Erasmus+ Forms: Cardiff University vs. Universitetet i Oslo

When I received my nomination to the University of Oslo at the end of January, my checklist was quite small. Over time, it grew to what it is now. I have covered my personal to-dos on finance, health and travel and so, the final part to this series is the administration for both my home university of Cardiff and my host university of Oslo.

The UiO Forms

Application and Admission • Placement Performa • Accommodation • Course Registration

In previous posts, I have covered some of the topics in this portion of the checklist so they shall be omitted. To read about my application and accommodation process, please click the links above.

Course Registration

After getting my admission letter and sending off my accommodation application, the final part of my UiO administrative forms was to register and be admitted to courses. In my first post, I stressed applying for a university that had courses that are personally interesting and so I knew exactly what modules I wanted to take.

The University of Oslo had a course registration day at the beginning of June and from the advice of former Cardiff students who attended UiO, I sat on my laptop waiting for the registration to open at midnight to ensure that I got into the modules I wanted as it was a first come first serve basis.

Cardiff University Forms

Learning Agreement • OSL Assessment • Student Grant • Declaration • Insurance Certificate

There are four forms that are required to be completed, signed by counterparts and submitted in order to study abroad.

The Learning Agreement is a declaration of modules intended to take at the host university and the modules that would have been taken at the home institution should something happen. It has three parts; Before Mobility, During Mobility and After Mobility. After completing the Before Mobility section, the agreement then needed to be signed myself and by the exchange representative from my school and the representative at Oslo.

The Student Grant form is an application for the Erasmus+ Grant, an additional financial support whilst studying abroad. The OSL Assessment is a language assessment, however this was not necessary for me. The final form is the Declaration, for which confirms the details of myself, my emergency contact and the semester details.

Getting the forms done for my university was, arguably, the longest process due to technical difficulties that were of no fault by the university. Ultimately, I submitted hard copies of these forms and after this, I was given my Insurance Certificate that would cover any accidents during my travels.

What I learned from the process of preparing for my semester in Oslo is that I would not have remembered or managed to chase up and complete all the important administrative details that would enable my trip to continue without this checklist. It consistently reminded me of things that needed to be done. When completing it, I did not do it topic to topic but whichever could be finished before another thing. Medical and UiO administration were surprisingly the first to be completed.

I cannot recommend this style of planning highly enough. It does not have to be a painfully bland spreadsheet, it can be colourful and as creative as wished. All I know is that this checklist made the process so much less stressful.