• 4.1 Final documents
• 4.2 Recognition of ERASMUS credits
• 4.3 ERASMUS+ Certificate
• 4.4 WellCome Project und International "Stammtisch" (regulars' table)

4.1 Final documents
Please do not forget to first download the templates and then upload the following completed documents into your participant's account within four weeks after the conclusion of your ERASMUS study period (if not stated otherwise):

1. Confirmation of Period of Study (detailing start end end-date of study period)
2. final Grant Agreement (containing the actual start and end-date of your study period has to be established)
3. personal testimonial (see template with instructions in your account and also on the download page) 
4. language course certificates (if applicable, including proof of payment in case fees incurred)
5. Your original=first Grant Agreement has to be handed in as paper original with your original signature on it by mail or in person with us at the international office.
6. Official Transcript - You should receive it within 5 weeks after completion of your ERASMUS mobility. Once you receive it, scan it and upload it into your account. The transcript may be uploaded after the 5-week period without penalty.
7. Transcript of Recognition of ERASMUS credits at Goethe-University as provided in your account has to be uploaded within 10 weeks after completion of the ERASMUS period. 
8. EU Online Survey has to be completed in the Mobility Tool+ of the EU-Commission after you receive an email with the necessary link from them.
9. The final OLS-language test has to be completed in the Online Linguistic Support-system.

We are obliged to present all these documents on occasion of the regular audits by DAAD. Only if your Confirmation of Period of Study, your final Grant Agreement and your personal testimonial have been uploaded and checked as correct and we received confirmation in the EU mobility tool that you have filled in the EU Online Survey, we will make the final outpayment of the outstanding amount of your ERASMUS mobility grant. Participants whose mobility period ends after August 01 must communicate this to Mr. Purkert at the IO.
We advise you that we will not answer emails requesting information if all documents are completed, since you can check this in your participant's account easily.

EAttention: Without a proof of the factual dates of your ERASMUS study period that is signed and stamped by the host university at the end of the mobility period, we are required by ERASMUS regulations to demand full back-payment of the ERASMUS grant. (Unfortunately we had to do this a number of times in the past.) The easiest way to obtain this proof is to use the Confirmation of Period of Study you are provided with in your participant's account.

4.1.1 Confirmation of Period of Study Please take the Confirmation of Period of Study to the staff of the international office at the host institution, fill in the end date and let them sign and stamp the document. If the host institution provides an own document  (Certificate of Participation, Participation Certificate), we do accept this, if start and end date are listed and it was signed at the end of the mobility period. The Confirmation of Period of Study has to be uploaded into your participant's account and is NOT to be handed in with your departmental coordinator!

4.1.2 Final Grant Agreement The original Grant Agreement had to be signed and uploaded into the participant's account before the beginning of the mobility period and in cases of an extension an updated version had to be uploaded. Since the factual start and end dates vary from the originally planned dates, a final Grant Agreement containing the factual dates and amount of funding is provided. You have to download, print and sign it and then upload the scan of the complete document into your participant's account.

4.1.3 Personal Testimonial Please write a minimum 3 DinA4-page personal testimonial and upload it into your participant's account as a pdf-file, so we can publish it on our website an Goethe students interested in an ERASMUS mobility may get first hand information by their predecessors. Please refer to your own experiences concerning application, arrival, first weeks, search for accomodation, formalities, language courses, support at home and host institution, system of studies, libraries, computer labs, internet cafés, nightlife, day and weekend trips. Please use the template provided as a download. Please provide your departmental coordinator with a copy (email attachment) as well.

4.1.4 Language Course Certificates (if applicable, including proof of payment in case fees incurred)  If you have successfully participated in a preparatory language course at the home or/and host institution please upload the proof of participation (including start and end date) as a pdf-file into your participant's account. If fees incurred, include the proof of payment in that same pdf-file. The same applies for language courses with costs you parttook in during the ERASMUS study period. We only have limited funds available for reimbursement for up to two language courses and maximum 250€ total per ERASMUS participant in 2015/16 and only 100€ in 2016/17. 

4.1.5 Original = first Grant Agreement If not yet completed please hand in your first Grant Agreement as an originally signed paper originial with us in the International Office at Goethe University. If you do not have that anymore, please print it again in the same step in your participant's account that you did the first time, sign it and hand it in by mail or personally. Once we receive it, we check it off and you receive an email that this step is completed.

4.1.6 Official Transcript/Academic Transcript/Transcript of Records The Official Transcript of the host institution contains the courses you took and the number of ECTS credits and the results. It should be accompanied by an explanatory page if only the local grades and credits are listed, to make the academic recognition at Goethe University easier. The Official Transcript usually is provided automatically and either handed to you after completion of the ERASMUS study period or sent to you by mail or as an email attachment or send to us at the International Office. If we receive it, we send you an email asking you to pick it up or if we sould send it to you by mail. You have to upload a scan of this transcript into your participant's account. You need the original for the academic recognition of your courses, we do not need an original at the IO.

4.1.7 Transcript of Recognition of ERASMUS credits at Goethe-University is provided in your participant's account once you have handed in the original Grant Agreement and uploaded the Confirmation of Period of Study, the final Grant Agreement, your personal testimonial and the transcript of the host institution. We will check it once the final outpayment has been made to you. The academic recognition process should be completed within 5 weeks after you handed in your host institution's transcript of records with the person responsible for the recognition. The transcript of recognition therefore has to be uploaded within 10 weeks after completion of the ERASMUS period and has to be signed by the person responsible for recognizing the ERASMUS credits. 

4.1.8 EU Online Survey Please fill in this online questionary in the Mobility Tool of the EU-Commission once you have received an email with the request to do so and a link to the survey. This email is sent to you shortly after the planned end date of your ERASMUS study period, which was imported into the EU Mobility Tool before the start of our mobility period. The IO of Goethe University does not send this email, it is sent out of the EU Mobilty Tool.

4.1.9. If you had to take the initial language test in the Online Linguistic Support-system, you also have to take the final OLS-language test.

4.2 Academic Recognition of ERASMUS Credits
According to the rules of the ERASMUS Programme the creditcs received at the host institution should be fully recognized at the home institution.  All academic istitutions parttaking in the ERASMUS Programme had to commit themselves to the ERASMUS Charter, wherein this goal is set. Learning Agreement and official Transcript are the relevant documents for the recognition process. Only those courses can be recognized, which were agreed upon in the Learning Agreement and which were proven as completed successfully in the transcript. The recognition of foreign credits can be refused only if the level of studies was not equivalent to that at the home institution or if other requirements were not met. The recognition of credits at Goethe University is a matter of the departments, departmental coordinators or examination offices, the International Office is no player in this. Please seek advice regarding recognition possibilities before your ERASMUS the mobility, peferably when you seek approval of the Learning Agreement.  
Judical information: On October 01, 2007 an important change was implemented in the process of recognition. Through ratification of the „Lisbon Recognition Convention“ recognition processes for foreign study credits should be simplified for those students studying in the signatory countries. 
The improvements in detail:

• Transparent process: Information on deadlines and contacts has to be communicated transparently and the recognition has to be conducted in a timely manner.
• Reversal of evidence: In order not to recognize a course, the home institution has to prove that the workload and result of that foreign course are not equivalent to the standard of the home institution. This stands in contrast to before, when the student had to prove the equivalence. 
• Lodging a complaint: If a recognition of foreign courses/credits has been refused, a possibility of lodging a complaint has to be made available to the student.
• To prove that a course is not equivalent, a mere scematic comparison is not sufficient. The equivalence with regards to content, workload and quality is of higher importance. That means that results/outcome of learning may not differ significantly. If recognition is refused or undecided upon, legal action may be taken. (More information: www.fzs.de/lissabon)

Checklist - Prerequesites for the recognition of foreign courses/credits are: 
1. The course has to appear in the signed Learning Areement in table A.
2. The Learning Agreement has to be approved before or at the start of the mobility by the departmental coordinator or person responsible for the recognition and the level and content of the course is evaluated for equivalence. The equivalent course or module etc. has to appear in table B.
3. You have to attend the course throughout the time of duration.
4. The course at the host institution has to match the course at Goethe University with regards to content and level and workload.
5. You have to comlete all intermediate and final examinations etc. successfully.  
6. The final result and credits of the course are included in the official Transcript of the host institution.
7. Additionally you can use the form we provide in the download area, Course Certificate for Temporary Students, to prove the participation in a course.

4.3 ERASMUS+ certificate

After completion of the ERASMUS administrative process you receive the official ERASMUS+ Certificate in the German and English language. It is provided automatically in your participant's account after you have completed and we have checked all necessary steps which include the official academic transcript of the host institution and the transcript of academic recognition of Goethe University and after you have received the final outpayment of the mobility grant.

4.4 WellCome Project und International "Stammtisch" (regulars' table)
If you have an interest in getting/keeping in contact with international students, please contact the WellCome-Projekt and sign up as a mentor for guest students or visit the international regulars' table. More information here.