Helpful Information on getting ready to Study Abroad

Education
First choose a Study Programme, a subject area and a course to study. Choose an institution that offers the course of your choice.

Disability co-ordinator
Contact the disability co-ordinator (or access officer) of the university of your choice. The disability co-ordinator of your home university might be able to give you the name of this person. If the country of your choice is participating in Studyabroadwithoutlimits.eu, you can also ask the crew of that country for the co-ordinator’s name.

With the disability co-ordinator discuss your needs and the support that might be available for you. Consider the following points:

- accessibility and usability of the university buildings
- availability of daily living care during your stay in the university buildings
- permission to take a guide- or helpdog into the university buildings
- for specific items for visually or hearing impaired students see the end of the list

Finances
Contact the international office at your home institution to find out about the exchange programmes they offer and possibilities for scholarships. For students with disabilities, the Erasmus programme of the European Union offers extra funding to cover additional costs you have due to your disability. Ask the international office of your home institution or the Erasmus Agency in your home country how to apply for this extra funding.

Requirements
Contact the institution of your choice and ask for more information about admission requirements, language requirements etc.

Admission
If the programme is suitable and you meet the requirements, follow the institution’s procedure for gaining admission.

Immigration regulations
Check which immigration regulations apply to you in order to enter the country of your choice and be able to stay to complete the course of your choice.

Housing
You can ask the host institution about arranging a place for you to live. If you have a guidedog or helpdog ask if the dog is allowed in the student dorms.

If you need adapted housing inform the disability co-ordinator about this. Also ask if there is an organisation that can mediate in finding (adapted) housing. Also take into account: location of the (adapted) house and travel distance to the institution, enough space for a guide or helpdog, distance to shops. Also think of home care arrangements and (when applicable) the availability of daily living care.

Health insurance
Check whether your current health insurance provides sufficient coverage while you are studying abroad.

If you need a regular medical check-up by a specialist, or therapy, find out where to go in the country of your choice and whether your insurance covers this.

If you need medicine, make sure you are able to bring enough medicine with you or check out where you can obtain the medicines you need in the country of your choice.

Also think of whether the medications you use are legally available in the country of your choice.

Transport
If you need adapted transport, check if this transport is available at the place where you’ll be staying in the country of your choice.

If you are dependent on adapted transport and your transport costs are paid for in your home country (e.g. by the governement, or your insurance), check out if you are also able to use this transport provision abroad.

Useful organisations
Find out if there is an an umbrella organisation for people with a (specific) disability or chronic illness in the country of your choice. They might be able to provide you with useful general information about living with your disability in the country of your choice.

Visual impairment
Specific items to consider for students with a visual impairment:

- reading materials: check if the university of your choice has facilities to change written materials into other
- reading formats (e.d. braille, speech, digital) and also facilities to quickly change short written texts into another reading format.
- hometeaching: ask if the university offers students with a visual impairment training to find their way in the university buildings, the library, the canteen etc. and also in the neighbourhood where you will be living (shops, public transport etc.)
- availability of advanced (communication) equipment at the university (study rooms or library): computer with braille keybord, big fonts software, speech recognition software, cd-rom player and modem to consult data from other university documents, cassette player and copier able to enlarge text document.

Hearing impairment
Specific items to consider for students with a hearing impairment:

audiogram: make sure you take a fairly up-to-date audiogram with you so that the audiologist or the audio technician can help you in case something goes wrong with your hearing aid while you are abroad.
check if there is adequate sound amplification available in the lecture rooms and/or portable sound amplification for smaller rooms.
if a powerpoint presentation is planned, the text of the presentation should be made available in advance because lip reading will be impossible during the presentation