FAQs

Go to the Admission Procedures page, You will find here our application form and information brochure.

Please make sure that you :

• Fill in the form carefully, preferably by typing your answers; if completing by hand, please use BLOCK CAPITALS;
• Affix a passport photograph to the form;
• Have it signed and stamped by your home university academic coordinator.

If your area of study is Arts, Commerce/Business or Law, then you only need to send the signed and stamped application form; no transcripts are required, although you will need to complete a learning agreement.  However, if your area of study is Engineering, Science or Medicine, then you will be required to submit examination transcripts along with your learning agreement, in order to allow your application and academic background to be assessed.  Your home university academic coordinator will be able to advise you.

Medical students should note the following: Incoming Erasmus Medical students will be required to present certification of Health Screening on arrival at the Medical School and prior to placement at NUI Galway.  (Information on these requirements has been sent to the relevant coordinators at partner universities.) 
They must also provide a Police Clearance Certificate from their country of origin.  This is also referred to as Garda Vetting (An Garda Síochána = Ireland's national police service).

We do not have a specific exam-based requirement in relation to Erasmus students’ level of English, but it is very important that you have a good command of the English language, both written and spoken, because otherwise you will almost certainly encounter significant difficulties in understanding lectures, taking part in class exercises, and in writing assignments and exams. We would suggest a minimum of Level B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.  This is a recommendation only; it is not necessary to send a certificate of English language competence with your application.

You should bear in mind that students with less than B2 level of ability in English are likely to encounter difficulty in reading and discussing academic texts with specialised vocabulary and abstract concepts.  Experience has shown that such students do not do well in exams or written assessments, and often struggle throughout their study visit to keep up with the rest of the class.  In large group teaching, lecturers will often not take account of or make allowances for students whose level of English is insufficient to allow them follow the course.  For these reasons, and to ensure that our incoming Erasmus students have a truly beneficial academic experience at NUI Galway, we would recommend that they have attained level B2, or at least that they have done intensive language preparation prior to their study visit.

You may need a visa, depending on the country you come from.  You can find out more about visa requirements on this link  (click on “Visas”).  If you do need a visa, you should request a hard copy of your acceptance letter from the International Affairs Office and apply for your visa without delay, allowing 6 – 8 weeks for your visa application to be processed.  Visa applications should be made to the Irish Embassy or Consulate in the country in which you reside. If there is no embassy or consulate, you can make the application to your nearest Irish Embassy or Consulate, or directly to the Visa Office, Dept of Foreign Affairs, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2.

Restrictions do apply. You should only select courses from the list of courses available to visiting students: you will find this by clicking on the link "Courses Available" on the left-hand menu. The courses you choose should be in the subject area of the bilateral agreement we have with your university - ask your home university academic coordinator if in doubt. In other words, if you are a Science student, then it is expected that you choose courses from the College (faculty) of Science, and not from Arts or Commerce. Only in exceptional circumstances will students be allowed to take some courses outside of the subject area of the bilateral agreement, and they will have to seek permission from the relevant School or Discipline.

The Visiting Student Handbook will show the course offerings for the current year, but these listings do not change substantially from year to year, and are therefore a good guideline.  Erasmus students will not be permitted to register for any other courses that they might find, for example, on departmental websites.  Please do not attempt to make arrangements with lecturers to attend courses not open to visiting students, as it will not be possible for you to register for, take examinations in, or obtain recognition for such courses.

In the first instance, we advise you to consult the relevant departmental website.  There you will generally be able to find detailed information on course content.  If you still have specific questions, to which answers are not available on the website, then you should contact your Erasmus academic coordinator at NUI Galway. 

We do not recommend this. One reason is the risk of timetable clashes and, consequently, examination timetable clashes. Another reason is that bilateral agreements are signed with regard to specific subject areas and there is no obligation on any of our Colleges (faculties) to accept students coming to NUI Galway via a bilateral agreement that belongs to another College (faculty). This means you may not be granted permission to attend courses outside of your general subject area, particularly where there is already high demand or where there are prerequisites for entry to a particular course.

If you have not pre-booked accommodation in a student residence, we recommend that you arrive at least a week before term begins, in order to give yourself time to find somewhere to live. In any case, when you are making your travel arrangements please be sure that you will arrive in Galway in time to attend the Orientation Programme. See the Section on Admission Procedures or Latest News for more details. Classes will commence on the Monday following the Orientation Programme, and attendance is obligatory from the start.

You will find details of Orientation on our Latest News page.

You should bring your Certificate of Attendance to the International Affairs Office just before you leave and we will sign and stamp it for you with that day’s date.  Please note that we cannot post-date your Certificate of Attendance – the date we insert on the document will be the date on which it is signed.  This means you should call to this office with your cert no more than one day before you are due to leave Galway to return home.

If you request your Certificate of Attendance after you have returned home, you will be required to send us proof of your date of departure, e.g. copy of airline ticket.

You will be able to access your examination results online once they are made available via the Examinations Office website.  If you are a full-year or semester 2 Erasmus student, your official transcript(s) will be sent to the International Office of your home university in late June/early July.  In the case of students who stayed for semester 1 only, transcripts will be sent to their home universities in February. Transcript copies will also be sent to students' home addresses.