The Erasmus+ Learning Agreement

What is the Learning Agreement?

The Learning Agreement is the official document defining the courses you’ll take in Italy across the mobility, and their counterparts at your own university — signed by three parties: you, your sending (home) university and the host Italian one. It guarantees that the courses completed in Italy are recognised in your own programme and counted as credit. The agreement, in short, is the mobility’s academic spine; without it, the courses’ recognition stays uncertain. You prepare it before the mobility, update it in-term where needed, and take its completed form at the end.

How is it prepared?

Preparing it, first study the host Italian university’s course catalogue and fix the courses you can take; then match them against your own programme’s courses or credits. The matching is done with your own university’s Erasmus coordinator or departmental adviser — their approval is the recognition’s guarantee. Watch the credit balance: the chosen courses’ total must line up with what your own programme expects for the term. Prepared, the document is signed by the three parties and takes official force.

Changes and updates

Arriving in Italy, you may find some planned courses cancelled, clashing or short of expectation. The agreement can be updated — the “Changes to Learning Agreement” — within a set period and with all three parties’ approval again. The flexibility matters, but don’t change casually: make sure every new course will be recognised in your own programme. Updates made on time and in due form are the term’s end without surprises; think of the document as a living one, updated officially as the plan moves.

Why does it matter so much?

Its weight comes from the credit guarantee. Without it — or prepared wrong — the Italian term can be academically “lost”: the courses uncounted towards your degree, the graduation delayed. Prepared right, it is the Italian term folded cleanly into the education. So handle it rigorously, not casually: work closely with the coordinator, and document every step. The Learning Agreement is the single most critical guarantee of the Erasmus term’s academic success.

Notes for Turkish students

For students heading from a Turkish university to Italy, the Learning Agreement is the process’s most attention-demanding part. Work closely with your own Erasmus coordinator, make the course matchings early and take every approval on time; study the host’s course catalogue in advance, and update in due form where change is needed. The document managed right is the Italian term returned from without a credit lost — the general process is on our study mobility page, and the Learning Agreement is its academic foundation.

The ECTS credit balance

The point demanding most care: the ECTS balance. The Italian courses’ total ECTS must line up with what your own university expects for the term — a full term generally around 30 ECTS, a full year around 60. Courses short of the expectation are the missing-credit problem at term’s end; choose, then, by the credit balance as well as the interest. The credit computed right from the start, with the coordinator, is the mobility at full academic yield.

Working with the coordinator

The agreement’s success rests on the working relationship with your own university’s Erasmus coordinator or departmental adviser — the authority who approves which Italian courses correspond to which of yours, and whose approval guarantees the recognition. Discuss the matchings early, weigh the proposed courses’ fit together, and take every approval on time. Open, regular communication with the coordinator is the document prepared right — and the problems solved before they land. The collaboration is among a clean mobility’s most important supports.

Common mistakes

The recurring ones: the credit balance overlooked; courses fixed without the coordinator’s approval; the changes made late or out of form; and the choices made without properly studying the Italian catalogue. Any of them can cost credit or recognition at term’s end. Avoid them by preparing the document rigorously and on time, working with the coordinator at every step, and documenting every approval. Careful preparation removes nearly every Learning Agreement problem — and secures the mobility.

The Transcript of Records

At the mobility’s end, the host Italian university issues your Transcript of Records — the courses, the grades and the ECTS earned — the proof that the Learning Agreement’s courses completed successfully, and the base on which your own university recognises them. Take the transcript complete at term’s end and pass it to your own university for the credits to process. The Learning Agreement and the Transcript of Records together are the two documents that fold the Italian term cleanly into your own degree.

A short checklist

• Study the Italian catalogue and fix the courses early
• Set the ECTS balance against your own programme
• Take the coordinator’s approval at every step
• Make the changes on time and in due form
• Take the Transcript of Records complete at term’s end

Frequently asked questions