Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments
Staff mobility for teaching assignments is a field of activity that allows a staff member, who is obliged to lecture at an ECHE holder higher education institution in Turkey, to teach students at an ECHE holder higher education institution in one of the program countries and to perform academic/educational activities jointly with the partner institution in relation to lecturing.
Staff mobility for teaching assignments is an activity that is based on days, and the grant is paid for the days that lectures are given. Therefore, the lecturing schedule must be specified based on the days in the Staff Mobility for Teaching- Mobility Agreement.
Minimum and Maximum Period for Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments
For staff teaching mobility, the duration of the activity is at least 2 consecutive days, excluding travel, for mobility with countries associated with the program; and at least 5 consecutive days for mobility with countries not associated with the program.
In addition, minimum of 8 teaching hours are mandatory for the activity to be considered eligible. When the duration of the activity is longer than 1-week, mandatory teaching hours must be increased in proportion to duration. (For example, as 8 hours of teaching are mandatory for a 1-week activity, a 2-week activity must cover minimum 16 hours of teaching.)
If it is observed in the certificate of attendance that the beneficiary performs an activity for less than 2 days and/or teaches less than the required duration except for force majeure as part of Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments, the activity is deemed invalid and the grant is not paid to the beneficiary.
The activities for which minimum duration could not be completed due to force majeure are accepted and the grant is given for the attendance period, provided that the force majeure is documented and the travel costs are paid based on distance calculator.
Our office should be contacted before an event or a situation is considered force majeure.
Grant Support
The grant granted to the personnel benefiting from Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments is a contribution and the grant is not intended to cover all expenses related to the period spent abroad.
Daily Grant Amount by Country
The daily amount to be given to the staff to benefit from Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments is calculated by taking into consideration the amounts indicated in the table below according to the time spent in travelling and the country to be travelled to. The amounts shown in the table are in Euro.
No grant will be paid for the days that do not include any activity or cannot be documented that the activity is appropriate for the type of activity performed.
Staff Mobility To The Countries That Are Not Affiliated With The Program (International Mobility)
Our university has allocated 20% of the KA 131 Staff Mobility (regardless of teaching/training) grant to send students to the countries (1-14 Regions) not related to the Program in the table below.
Countries That Are Not Related To The Program (Region 1-14 Countries)
Calculation of Travel Expenses
The amount of travel expenses to be paid to the staff benefiting from Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments should be calculated using “Distance Calculator”. The distance calculator can be accessed from the link down below:
https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/distance-calculator
By using distance calculator, the distance between the location where staff member is residing and the place of activity must be determined in km and the travel grant must be calculated per the below table.
The grant equivalent seen in the below table for the kilometer value calculated by the distance calculator corresponds to the round-trip fee. The amount is not multiplied by two. The fact that staff makes a connecting travel does not affect the distance calculated by the distance calculation above.
*Personal support is provided for up to 4 days for the travel days to the staff who choose to travel with the means of Green Travel (use of transportation vehicles to reduce carbon emissions, for example: bus, train, car sharing) type.
The starting point of travel is accepted as the location of sending institution and the place of activity is the location of host institution. In case of the starting point of travel is a city other than the city of sending institution or the activity takes place in a city other than where host institution is located, and if this change necessitates to take another distance band into consideration, then the travel invoices are demanded and a grant is given according to the distance covered. If another starting point or place of activity is reported, the reason of this difference is specified in the report. Furthermore, documents and invoices showing the starting and ending points of travel are kept in staff’s file to be submitted in potential audits.
*Beneficiaries who prove that the travel grant allocated based on the distance band in Table does not cover at least 70% of total travel expenses may demand the remaining amount as exceptional costs, provided that the situation is documented. Additional grant in this scope cannot exceed 80% of total travel expenses.
Payment to be Made to Staff
Whenever possible, higher education institutions give the grant to the beneficiary before the activity period starts or before the beneficiary goes abroad, provided that the Center receives the grants paid by the EU Commission and transfers these grants to the beneficiary institution.
Grants are paid in euros without being subject to tax deductions.
If the activity does not take place, no grant is paid to the beneficiary.
Deductions in Payment
If the documents (certificate of attendance) proving the participation in mobility activity are not submitted, then the mobility is deemed invalid, no grant is paid to staff member and the initial grant payment is refunded. Amounts which are not paid despite being stipulated in the first planning and/or refunded by the staff must be refunded to the Center.
Zero-Grant (“0” Grant) Staff
If desired, staff can participate in the activity without any grant. Staff must still make an application to benefit from the activity although without a grant and such application must still be subject to evaluation together with other applications.
The difference of zero-grant staff is that they are not included in budget calculations and that no payment is made to them. The fact that staff do not get any grants does not mean that they will not be included in the selection process.
Returning Before the Planned Activity Period Ends
As mentioned in the General Call for Proposals announced by the European Commission, the minimum duration of staff mobility is 2 days. If a period of mobility is shorter than the minimum duration, no grant is paid for such mobility.
If a staff member returns from the mobility activity earlier than the planned period due to force majeure (such as compelling reasons, family reasons, health issues, disasters), the amount of daily grant corresponding to the period spent abroad is given to the staff member based on the distance calculator. If the amount paid is more than the grant calculated for the time spent, the excessive amount is required to be refunded.
Staff who could not complete the minimum staff mobility period of two days (excluding travels) due to force majeure are allowed to compensate and take part in an activity at the same or a different institution by signing a new teaching/training program and staff mobility agreement within the same agreement period and without being subject to the selection process again. In this case, the first activity before returning due to force majeure and the compensation activity must be reported on the Mobility Tool (MT+) separately, and travel and daily grants must be paid according to the dates of activities carried out. The number of days with grant for the compensation activity cannot be more than the number of days with grant for the first planned activity, and the right to compensation cannot be transferred to the next agreement periods.
If a staff who stayed more than the minimum activity period must return due to a personal force majeure, they are not allowed to return to compensate the incomplete activity.
With regards to the incidents involving staff returning before completing the stipulated activity period due to general force majeure (disasters, strikes, etc. in host region), the National Agency and the European Commission examines each case separately to make a collective decision for situations such as the acceptance or repeating of the activity.
PARTICIPATION IN COUNTRY OF CITIZENSHIP
It is possible for a staff who is a citizen of one of the Program Countries and resides in Türkiye to participate in a mobility activity in his/her country of citizenship; however, such staff members are given low priority during the evaluation process pursuant to the relevant article.
Date of Application: NOVEMBER 12th, 2024- DECEMBER 13th, 2024
Application Form: erasmus.istinye.edu.tr
Responsible Unit: International Office
Hamidiye Mah. Selçuklu Caddesi No: 10 D Blok Kağıthane/Istanbul, (Vadi D Campus)
Staff that Can Apply: All Academic and Administrative Staff.
Letter of Acceptance/Invitation (Staff applications without the Letter of Acceptance/Invitation at the time of application will not be accepted.)
*The Letter of Acceptance/Invitation must cover the open mobility dates in a period of minimum 2 business days and maximum 5 business days on the stationery letterhead of the institution where the mobility will take place. (Example: 06/05/2024- 10/05/2024)
*The Letter must be signed/stamped.
See the Sample E-mail to be Used While Searching for an Institution and Sample Acceptance Letter:
https://erasmus.istinye.edu.tr/en/announcement/sample-documents-be-used-erasmus-staff-mobility
See the template of Mobility Agreement:
https://erasmus.istinye.edu.tr/en/staff-mobility/teaching/documents
Estimated Quota:
Staff Mobility for Teaching: 4 (For countries not affiliated with the program, the number of quotas is 1 out of 4.)
*If eligible staff waive their rights or in case of additional grant, the WAITING LIST will be taken into consideration. (Additional quota will be requested in addition to the grant allocated to our university.)
Mobility Dates: Mobility must be completed by NOVEMBER 30th, 2025, at the latest.
Duration of Mobility: Mobility grant will be given for maximum 5 business days, and in addition, round-trip travel grant will be given using “Distance Calculator”.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For the planned dates of the mobility not to cause any disruption at our university, the planned mobility dates should be consulted with the relevant unit/department manager.
Approval form on our website with the link below should be filled/signed and delivered to our office by hand.
https://erasmus.istinye.edu.tr/en/staff-mobility/teaching/documents
EXAM INFORMATION
In order to benefit from Erasmus staff mobility, a minimum language proficiency of B2 level is required.
Staff members who hold one of the exams listed below will be exempt from the foreign language exam to be held at our university and will be assigned a score based on the result of the exam as indicated in the table.
*The validity of exam results is 5 years for all exams.
**Candidates with a bachelor's or master's degree from a country where English is the native language will be considered to have a score of '100' for the exam.
Staff members who do not meet the exemption conditions mentioned above are required to participate in the exam to be organized by the Foreign Languages Department.
The English Proficiency Exam will be held in person on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. The exam consists of listening, reading, writing, and speaking sections. The listening and reading sections will include short-answer questions, the writing section will consist of open-ended/long-answer questions, and the speaking section will involve a 5-minute face-to-face conversation. Each section of the exam is worth 25 points. Your final score for the English Proficiency Exam will be the sum of the points from each section.
The exam time and exam room information will be announced on our website (https://yabancidiller.istinye.edu.tr/tr/duyurular) along with the exam schedule.
All processes related to the foreign language exam are conducted by the Foreign Languages Department. Therefore, if you have any questions regarding the exam, you should contact us only via the email address erasmusenglishexam@istinye.edu.tr. Questions sent to the email addresses erasmus@istinye.edu.tr and foreignlanguages@istinye.edu.tr regarding the exam will not be answered and will be redirected to erasmusenglishexam@istinye.edu.tr.
*This information has been revised according to the Erasmus 2024 handbook as of November 21, 2024.