie just because we haven't sent someone from your exact degree programme to a particular host destination before, that doesn't mean that it is not possible. Please also note that this list is not a guarantee that a particular host destination is suitable for 2023/24 study exchange, as the course offering may have changed.

Go Abroad Tutors

As part of the online application you will need to upload two documents:

• a copy of the Degree Calendar for your programme, to show the compulsory courses which you will need to match during your exchange period.
• a completed Exchange Study Plan (a description and examples of how to complete this have been provided below)

Exchange Study Plan

You will need to complete the Exchange Study Plan with your provisional course choices for your preferred partner universities, and your reasons for choosing these partner universities.  You must ensure that your preferred partner universities teach suitable equivalents for any compulsory courses you would need to take if you were in Aberdeen. You can find out what your compulsory courses are using the Degree Calendar for your programme.

If you have no mandatory courses in Aberdeen for the semester or year that you plan to study abroad: eg Languages students doing their residence abroad, or students on one of the 5-year LLB options; then you can freely select any courses that are relevant to your programme.

For your exchange study plan, it is mostly important that you match your compulsory courses. However, when abroad you will be expected to take the equivalent of 60 Aberdeen credits per semester.

• For European destinations, 60 Aberdeen credits equates to 30 ECTS
• For International Exchange, please refer to our Credit Load Guide

If your application to study abroad is successful, you will finalise your course choice with approval from your Go  Abroad Tutor(s) prior to going abroad.

You will also be asked to answer the question ‘Why did you chose this host’ in one or two paragraphs, 200 words maximum. We are most interested in why you would like to study at your chosen institutions in particular, rather than your general motivations to go abroad. We want to hear your academic motivations, not holiday aspirations. Do not spend your 200 words telling us why you want to go on holiday. Don't tell us how beautiful the city is, how you've always had a 'calling' to visit that country, how you can't wait to go skiing or surfing. Your exchange study plan is only read by University of Aberdeen staff and not by the host institution, as this is an internal application. If you are selected for exchange, you will need to complete a separate application directly to your host institution.

Remember you can apply to up to 5 preferred host universities and an Exchange Study Plan page should be completed in full for each.

Example Exchange Study Plans:

• For all other subjects Exchange applications*
• For Engineering students
• For Language students applying for third year
• For Law students applying for third year

Any Questions?

If you have any questions having reached this point of our extensive outgoing information, please send a photo of the town of Minions in Cornwall along with your question to GoAbroad.Outgoing@abdn.ac.uk. When we receive questions without a fabulous photo of the magical town of Minions attached, we know the senders haven't read this page (see where we're going with this?). We will then direct senders to this webpage because everything students need to know on how to apply can be found right here on this glorious, information-filled page!

*The History Department is very keen to encourage and support students thinking about going abroad either for a year or a semester.  Normally, students go abroad the whole of Year 2 or one semester in Year 3.  History does not require any specific course matching.  So, you are free to take any history courses you wish.  On the Exchange Study Plan, you are asked to give an idea of what courses you might take.  That will give the Go Abroad Tutor in History an idea of what you're thinking to take.  But, the key thing is you're not trying to match any courses you might have taken here at your university abroad.  The History Department want you to take advantage of all the unique offerings abroad not replicate something here, they will do our best to help you if you want to go abroad.

The online application for study exchanges in the 2023/24 academic year has now closed.

Find out about summer school options.

Selection

We have a limited number of places at each of our partner universities and therefore the application process is competitive. The selection process is based on academic merit and the strength of your exchange application, the final allocation decision is made by the Go Abroad Team and Go Abroad Tutor(s). We cannot guarantee that all students meeting the academic eligibility criteria will receive an exchange place.

Offer Letter

All applicants will be notified of the outcome in late February / early March. 

Successful applicants will receive an offer letter with allocation details and the terms and conditions of the offer. The offer letter needs to be signed and returned by the stated deadline in order to confirm your place.

At this stage all selection and allocation decisions will remain conditional on applicants continuing to meet the academic eligibility criteria for the exchange programme by the end of the academic year, and continued adherence to the terms and conditions of the offer.

Next Steps Meeting

Applicants wishing to accept the exchange offer will be required to attend a mandatory ‘Next Steps’ information meeting to prepare them for the exchange process.

Next Steps Meeting for 2023/24 study exchange: Wednesday 8 March - timing and venue TBC.

Nomination and Application to your exchange host

If you have accepted your offer the Go Abroad Team will share your contact details with the host institution to nominate you for the exchange.

After receiving this nomination, the host institution will normally contact you directly with further information about their own application procedure which you must complete. Procedures and deadlines will vary by host institution.

Pre-departure Meeting

Before embarking upon your exchange, you will be required to attend a mandatory ‘Pre-departure’ information meeting, with practical advice and guidance for your upcoming time abroad.

Pre-departure Meeting for FY/1HS study exchange: Wednesday 19 April - timing and venue TBC.

NB A separate session for those studying abroad in 2HS will run in November - date TBC.