Going abroad

The allocation of a destination will necessarily be subject to selection.

Students going abroad in A2 will spend a full academic year with our partners, i.e. two semesters, corresponding to 60 European credits (ECTS).

If the academic year abroad is not validated, the student must repeat the A2 year at a French university (there is no 2nd year program at Sciences Po Grenoble).

The opinions of the teachers of the method conferences and of the two compulsory languages will be taken into account for the selections. As language proficiency criteria are imposed under bilateral agreements signed with our foreign partners, and a good level of language skills is necessary for students to pass their exams abroad, the student's language level at the end of the first semester of A1 will also be taken into account.

Applications are examined on an individual and competitive basis, as there are more applications than places available for many destinations. The destination awarded after this selection process, by decision of the Research Department and the International Relations Department, is final.

Reminder of a point in the Erasmus+ regulations: any student who has not completed his/her year and whose jury has decided that he/she should repeat the year cannot be sent abroad the following year, even if he/she has been selected in advance.

As a first step towards securing a place at a university abroad, students will be able to choose from a number of destinations on our list of agreements. Students must enter a list of seven destinations on an online form. They may also indicate a particular motivating factor.

Academic stays abroad replace the year of study that the student would have spent at Sciences Po Grenoble. For this reason, alearning agreement will be drawn up prior to the student's departure, detailing the course program to be followed at our partner institution. This document will be signed by the student, the Sciences Po Grenoble Pedagogical Manager and the partner university.

This academic stay is an integral part of the student's Bachelor's program, so the courses chosen must follow the main themes of a Bachelor's degree in political studies (law, economics, history, political science, sociology or international relations), and be in line with the partnerships established between the foreign universities and Sciences Po Grenoble.

Failure to pass a course taken abroad may be compensated by passing an additional course taken on site, but not by additional work completed after the student's return from his/her academic stay. If the student does not manage to validate 60 ECTS over the year, the Sciences Po Grenoble jury will decide whether the student should repeat the year. It is therefore essential not to consider the academic stay as a simple linguistic stay.

-An information meeting dedicated entirely to the selection process will be held in early November.

Early December: all students receive an e-mail with their login details, enabling them to enter their cover letter and wish list online, according to the table of possible destinations.

-In January, the Pedagogical Council meets to review A1 students' results in the first semester's courses.

-Final destinations will be announced before the February break. No appeal will be possible, except to withdraw from a project abroad and in cases of force majeure. Sciences Po reserves the right to cancel departures to destinations deemed unsafe by the MEAE.

It is imperative to respect the deadlines imposed for each stage.

To complete a year of study at Sciences Po Grenoble or abroad, you need 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). Each semester therefore corresponds to 30 ECTS. For your mobility year, you can organize your workload by leaving a slight imbalance between the two semesters (e.g.: 28 ECTS + 32 ECTS) unless our foreign colleagues do not allow it. However, it will not be possible to unbalance your academic year too much, as you may not be able to cope with the workload. [Students going to Germany - read the special special paragraph at the end of this message]

As you may encounter difficulties in one of your courses, we advise you to enroll in an additional 'back-up' course in an area with which you are familiar, in order to compensate for any failure in one of your other courses. However, this is not always possible, as in some countries courses are heavily credited.

Please note: in the UK, three other credit systems are used: 'CATS', 'CQFW' or 'SCQF'. These 'local' credits each correspond to ½ ECTS. For example, a 10 CATS course corresponds to 5 ECTS. You will therefore need to obtain at least 120 CATS to validate the 60 ECTS of your academic year.

As at the IEP, you need to pass the tests and exams corresponding to the course in order to obtain ECTS credits. Grading scales and types vary from country to country, but everywhere you need at least an average or a 'Pass' to validate your credits. The IR department will validate your pass after your return to France, provided you send them your foreign transcripts as soon as they are received.

Just one address to send your statements: outgoingmobility@sciencespo-grenoble.fr!

ECTS for language courses: The Direction des Etudes authorizes you to take language courses abroad. It has set the maximum number of credits that can correspond to these courses at 10 ECTS/year (if, for example, you want/are able to continue practicing your other foreign language). Sometimes your host university will offer you language courses for which you will have to pay: the Erasmus regulations prohibit you from validating them. You are of course free to take these courses if you wish.

You will therefore need to choose courses other than "language" courses for a total of at least 50 ECTS (50 ECTS thematic courses + 10 ECTS foreign language courses = 60 ECTS).

Reminder: after your return, a jury will be held at the IEP to officially rule on the validation of your year abroad, and therefore on whether you should go on to A3 or repeat the year. This jury is sovereign (see 'Pass/Fail' below).

Your host university will ask you to send them a list of the courses you would like to take, and then the IEP will also have to give its opinion on this list before finally making it official. Here is some information to help you compile this list.

Field of study

On this question, the Department of Studies is very open-minded, considering that this year abroad is a year of openness and discovery, which can enable students to tackle subjects that are sometimes not offered at Science Po or, on the contrary, to prepare for a move towards a Master's degree.

It is advisable to take first or second year courses on site.

List of courses

The titles, codes and ECTS of these courses will be recorded on an official document called the 'Learning Agreement'. This document must be validated and signed by your academic supervisor at Sciences Po Grenoble, and sent to the IEP IR department before your departure.

You can choose the courses offered by the partner university according to the agreements made: you'll find a list of these agreements in the destinations table.

This "learning agreement before the mobility" must be taken with you on your mobility and signed by the partner university. Once signed, it must be returned to outgoingmobility@sciencespo-grenoble.fr

This document must be returned signed by all three parties within three weeks of the start of the course, even if the course has to be changed.

If you need to change courses once you're on site, you'll need to complete the "during the mobility" section of the learning form. Your choices must be validated by e-mail by your academic supervisor, then returned to outgoingmobility@sciencespo-grenoble.fr signed by the partner university.

To validate your year of mobility, you need to match the course titles on your 'learning' form with those on your transcript, and validate your ECTS credits.

Please note: a change of course notified at the end of the year may be refused by the jury.

Please note that the Learning Agreement, even if requested at the same time as your scholarship application, is also used to validate your year abroad and not just to obtain a scholarship!

There are three possible scenarios:

1.  You have passed all the exams corresponding to the courses listed on the official Learning Agreement. Your A2 has been validated and you will move on to A3.
2. You have taken all the courses listed on your official Learning Agreement, but unfortunately you have not passed all your exams/tests and therefore do not have 60 ECTS. The jury will then decide that you must repeat your A2. Please note that this cannot be done at IEP. You will need to enroll at a French university of your choice. You cannot repeat a year abroad.
3. You have obtained 60 ECTS, but some courses do not correspond to those listed on your official Learning Agreement. In this case, the IEP jury will decide whether or not to validate these courses. In the latter case, you will have to repeat your A2 under the conditions detailed above.

REMINDER: In all cases, the jury is sovereign.

You MUST register with IEP (for your A2) BEFORE you leave for abroad. This is very important, as without it you won't be eligible for Erasmus status or student social protection. What's more, your year will not be validated.

An early registration session will be held in mid-July to enable those who have to join their university during the summer to register. You can be represented at this session, but you cannot register by mail.

All students going abroad as part of an IEP exchange program must register with IEP for the year spent abroad. As such, he/she pays the usual IEP registration fees, but benefits from a waiver of registration fees at the host university.
Please note! In rare cases, you may also have to pay tuition fees at your host university (see destinations table).