Conditions Grant Agreement for Study and/or Traineeship 2023-2024

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

ARTICLE 1 – SUBJECT MATTER OF THE AGREEMENT

1.1 Wageningen University shall provide support to the participant for undertaking a mobility activity for studies /traineeships/studies and traineeship under the Erasmus+ Programme.

1.2 The participant accepts the support specified in article 3 and undertakes to carry out the mobility activity for studies/ traineeships/ studies and traineeship as described in Annex I.

1.3. Amendments to the agreement, including to the start and end dates, shall be requested and agreed by both parties through a formal notification by letter or by electronic message.

ARTICLE 2 – ENTRY INTO FORCE AND DURATION OF MOBILITY

2.1 The agreement shall enter into force on the date when the last of the two parties signs.

2.2 The mobility period shall start on start date at the earliest and end on end date at the latest. The start date of the mobility period shall be the first day that the participant needs to be physically present at the receiving organisation and the end date shall be the last day the participant needs to be physically present at the receiving organisation. In case of a language course as a relevant part of the mobility period abroad preceeding the exchange, the start date of the mobility period shall be the first day of language course physical attendance outside the receiving organisation. If applicable, travel days shall be added to the duration of the mobility period and included in the calculation of the individual support **.

2.3 The participant shall receive a financial support from EU funds for (see page 2) days.

2.4 The total duration of the long term mobility period with a minimum of 2 months shall not exceed 12 months, including any zero grant period. For short term mobility: The total duration of the physical mobility period with a minimum of 5 days shall not exceed 30 days.

2.5 The participant may submit a request concerning the extension of the mobility period within the limit set out in article 2.4. If the organisation agrees to extend the duration of the mobility period, the agreement shall be amended accordingly.

Demands to the institution to extend the period of stay should be introduced at least one month before the end of the mobility period.

2.6 The Transcript of Records (or statement attached to these documents) shall provide the confirmed start and end dates of duration of the mobility period.

ARTICLE 3 – FINANCIAL SUPPORT

3.1 The financial support is calculated following the funding rules indicated in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide.

3.2 The number of days shall be equal to the duration of the physical mobility period plus travel days including green travel if applicable; if the participant is not going to receive financial support for a part or the entire mobility period, this number of days should be adjusted accordingly

3.3 The final amount for the mobility period shall be determined by multiplying the number of days/months of the mobility specified in article 2.3 with the rate applicable per day/month for the receiving country concerned. In the case of incomplete months, the financial support is calculated by multiplying the number of days in the incomplete month with 1/30 of the unit cost per month.

3.4 The reimbursement of costs incurred in connection with inclusion needs such as special needs, when applicable, shall be based on the supporting documents provided by the participant.

3.5 The financial support may not be used to cover similar costs already funded by EU funds.

3.6 Notwithstanding article 3.4, the grant is compatible with any other source of funding including revenue that the participant could receive working beyond its studies/traineeship as long as he or she carries the activities foreseen in the Learning Agreement.

3.6 The financial support or part thereof shall be repaid if the participant does not comply with the terms of the agreement. However, reimbursement shall not be requested when the participant has been prevented from completing his/her mobility activities as described in the Learning Agreement due to force majeure. Such cases shall be reported by the sending institution and accepted by the NA.

ARTICLE 4 – PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS

4.1 Within 30 days following the signature of the agreement by both parties, and no later than the start date of the mobility period or upon receipt of confirmation of arrival by the beneficiary (whichever comes first), a pre-financing payment shall be made to the participant representing 70% of the amount specified in Article 3. In case the participant did not provide the supporting documents in time according to the sending institution timeline, a later payment of the pre-financing can be exceptionally accepted, based on justified reasons.

4.2 If the payment under article 4.1 is lower than 100% of the maximum grant amount, the submission of participant final report via the online EUSurvey tool together with submitting the other documents required to complete the exchange (see www.wur.eu/exchange) shall be considered as the participant's request for payment of the balance of the financial support. The institution shall have 45 calendar days to make the balance payment or to issue a recovery order in case a reimbursement is due.

ARTICLE 5 – INSURANCE

5.1 The participant shall have adequate insurance coverage including a liability insurance and an accident insurance. Wageningen UR has arranged a collective continuous travel insurance agreement for students of Wageningen UR. This insurance covers a maximum travel period of 550 days, including luggage and accidents. It is the responsibility of the student to be registered in the population register in the Netherlands during the stay abroad.

Health insurance Usually basic coverage is provided by the national health insurance of the student as well during his/her stay in another EU country through the European Health Insurance Card. However, the coverage of the European Health Insurance Card or private insurance may not be sufficient, especially in case of repatriation and specific medical intervention. In that case, a complementary private insurance might be useful. This is the responsibility of the student.
Liability and accident insurances (mandatory for traineeships and optional for studies) cover damages caused by the participant or to the participant during their stay abroad. Varying regulation of these insurances is in place in different countries and participants run the risk of not being covered by standard schemes, for example if they are not considered to be employees or formally enrolled at the their receiving organisation. This is the responsibility of the student.

ARTICLE 6 – ONLINE LINGUISTIC SUPPORT Only applicable for mobilities for which the main language of instruction or work is Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish Gaelic, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, or Swedish (or additional languages once they become available in the Online Linguistic Support (OLS) tool), with the exception of native speakers.

6.1. The participant must carry out the OLS language assessment before and at the end of the mobility period. NB: participants with a C2 level at the initial language assessment are exempted from taking the final language assessment. The completion of the online assessment before departure is a pre-requisite for the mobility, except in duly justified cases

6.2 [Only applicable to participants following an OLS language course] The participant will follow the online [see Learning Agreement] language course in order to prepare for the mobility period abroad, using the licence, starting as soon as they receive access and making the most out of the service. The participant shall immediately inform the institution if he/she is unable to carry out the online course.

6.3 The payment of the final instalment of the financial support is subject to the submission of the compulsory OLS language assessment at the end of the mobility

ARTICLE 7 – FINAL PARTICIPANT REPORT (EU SURVEY)

7.1. The participant shall complete and submit the participant report (via the online EU Survey tool) after the mobility abroad. within 30 calendar days from the end date of the mobility period. Participants who fail to complete and submit the online final report may be required by their institution to partially or fully reimburse the financial support received.

7.2 A complementary online survey may be sent to the participant allowing for full reporting on recognition issues.

ARTICLE 8 – DATA PROTECTION

8.1. The sending organisation shall provide the participants with the relevant privacy statement for the processing of their personal data before these are encoded in the electronic systems for managing the Erasmus+ mobilities. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/specific-privacy-statement_en

ARTICLE 9 – LAW APPLICABLE AND COMPETENT COURT

9.1 The Agreement is governed by the national law of the Netherlands.

9.2 The competent court determined in accordance with the applicable national law shall have sole jurisdiction to hear any dispute between the institution and the participant concerning the interpretation, application or validity of this Agreement, if such dispute cannot be settled amicably.

Annex I

Wageningen University

Learning Agreement for Erasmus+ mobility for studies

Please download from: www.wur.eu/exchange

Annex II

GENERAL CONDITIONS

Article 1: Liability

Each party of this agreement shall exonerate the other from any civil liability for damages suffered by them or their staff as a result of performance of this agreement, provided such damages are not the result of serious and deliberate misconduct on the part of the other party or his staff.

The National Agency of the Netherlands, the European Commission or their staff shall not be held liable in the event of a claim under the agreement relating to any damage caused during the execution of the mobility period. Consequently, the National Agency of the Netherlands or the European Commission shall not entertain any request for indemnity of reimbursement accompanying such claim.

Article 2: Termination of the agreement

In the event of failure by the participant to perform any of the obligations arising from the agreement, and regardless of the consequences provided for under the applicable law, the organisation is legally entitled to terminate or cancel the agreement without any further legal formality where no action is taken by the participant within one month of receiving notification by registered letter.

If the participant terminates the agreement before its agreement ends or if they fail to follow the agreement in accordance with the rules, they shall have to refund the amount of the grant already paid, except if agreed differently with the sending organisation.

In case of termination by the participant due to "force majeure", i.e. an unforeseeable exceptional situation or event beyond the participant's control and not attributable to error or negligence on their part, the participant shall be entitled to receive at least the amount of the grant corresponding to the actual duration of the mobility period. Any remaining funds shall have to be refunded, except if agreed differently with the sending organisation.

Article 3: Data Protection

All personal data contained in the agreement shall be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the EU institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Such data shall be processed solely in connection with the implementation and follow-up of the agreement by the sending organisation, the National Agency and the European Commission, without prejudice to the possibility of passing the data to the bodies responsible for inspection and audit in accordance with EU legislation[1] (Court of Auditors or European Antifraud Office (OLAF)).

The participant may, on written request, gain access to their personal data and correct any information that is inaccurate or incomplete. They should address any questions regarding the processing of their personal data to the sending organisation and/or the National Agency. The participant may lodge a complaint against the processing of their personal data to the European Data Protection Supervisor with regard to the use of the data by the European Commission.

Article 4: Checks and Audits

The parties of the agreement undertake to provide any detailed information requested by the European Commission, the National Agency of the Netherlands or by any other outside body authorised by the European Commission or the National Agency of the Netherlands to check that the mobility period and the provisions of the agreement are being properly implemented.

[1] Additional information on the purpose of processing your personal data, what data we collect, who has access to it and how it is protected, can be found at:

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/specific-privacy-statement_en