When to apply
The application to exchange studies through USBE opens on 1 February.
Deadline: 1 March.
Vacant places
The application procedure for remaining exchange seats differs from the ordinary application round. There is usually an application round for vacant places shortly after the regular application round ends and one at the beginning of the autumn semester.
Eligibility requirements
To be eligible for an exchange place through USBE agreements you must meet the following requirements.
You must:
- Be registered and actively studying a course or program at USBE.
- Study full-time at the time of application (some exceptions exist)
- Have completed your current studies at Umeå University at a normal study pace with passing results. Non-completed studies cannot exceed 22.5 hp at the time of application.
- Not already be assigned an exchange place.
- Apply for exchange studies that can be credited within the framework of your degree at Umeå University.
- Have completed courses equivalent to one year of full-time studies (60 hp) at Umeå University before the exchange begins.
Subject Requirement
Before the exchange begins, you should also meet the following subject requirements:
- If you are studying business administration at undergraduate level or within one of our civilekonomprograms, you should have completed 60 hp in the subject area.
- If you are studying business administration at advanced level within one of our master’s programs, you should have completed 30 hp in the subject area on advanced level.
- If you are studying economics, you should have completed 30 hp in the subject area.
If you will study other subjects abroad, the eligibility requirement may vary depending on the subject area, university and availability.
If you don’t fulfil the eligibility requirements
If you want to apply for exchange studies through USBE and have studies business and/or economic subjects to some extent but do not fulfil the eligibility requirements for the subject area then you can apply for USBE’s vacant places under the following conditions:
- You are registered and actively studying a course or program at Umeå University.
- There are available exchange places after the admission of eligible students.
- USBE’s partner university accepts the nomination of a student who does not meet the eligibility requirements in the subject area. Note that after nomination there are also eligibility requirements for the partner university’s courses that you need to meet.
Planning your application through USBE
When can you go?
Review when it is possible to go on exchange according to your program or study plan. Check your program page in Canvas or ask your program advisor if you are unsure.
Choose destination
Read information about all the universities you rank. It is your responsibility to assess whether the universities suit you and your study plan based on the available information.
Things to consider when choosing your exchange destinations in your application:
- Are you studying on undergraduate (bachelor) or graduate (master) level?
Note that not all partner universities offer studies at all levels for incoming exchange students from USBE. In Solemove you can see what level USBE has agreements on. - What is the language of instruction of the university?
Most of USBE’s partner universities offer instruction in English, but there are some exceptions. - What courses are offered to exchange students?
Not all programs offered by the partner university are open to exchange students. Primarily you should form an opinion on your own. The courses you choose must be applicable to the degree your plan to obtain. We assess the suitability of the courses only after you have been assigned an exchange place. - Possibility of scholarships?
Depends on the type of agreement. - What costs can you expect?
Many partner universities provide estimates of living costs (study-related expenses, food and accommodation) in their fact sheets or on their websites for incoming exchange students. - Consider other students’ experiences!
Study reports and contact details to previous and current exchange students can be found here.
Where can you go?
To see where you can go on exchange studies through USBE agreements:
- Go to Solemove.
- Select Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics as Your home unit.
- Click on search to see all available universities.
By clicking on the universities, you can get more information such as how many available places, level and subject of the agreement, restrictions and other useful information. If you want, you can further customize your search for available universities in Solemove by clicking on advanced search. Here you can specify, among other things:
- Select a country: the country you are interested in.
- Study level: the study level you will be studying at during the exchange.
- EU subject area: whether the agreement is within business administration (041 or 0410), economics (0311) or statistics (0542).
Application statistics
How to apply for exchange through USBE
Application round
The regular application round open on 1 February.
Deadline to apply is 1 March.
Prepare attachments
Required attachments for a complete application are:
- Motivational letter
Write a motivation in Swedish or English for why you are applying for an exchange seat (note: max 1 A4 for the entire application). Please include a photo in your letter. Also, specify the subject area and on what level you plan to study on during your exchange. Do not underestimate the importance of your motivational letter! - CV
- Other merits
Examples are certificates of language courses, participation in the Buddy Programme or other internationally oriented commitments, part-time jobs, involvement in student associations (e.g. HHUS) or volunteer work outside of the university. In short, anything you believe could have a positive impact on a study period abroad.
Fill out the online application
Submit your application in Solemove.
Follow the manual for applying for exchange in Solemove.
Things to consider when making the application:
- Submit one application per student.
- To apply for USBE’s agreements you need to select Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics when specifying the Unit responsible for the nomination round. If you choose another institution your application will not be able to be processed by us.
- You can apply for up to six options. In your application, choose the uniersities you are interested in going to during your exchange and rank them in the order of your first choice (priority one) to your last choice. Note that the lower ranked options will be removed if you are assigned a higher priority. Applying for multiple options increases your chances of being assigned an exchange place.
Most recent application applies
If you have submitted multiple applications, the latest one sent in will be taken into consideration unless you have informed is otherwise.
Selection criteria
USBE uses the following selection criteria:
- Study results at Umeå University: normal study pace and grades
- Motivational letter
- CV
- Other merits
Lower priority is given to program students applying for an exchange period not recommended according to the program study plan.
Students who have previously been assigned an exchange place through USBE are given lower priority in the selection if a competitive situation arises. Note, however, that it is generally not a problem to be assigned an exchange place at master’s level even if you have been abroad on bachelor’s level previously, as USBE has a large number of exchange places.
For applications within Nordplus (NOREK), studies at the master’s level are prioritized over studies on bachelor’s level. Swedish citizens are prioritized over Finnish citizens for studies in Finland.
After applying
After submitting the application, the following happens
- The application is processed and an offer for exchange places are sent out.
- You accept or decline your offered exchange place.
After you have accepted your exchange place you will be nominated to your assigned university for the exchange according to their nomination deadlines. From there on you will be our nominated student for the exchange.
The university for the exchange will contact you within a few weeks after the nomination has been submitted, usually via email. Note that if you have been assigned a place for the spring semester, you will likely be nominated to your assigned university during the autumn. - When the university for the exchange contacts you, it is your responsibility to submit the requested documents on time before their deadline. The deadline and required documents may vary between universities. Information about what applies to you will be provided by the contact person at the receiving university.
If you need documents from us, you must contact us well in advance of the deadline. - You are officially admitted when you have received confirmation from the university of the exchange. It is very rare for the receiving university to choose not to accept students we have nominated.
Choosing courses
When: It varies greatly between universities. It can happen at nomination, in the application, during a course selection period or on-site. You will be informed about this by the university of your exchange.
Note:
- It is good to have a backup plan in case something happens and you cannot go abroad. Therefore, apply for courses for the next semester at Umeå University as usual! You can cancel before you leave.
- In many cases, the level of the course indicated by the university of the exchange corresponds to what we credit the course as, but some exceptions occur. We assess courses based on the current course plan.
- The number of credits you need to take to correspond to 30 hp varies, keep in mind that:
- If you are studying in Europe, you should take 30 ECTS (1 ECTS = 1 hp).
- If you are studying in a non-European country through USBE’s agreements, you can find the information by going to the relevant institution from our partner university list in Solemove and reading under the heading Number of credits equivalent to 30 hp.
- If you are taking elective courses during your term abroad, keep in mind that:
- Courses whose content corresponds to courses you have previously taken will not be credited.
- Credit cannot be given for certain practically oriented courses (even if they sometimes give credits at the university of the exchange).
- Courses at foreign universities do not always meet Swedish higher education standards and therefore cannot be credited. A common example is 100-level courses in USA (language courses at bachelor level are often an exception here, as these can be credited as elective credits within the degree provided they give credits at the university of the exchange).
- If you are studying on advanced level (D-level) abroad and then want to obtain a degree with a specialization based on the courses you studied abroad (other than the main field of study), keep in mind that:
- It is often difficult and not something we recommend!
- The requirement is that all 30 credits are within the same specialization (for example, all in marketing), which is usually difficult to find during an exchange term.
- Even if the university of the exchange says that courses are included within a certain specialization, it does not mean that all the courses will be credited as that specialization at Umeå University. We assess the content based on the current course syllabus.
Make an application for “pre-recommended transfer of credits”
Submit an application for pre-recommended transfer of credits in USBE’s online service for exchange studies (site only available in Swedish) of the course you plan to study during your exchange. The pre-recommendation is offered to all USBE students who want to take courses within the subjects of business administration, economics, statistics or as electives while studying abroad.
Useful translations:
Lägg till förfrågan = Make you application
Universitet = University
Kurstitel = Course title
Eventuell kurskod = Course code
Lokala poäng = Local credits at the host university
Kursbeskrivning = Course description (you can also include a link to the course description)
Önskas tillgodoräknas som = How you wish to transfer the credits
Företagsekonomi = Business Administration
Nationalekonomi = Economics
Statistik = Statistics
Valfri kurs = Electives
Applying for “pre-recommended transfer of credits” has several advantages:
- You receive a pre-recommendation from us so you can feel confident that the courses you have chosen are suitable for credit transfer upon return.
- You are able to change course selections if the courses cannot be credited as you wish.
- You can apply for pre-recommendation for a larger number of courses than you will take. This gives you good margins when making your final course selection upon arrival, if courses are cancelled or schedules conflict.
- You can update your application for pre-recommendation continuously throughout the term.
- It becomes easier for all parties when the final transfer of credits is done upon your return: if the courses are recommended, the process will go faster and you do not need to submit course syllabus (again) with your application.
- Note that a pre-recommendation is not binding and therefore is not a decision of actual credit transfer but a recommendation. The final decision is made by Student Servies/Degree Evaluation Office at Umeå University when applying for transfer of credits after completed exchange studies. However, a pre-recommendation from us can be seen as a very strong indication of how the courses will be credited, as Student Servies/Degree Evaluation Office usually follows our recommendations with a few exceptions.
Closing points
If you have been offered an exchange place though an Erasmus or Nordplus agreement, you have the opportunity to apply for a scholarship. Read more under Financing and scholarships.
You can also download nomination letters, certificate of English proficiency and insurance certificate from Solemove. You can find these certificates in your application for exchange studies in Solemove.