Erasmus+ Mobility for staff

The Erasmus+ staff mobility programme is an EU-funded grant that helps finance UM staff mobility with other Erasmus+ partner institutions. The activities that are covered by UM’s Staff Mobility Policy are:

• Job-shadowing (you shadow a colleague at another institution to gain a better understanding of his/her work and to exchange knowledge and experience) and partner staff weeks (for an overview of available staff weeks read more by visiting IMOTION). The staff week must include or be able to include a job shadowing component to be eligible for the Erasmus+ grant.
• Research activities (e.g. developing a joint paper, collecting data, presenting research outcomes etc.) for early career researchers (4^th year PhD students and first and second year post docs) 

If you would like to participate in this programme, you will have to arrange the mobility (job shadowing / staff week / training) yourself. The duration of your mobility can range from two to five working days. Erasmus+ provides a partial contribution to the cost of the stay abroad. However, as the Erasmus+ grant only provides partial compensation for the costs (see below), it will be supplemented with UM funds up to a maximum grant of €1,500 per mobility (Erasmus+ and UM funds combined). As UM is a Dutch public university, these top-ups are subject to the nationally agreed-upon maximum remuneration amounts for foreign business trips. 

 UM staff visiting a partner institution abroad for a training mobility (Jobshadowing/staff week/research activities) may be eligible for funding for a minimum duration of two days to a maximum of five days if: 

• they have a P-number
• receive salary from UM
• they are employed by Student Service Centre (SSC), Finance, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), Faculty of Law, MUO, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and Faculty of Science and Engineering.  (for 2026, new faculties and service centres will be selected)

• their proposed staff mobility includes one or more of the following elements:

   

  • Job shadowing (you shadow a colleague from another institution to better understand their work and exchange knowledge and experience)
  • staff training weeks (for an overview of available staff training weeks, visit IMOTION). The staff week must include or be able to add a job-shadowing component to qualify for the Erasmus+ grant.

  • research activities (e.g. developing a joint paper, collecting data, presenting research results, etc.) for early career researchers (4th year PhD students and first and second year post docs)

     

 Please note: Erasmus+ funding is not possible for conferences

Before you apply

Step 1: An Erasmus+ staff mobility is possible only in one of the participating countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Turkey). 

Contact the institution yourself to get approval for your mobility there.

Step 2: Request permission from your manager or head of department at UM. 

Application

Step 3: Complete the application form within the deadline and send it to the Staff Mobility Coordinator. Within two weeks after the deadline, you will receive an email with the outcome of the selection. 

If you are selected for an Erasmus+ staff mobility you have to: 

Step 4: Complete the form Staff Mobility Agreement for Training, make sure the form is signed by your manager, a representative of the receiving institution and yourself. 
 
Step 5: Send the Staff Mobility Agreement for Training via email to the Staff Mobility Coordinator.

Step 6: The Staff Mobility Coordinator will check your form and if correct, send it to the Central Erasmus+ Office.

Step 7: The Central Erasmus+ Office will send you a Grant Agreement, which needs to be filled out at least 2 weeks before the start of your mobility. 

Step 8: Finally, you will receive a Certificate of Attendance Staff Mobility. This form must be completed by the receiving institution and must be sent via email to the Central Erasmus+ Office within two weeks after the end of your mobility.

Step 9: The day after your mobility ends, you will receive an automated email invitation to fill out the online Participant Report detailing your Erasmus+ mobility. Completing this last step is mandatory.

Insurance

 As a staff member of Maastricht University, your Erasmus+ training period abroad will be covered by AIG Travel Guard Business Travel Insurance. Please note; if you extend your stay make sure to take out a travel insurance for the private part of your stay. You can find more information on UMployee. 

Declare your costs

You can apply for a deposit before the start of your mobility to cover your costs. Within 2 weeks after your mobility, you have to provide evidence of those costs (tickets, invoices etc.). You can declare a maximum of €1,500.- per mobility. 

Expenses for accommodation and other cost

You can only declare a maximum as indicated by the Dutch Government based on the country/city your mobility takes place in. You can find the rates here.

For example: 

You go on mobility to Florence for 4 days (3 nights). 

You can declare a maximum of €231/night (3 x €231 = € 693) for your hotel and a maximum of €125/day (4 x €125 = € 500) for other costs like dinner, public transport, etc. 

A maximum of €307 is left for travel expenses. 

Expenses for travel

Participating staff members can use the following transportation options in line with the applicable provisions.

Train
If the travel time by train for your business trip is a maximum of eight hours, we will encourage you to make your business trip by train. The travel time is the time involved in travelling, calculated from the employee's work location to the destination. This includes pre- and post-transport to the station or airport and includes waiting time (check-in time). 

Plane
If the travel time by train is more than 8 hours, you can travel by plane. You are entitled to a direct flight if available.  You can still choose to make the business trip by train.

This is additional information about the construction of the scholarship, this has nothing to do with the costs that can be declared.

For UM employees, as explained above, a maximum allowance of €1,500 per mobility is reimbursed, but this UM Erasmus+ staff mobility grant consists of three funding components:

1. a daily allowance set by Erasmus+ (for accommodation & meals)
2. a travel cost allowance set by Erasmus+ (to and from the mobility destination)
3. a UM top-up to cover costs above the Erasmus+ grant amounts, up to a maximum total grant per mobility of €1,500.

Daily allowance amounts

Travel cost amounts

Based on the travel distance per participant. Travel distances must be calculated using the distance calculator from the European Commission. The applicant must indicate the distance of a one-way trip to calculate the amount of the EU grant that will be used for the round trip.

*Applicable when an employee travels by train or bus to the mobility site