The most popular and most accessible option for going for a foreign scholarship is the Erasmus programme, which provides the opportunity for participating in a co-financed scholarship in one of the European Union countries.

A scholar from the Erasmus programme can spend part of his/her studies on a foreign university or can participate in a training in a foreign company, organisation or institution, Students form a university participating in the programme, registered and active (not staying on a dean's leave, etc.) can participate in the exchange. Exchange is possible during engineer, Bachelor's, Master's or doctoral studies. It is possible to apply for a scholarship only on native university, beginning the application process in the academic year preceding the potential exchange - usually in the spring period, but these dates are set by the universities individually.
Going for an exchange programme is possible only in the countries that participate in the programme - countries of European Union, Croatia, Switzerland, Turkey and countries of European Economic Area - Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway.  Universities accepting the students must have partnership contracts signed with the native university - the list of partner schools is available in the international cooperation offices and also on the universities' websites.

Initial recruitment is carried out in the mother school. Basic criteria include good grades and proper knowledge of the language in which the classes on the accepting university will be conducted. Each university can create additional criteria, such as special achievements, acting in favour of the university, etc. Specific rules of recruitment depend on the native university, which makes them accessible to the interested people.

Each Erasmus scholarship holder has to sign two key documents before leaving: classes programme agreement and a contract with the university (including basic information such as the time period of the exchange, scholarship level, form of payment, etc.).

Time spent abroad amounts to 3-12 months, but it has to occur during one academic year. If the exchange was set to just one semester (only in the case of winter semester), it is possible to apply for the prolongation of the scholarship into the summer semester. The basis for passing the period of studies spent outside the native university are the ECTS points (European Credit Transfer System). This system allows for "measuring" the work that a student has to put into passing each subject, specific classes (usually 60 points are issued for a full academic year) on a punctual scale.

In the case of going for training, the list of partner universities does not apply. A candidate, by himself or with the help of his university (it it is possible), has to find a company, an institution or an organisation that functions in a country participating in the Erasmus programme and will agree to accept a trainee. Training has to be connected with student's specialisation. They can constitute a fulfilment of mandatory training on a given university or they can be non-mandatory training as an additional form of gaining experience.

The budget of Erasmus programme provides financing of the exchange, but it does not guarantee a full coverage of the costs of staying abroad. In practice, it almost never covers the costs fully, so that is why some schools require providing statements about the possibility of covering the rest of the costs during the scholarship.

Detailed information about recruitment, criteria, rights and responsibilities of a scholarship holder can be found on websites and in international cooperation offices in native universities. Art academies, because of their specific character, present additional requirements and criteria to the students. "Purpose" editors compiled the most important ones - we present them below.

Music Academies

The most important element distinguishing music academies from other schools is the requirement of preparing a recording (15-30 minutes) presenting abilities and skills of the student. The recording, together with an application, should be sent to a maximum of 3 chosen foreign schools, which later sent a letter with the results of the recruitment process. Decision about the fact if a given student is accepted for the exchange programme strongly depends on the accepting school.

Some of music schools establish specific requirements connected with grade average and the leading subject grade. For example, in the Music Academy in Poznań, the average grade from subjects from two last semesters must account to 18 points minimum, and from the leading subject - 21 points (the scale of passing grades in music schools in Poland falls within the scope of 12-25 points).

Often, but not in each case, the native school requires also a cover letter addressed both to the authorities of the native school and the foreign school, a CV for the foreign school, the list of achievements and grades from last semester. Some schools also create specific requirements regarding the content of a cover letter.
Music Academies do not offer trainings.

Art academies

A student applying to go for a scholarship programme should have high grade average (4.0-4.3) from last two semesters. Art academies ask to present a portfolio (typically 10 works presenting the abilities of a student in the best way).

Academies of fine arts often require a confirmation of particular language knowledge (certificate, teacher's opinion, document confirming passing matriculation language exam or other - depending on the university). Some schools organise internal language exams.

Except Erasmus scholarship programmes, some art academies offer additional possibilities. In this case, their type, procedures or course might be different in particular schools. An example of this might be the CEEPUS programme (Central European Exchange Program for University Studies - a programme of multilateral cooperation in the area of education in the countries of Central Europe: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina), or some forms of cooperation with foreign universities based on special conditions and contracts (when going to: Japan, China, Israel, USA, Canada), or CCUSA (programme of paid training in USA - http://www.ccusa.pl).

Drama schools

When it comes to drama schools, there are no additional requirements. A dean's positive opinion and good knowledge of language is crucial. For example, Aleksander Zelwerowicz Drama School in Warsaw in addition offers a possibility of participating in research programmes within the framework of cooperation and membership in the European network of institutes of ELIA art schools (European League of Institutes of the Arts - an organisation constituting international network of art schools). Remaining art schools in Poland do not participate in the Erasmus programme (a complete list of schools that own the Erasmus card can be found on www.erasmus.org.pl website). Because of the fact that schools try to address the students' needs, sometimes they offer other, alternative solutions.

Students that want to go for Erasmus scholarship programme have a possibility to participate in Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC) - but only in the case of less known languages of the EU.  The courses are free, the participants only need to pay for accommodation.
The following countries organise Erasmus intensive language courses: Belgium (Dutch), Bulgaria (Bulgarian), Croatia (Croatian), Cyprus (Greek), Czech Republic (Czech), Denmark (Danish), Estonia (Estonian), Finland (Finnish and Swedish), Greece (Greek), Spain (4 regions: Basque, Catalan, Galician, Valencian), the Netherlands (Dutch), Iceland (Icelandic), Lithuania (Lithuanian), Latvia (Latvian), Norway (Norwegian), Poland (Polish), Portugal (Portuguese), Romania (Romanian),  Slovakia (Slovak), Slovenia (Slovene), Switzerland (Italian), Sweden (Swedish), Turkey (Turkish), Hungary (Hungarian) and Italy (Italian).
EILC are not organised by Austria and French speaking part of Belgium, as well as France, Ireland, Germany and Great Britain.

While preparing this article, we used http://www.erasmus.org.pl and http://www.buwiwm.edu.pl websites, as well as direct websites of artistic universities in Poland.

Prepared by: Purpose editors