Overview

The Bartlett School of Planning has exchange agreements with a number of universities across Europe through the ERASMUS Exchange Programme (but please note that UCL does not participate in the "free mover" scheme). Currently the school has ERASMUS links with:

• University of Dortmund, Akademisches Auslandsamt, Germany
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

In addition, the Bartlett School of Planning has links with non-EU universities as part of specially drawn up inter-university student exchange agreements. These universities are:

• University of Melbourne, Australia
• University of New South Wales, Australia
• Hong Kong University, PRC

These links are subject to review and change on an annual basis and opportunities will change year to year. We have a quota of students we can send to each of our partner universities. Some of these are over-subscribed and the non-European places are determined via open competition and assessment of students' academic merit. The time period for overseas study is determined by overseas partner institutions’ preferences and the structure of the student’s academic programme.

UCL students going abroad

ERASMUS Exchange Programme

This EU scheme exists to encourage you to study abroad at one of our partner universities in Europe as part of your UCL work. The work you do abroad is counted towards your UCL undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Postgraduates writing dissertations can use the scheme to help with their research without necessarily following any courses at their host university. The Bartlett School of Planning is especially keen to encourage more of its students to use this scheme. Experience abroad helps you compete for jobs and opens up a lot of opportunities.

What can you do there?

1. Find out what is on offer. Identify individual modules which you would like to take while you are away and match these to the modules within UCL from the same period you would be missing. Look at the list of partner universities. Some have good web pages; others have only printed catalogues (which we may or may not have in London.

2. Secure the agreement of your course/year tutor or supervisor.

3. If you are a UCL student aiming for RTPI or other professional recognition on a professionally-recognised Bartlett course, you must:

• identify what compulsory courses (or parts of compulsory courses) you would be missing while you are abroad;

• find out whether any of the work you will be doing while you are away could be treated as equivalent to a compulsory course unit (or a part of a course unit) that you would be missing here;

• this must be sorted out and agreed well in advance, or you could jeopardise your RTPI (or other) professional standing.

4. If you are a Bartlett School planning students you should get the arrangements confirmed in writing with the Schools International Programmes Director, Professor Mark Tewdwr-Jones.

When can I go?

UCL will alert all students to the opportunity for study abroad automatically at the commencement of studies. A timetable will be set out, together with procedures and requirements at different times. For undergraduate students, visits are not permitted in the first year of study but are normally encouraged in the second year. Start planning as early as you can: you may need language preparation (see below) and it may take a while to prepare for the best choice of destination. All applications are still subject to review and assessment on academic ability. If successful, you should get your plans approved in the spring or early summer of the session before you want to go away.

Postgraduate students on a one-year MSc or Diploma courses will be informed of possibilities and deadlines at the start of programmes.

Visits can be for periods of 3 months (September to December) to 6 months (January to June) for undergraduates. Postgraduate students may be able to go in the spring and/or summer, depending on partner institution.

How will this affect my marks?

In each case the agreement will specify whether your work abroad will be marked abroad or brought back and marked in London. In any event any course-work you submit to the foreign University must also be copied so that it can be submitted to the Bartlett.

How is the visit financed?

For EU partner institutions, after the partner visit has been approved, and shortly before you leave, the UCL international office will issue a cheque to you for an ERASMUS grant. This is normally in addition to any grants you may already have. The UCL International Office (international@ucl.ac.uk) can advise you of the amount you will probably get as an ERASMUS grant to help with travel and living costs. They can also advise you whether you are eligible if you are not a citizen of an EU country.

While you are away you (or your sponsor) continue to pay your UCL fees. You pay no fees at the host university.

If you are supported by a grant or scholarship, you will normally find that this will continue to be payable to you, but check up on this: you may at least have to notify your local education authority or other sponsor, and make arrangements for the grant payments to reach your bank while you are away.

For non-EU partner institutions, there is no UCL financial support available.

Are there any language issues?

Evidently, to study abroad you need a good enough grasp of the language and we have to ensure that you meet this criterion. Amsterdam and a few Scandinavian universities teach a few basic courses in English but even there it is best if you can at least conduct conversations in the language. Prepare by taking language courses, if necessary - either UCL course units in the Language Centre or evening courses there or elsewhere.

Make contact with our current ERASMUS guests from your destination country and see if they will exchange tuition with you. The ERASMUS fund may be able to help with the cost of language preparation before you travel, but not while you are away.

What about accommodation?

Some universities provide housing; others give advice on finding housing in the open market; others leave this to the students to organise. You need to make contact well in advance in every case. Ask the Erasmus contact in your desired host university. The Planning Office room 429a has up-to-date details of contacts.

Should I maintain contact whilst I'm away?

Yes, make sure you establish good email or other contact arrangements with the Bartlett School of Planning Director of International Programmes, Mark Tewdwr-Jones (m.tewdwr-jones@ucl.ac.uk) and your tutor. It is particularly important that you make contact if your normal arrangements fail, or in an emergency (+44 (0)20 7679 6456 or 7501 (or fax 7502))

Students from abroad

Students from partner universities should contact the Bartlett School of Planning's international coordinator, Prof. Mark Tewdwr-Jones (m.tewdwr-jones@ucl.ac.uk) as early as possible when making their plans.  Prospective students will need to make a formal application via UCL's International Office.

A complete list of modules available in the Bartlett School of Planning is listed on our website.  Please use the Undergraduate Modules list or the Postgraduate Modules list (as appropriate) to help plan your visit. 

Students from institutions which are not part of our agreed list of partner institutions (see Overview tab on the left) are not normally permitted to study at the Bartlett School of Planning. Students studying architecture and construction in other universities are alerted to the fact that the formal links in place are with the Bartlett School of Planning, and not with Bartlett School of Architecture or Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management. There are no opportunities for affiliate students to take modules in the Bartlett School of Architecture or the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, but there may be scope to take modules in other UCL faculties.