Before going

If you have applied for and been nominated to an ITU partner, you proceed to apply to the partner university. You will be informed about the process via email.

Note that you are not guaranteed a place until you receive an acceptance letter from the partner university. 

Universities have different language requirements, and sometimes it is necessary to complete a language test (e.g. a TOEFL-test or an IELTS-test) or to provide other documentation of language proficiency. 

In most cases it is not necessary to pay for a language test when going abroad with an ITU partner.

Read more about the special requirements for Erasmus+ Students.

You need to apply for pre-approval of the courses you plan to take at the host university. You must do this in order to make sure that the courses fulfil the course requirements in your curriculum, which is ultimately your own responsibility. 

See deadlines and how to apply for pre-approval of courses.

Important

• Make sure that you have received a pre-approval of the courses you plan to take at the host university before departure,
• always remember to apply for a new pre-approval if your courses abroad changes.

Tips on the process

In most cases you will have to apply for a pre-approval of courses before you have been accepted at the host university.

In most cases, you have to apply for a pre-approval of courses before knowing the exact course offer at the host university. Then you must use information on the course offering from previous years (e.g. if you are going in fall 2023, you apply for a pre-approval based on courses offered fall 2022). When the course offering is known, and you might need to make changes to your pre-approval, you must apply for a new pre-approval. You can do this even if the deadline has passed since this is an update of your first application.

In some cases, you have to apply for courses at the host university before receiving a decision on your pre-approval application from ITU. Then you have to apply for courses at the host institution most likely to be approved by ITU, and change courses at the host institution if not all courses turn out to be pre-approved. Make sure to ask if you can change courses at the host institution, if this is relevant.

If you fulfill the requirements for being an active student your SU will be paid out as usual while on exchange. But you need to be aware of how you are registered while abroad.

If you move your address to your parents or if you have notified the CPR-register that you are not in Denmark, you will be paid the amount that applies to students living at home with their parents.

To avoid this you can change your status in minSU under “Oplys særlige bopælsforhold”. Here you choose “udlandsophold/studieophold”. Read more about SU abroad.

You have to pay attention to how you are registered while being away. 

• If you are away less than six months, you can keep your address in Denmark. Though, it requires that you still have the right of disposal to your housing here in Denmark. If you do not have right of disposal, you can contact your municipality via borger.dk to have them assess your situation.
• If you are away more than six months, you must contact SKAT and CPR and move out of Denmark. International students – your Danish residence permit will lapse if you have no address in Denmark. Contact Danish Agency for Labour Retention and International Recruitment to have them assess your individual situation.

 

Go to borger.dk and contact your local municipality.

Tax rules are complicated. Therefore, it is a good idea to read through SKAT's webpage on moving abroad and possibly contact the tax authorities before departure to have them assess your individual situation regarding taxes and income. 

It is important that you look into the visa requirements for your study abroad destination. If you are Danish or European citizen, you only need a visa if you are studying abroad outside of the EU. In most cases the visa process is relatively smooth.

If it is necessary for you to apply for a visa, make sure you look into the requirements at an early stage. You often need e.g. an admission letter from the partner university. Normally, you apply for the visa at the embassy of the relevant country and you have to cover potential expenses yourself.

 Applying or the visa is your responsibility. If there are any problems in connection with visa or residence permit, the IT University cannot be held accountable.

For further information, please contact the embassy or consulate of the host country or look at the Foreign Ministry’s website.

This is a very important area of planning a stay abroad. Make sure you are fully covered regarding health, personal liability and accidents when you leave Denmark. You are responsible for your own insurance coverage. Be aware of the following:

• You are NOT covered by the National Health Service medical card (gult sygesikringsbevis), and you must therefore make sure that the insurances you take out cover the entire stay abroad (from departure to the arrival home).
• If you have insurance already, you should check the extent of your insurances. It is often necessary to take out additional insurances (concerning both health insurance and public liability insurance/household insurance). 
• If you are studying abroad in a European country, you must acquire The European Health Insurance Card (blåt sygesikringsbevis). Note that the card is not an insurance, e.g. it does not cover repatriation in case of serious illness, so it is important to look into a private insurance too.
• In some cases, the host university require you to take out a specific insurance. It is important that you are aware of what that insurance covers and if it is necessary to take additional insurance.
• If you deregister in the CPR register, you risk being left of the public healthcare system for a period. Contact your local municipality before you deregister to learn if you are covered from the first day you are back in Denmark.

While you are abroad you will still need to access your ITU mail and possibly also other platforms such as LearnIT.

If you are using SMS as your chosen multifactor authentication method (MFA), we urge you to add an additional method, namely the Microsoft Authenticator app as well. This works on your phone without your Danish phone number (you just need internet access). If you wish to, you can also use the app to switch to your number abroad. Just remember to configure it back to your Danish number upon return to Denmark.

Please read more about MFA in the guide published by the IT Department. If needed, you can also install VPN on your computer. Check the IT Departments guide here: Guide to remote access (VPN).

If you end up abroad without access to ITU platforms and mail, please contact it@itu.dk with cc to sap@itu.dk, please remember to include your phone number abroad in the mail.

Prepare for emergency situations. These are fortunately rare but you are in a new country, where you do not necessarily know who to call in case of emergency.

Remember to always keep away from demonstrations and riots, keep updated on your destination via embassies and local news, and use your critical sense at all times, also regarding information security.

 

Recommendations

• Download the app ‘Rejseklar’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Sign up for the List of Danes abroad and read travel reports provided by the Ministry. If you are not a Danish citizen, you should find out whether your home country provides a similar service.
• Carry with you the telephone number e.g. for the local police, emergency dispatch centre, embassy, and insurance coverage.
• Carry a note with your address and other relevant information in the local language.

You will engage with students from all over the world and you will encounter a country with a different cultural practices, no matter if you are going far away or staying close to Denmark. This is part of the excitement of going abroad, and you will grow from this encounter.

 

At the same time, a few of you might experience a so-called culture shock. This is when you are overwhelmed by the difference and unfamiliarity in your surrounding and it may be exacerbated by various barriers to making your day-to day life work. It is perfectly normal to go through stages of infatuation with your host country and all that is new, only to experience a profound feeling of disenchantment and estrangement after which you finally settle in.

 

Ideas for coping strategies during the stage of estrangement

• Set realistic expectations
• Be your most flexible self
• Break large problems into units
• Be open, respectful and polite
• Meet with other exchange students (they are going through it too)
• Keep a diary

 

And remember that it is totally normal to be both excited and nervous about going abroad.

Partnership agreements are very important for our relationship with other universities and we therefore expect you to display a good behavior both on campus and off campus. This is also important for freemover students as you also represent ITU abroad.

Because of the importance of our partnerships and relationships, we might also contact you abroad concerning a promotion of the IT University at your host university if a promotion fair is being arranged by the partner.