Notice: Any information on this page may be overridden by new policies by the University. All efforts will be made to make this page updated to the latest policies.
Parties Involved in the Procedure
- Departmental Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator (Academic Coordinator): Dr. Emre Uzun
- Administrative Coordinator (Dean's Office): Ms. Yelda Ateş
- Administrative Coordinator (Bilkent Exchange Office): Mr. Erkin Tarhan
Check out the slides that explain the basics of the procedures.
Application to the Program
This process is coordinated by the Bilkent Exchange Office.
- Online applications are done once every year and becomes active around November-December. All undergraduate students will receive the announcement email.
- Your application will be to go to a Partner University during the Fall or Spring semester of the following academic year. For example, if you applied in November 2017, you may go during Fall 2018 or Spring 2019.
- Check out the list of Partner Universities.
- Complete your application online through both https://app.erasmus.bilkent.edu.tr/ and https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/. (This may change and will be announced with the application email.)
- Be aware of the language requirements of the Partner Universities. Note that the Partner Universities may update these requirements at any time without our knowledge.
- Students going to Universidad de La Laguna to must have a Spanish A2 and Universita degli Studi di Perugia to have an Italian B1 proficiency. You MUST have proof of proficiency for these two universities when you make your Erasmus application.
- English is currently sufficient for all other universities. However;
- TU Eindhoven requires an IELTS exam score equivalent to level C1 or higher,
- Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha requires a score (from an international exam like TOEFL, IELTS..) equivalent to B1 or higher
- Universite Paris-Dauphine requires a minimum level of B2 (TOEFL IBT 92, IELTS 6.5, Cambridge FCE score 160) for courses in English for all non-native English speakers.
- You will need proof of proficiency of English if you are placed to these partner universities.
Placements
Your placements will be done according to your ranking among all other applicants (CGPA and ENG 101-102 grades) and the available quota to at the Partner Universities you preferred (you will have 5 preferences available.) No placements will be made to any Partner University you do not have in your preferences.
- If you are placed to a Partner University: You will be notified with the result. If you change your mind, you may revoke your application. However, you will not further be placed to any other partner university even if quota becomes available.
- If you are NOT placed to a Partner University: You may be placed to one of your preferences if quota becomes available (as another placed student revokes their application).
Nominations
This process is coordinated by the Dean's Office.
Nomination is the process of informing the Partner University about the students they would expect as an Exchange/Erasmus student. Usually it is 3-4 months prior to your arrival at the Partner University. Once a student is nominated, the quota is consumed and usually cannot be taken back if the student revokes their application. Therefore, revocations after nomination can only be done under highly unlikely situations.
Before the Mobility Period
Upon the nomination, the Partner University will send you specific application procedures including visa applications. They will also ask you to determine the courses you would like to take along with (usually) a list of courses to be offered during the semester you would like to go.
At this step you need to coordinate with the departmental Exchange/Erasmus coordinator via the Erasmus Wizard tool for planning the courses. This system will allow you to do several operations related to course planning and prepare necessary forms automatically. Please see Ms. Yelda Ateş (from the Dean's Office) for an account on this system.
Pre-Approval Form
You are required to observe previously accepted/rejected courses in your nominated Partner University, and make a list of courses you wish to take.
- If the course you wish to take is available on Erasmus Wizard and the course relation defined fits your curriculum requirement, simply add the course to your list. No further action is needed.
- If the course you wish to take is NOT available on Erasmus Wizard but the course is available on this static list of previously transferred courses and course relation defined on this list fits your curriculum requirement, simply add the course on Erasmus Wizard and state that "it was previously approved" in the comment section of your request. Then define the course relation and put it to your list.
- If the course you wish to take is NOT available on Erasmus Wizard (and the static list) or the course relation defined does not fit your curriculum requirement:
- If the course is not available, first send a request through Erasmus Wizard to add the course regardless of the type of the course (Mandatory, IE Restricted Elective, Social Sciences Core Elective, etc.). The syllabus of the course to be transferred must be added. The coordinator will approve the request if the course is appropriate.
- Send a request through Erasmus Wizard to match the course to a curriculum requirement (Mandatory, IE Restricted Elective, Social Sciences Core Elective, etc.) along with a matching Bilkent course (if applicable).
- If a course you wish to take is similar enough to a Mandatory course, or a course in the IE Restricted Elective or IE Restricted Elective on Data, Risk and Uncertainty pools send an email to the Bilkent course coordinator of the said course and cc it to the departmental Erasmus/Exchange coordinator. In the email, state your intent to take and transfer the course and PROVIDE THE SYLLABUS as an attachment. Bilkent Course Coordinator will have the final say on the similarity of these courses.
- If a course you wish to take is similar enough to a course in the Breadth, Arts Core and Social Science Core Elective pools, match the courses in your request and send it through Erasmus Wizard. DO NOT SEND an email to anyone. Department Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator will have the final say on the similarity of these courses.
- If there is not a similar course in Bilkent to match the course you wish to take at the Partner University, but you think the course fits to the requirements of an elective pool, simply request it as the appropriate elective pool only. Department Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator will have the final say on the similarity of these courses.
- If you plan to take a course as an Additional course to the curriculum, follow the procedure of Breadth, Arts Core and Social Science Core Elective pools.
- For any possibility stated above, if there is a matching Bilkent course, but it is not available on Erasmus Wizard, send an email to Ms. Yelda Ateş.
Once all courses are confirmed, you prepare the pre-approval form in Erasmus Wizard. After coordinator approval, you can download a signed copy of the PDF from Erasmus Wizard. The forms will later be discussed in the Faculty Executive Board who has the final say on the course relations and will approve or reject your form.
FAILURE TO PREPARE AND SUBMIT PRE-APPROVAL FORM BEFORE THE MOBILITY PERIOD STARTS MAY RESULT IN SOME/ALL COURSES NOT TO BE TRANSFERRED.
Learning Agreement
Learning Agreement (printed copy, or editable like MS Word, Google Docs) is mainly prepared for the Partner University. You submit the learning agreement for coordinator approval. You include your signature first. The coordinators will not sign any form without your signature. You do not have to wait for the Faculty Executive Board approval, you may prepare learning agreement after coordinator approval of the pre-approval form. Note that some Partner Universities instead use an online version of the learning agreement, which are signed by the administrative coordinators (not Departmental Coordinator).
THIS STEP SHOULD BE COMPLETED DURING THE SEMESTER BEFORE THE MOBILITY STARTS.
During the Mobility Period
Mobility starts at the Partner University. In case the pre-approved courses could not be taken due to schedule conflict, prerequisites, or that the course is no longer offered, you should immediately email the Department Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator and propose alternative courses. Coordinator deletes the existing form and the student repeats the steps above to prepare a new one. The Faculty Executive Board do not discuss the amendment, therefore the transfer is not guaranteed unless the changed course was previously accepted in an earlier semester.
After the Mobility Period
No steps to be taken by the student at this stage.
- The official transcript will be sent by the Partner University directly to the Bilkent Exchange Office, then forwarded to the Department Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator.
- The coordinator prepares final course transfer form based on the grades on the official transcript and the pre-approval status of the courses.
- The coordinator submits the course transfer list to the Faculty Executive Board for final approval.
- The Faculty Executive Board sends the list of transferable courses to the student affairs.
- Courses with a passing grade (passing grades determined by the Dean's Office) and pre-approved will usually be transferred in lieu of the curriculum requirement with the letter grade T. They will not have an effect on your CGPA.
- Courses with a failing grade (failing grades determined by the Dean's Office) will appear as "failed" on your transcript but will not have any effect on your CGPA. However, if you have a failed course during Erasmus, you will not be granted a ranking (first, second, third) when graduating, even though you satisfy all other requirements for these ranking.
