Students
Study across Europe at one of the first European Universities
Opportunities
Imagine that you could create your own curriculum, choosing from academic courses offered at any of the YUFE universities. You could study in nine different countries, live in Spain for a while, learn Polish in Tórun, do some volunteer work in the Netherlands, complete an inspiring internship at Cyprus, or find your first challenging job-shadowing position in Finland. The information for organising your own individual learning experience will be at your fingertips and all activities and accomplishments will be acknowledged on your YUFE Student Journey.
Scroll down to find out more!
Opportunities
Join the YUFE Community
Create your own curriculum at universities all over Europe.
As a YUFE student you enter a diverse, European environment that strives towards shaping the future of Europe. Unlike a regular exchange, you have the opportunity to combine your academic endeavours with language courses, professional training and civic engagement. You will truly be a part of society, no matter where in Europe you are. With YUFE, you do not only have the opportunity to engage with the expertise of one or two universities, but of nine leading, research-driven institutions.
Accessible mobility
Move between levels and programmes, study online, blended and offline, full-time and part-time.
YUFE strives to be a truly European University yet, like all big things, started small. In the current academic year, YUFE offers existing academic courses and activities in addition to the students’ university’s degree programme. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we mainly offer YUFE opportunities online, through our very own YUFE Virtual Campus › , which allows you to study abroad virtually. Nonetheless, in the Academic Year 2021/2022 we have successfully enabled all YUFE Student Journey students to physically study at another YUFE university for a whole semester.
Once enrolled, you get your own personal development plan that will help you attain your personal and professional goals during your YUFE journey.
You can find more information about practical aspects of Erasmus mobility within YUFE here ›
Opportunities
How it started
In Summer 2020, YUFE opened its virtual doors for registration for the YUFE Introduction Offer. As the name already reveals, the YUFE Introduction Offer was a teaser of what YUFE can offer to students. Through the YUFE Introduction Offer, a limited number of students was able to take a maximum of two online YUFE Academic Courses and one online YUFE Activity. This sneak peek into the YUFE Student Journey was either a stand-alone activity or a stepping-stone into the more complete YUFE Student Journey, which was launched at the beginning of November 2020.
Opportunities
YUFE Student Journey
The YUFE Student Journey offers you the opportunity to create your own learning path and broaden your European horizon.
Flexibility, diversity, inclusivity and self-directed learning paths are the fundamental values of the YUFE Open Programme. That is why the selection of courses and activities is extensive, offered in English or in the language of the local partner and the methods of delivery vary between physical, virtual or blended.
Unlike a regular exchange, you have the opportunity to combine your academic endeavours with language courses, professional training and civic engagement. You will truly be a part of society, no matter where in Europe you are. With YUFE, you do not only have the opportunity to engage with the expertise of one or two universities, but of nine leading, research-driven institutions.
Feel free to browse the YUFE catalogue on the YUFE Virtual Campus › and find out what YUFE can offer within the YUFE Student Journey.
Or check out the presentation below of our previous “OPEN DAY – YUFE Student Journey” held on 12 September 2022.
YUFE offers:
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Academic courses in English
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Academic courses in the language of our partners (Spanish, Croatian, German, Dutch, Finnish, French, Polish and Greek)
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Language courses / Language tandems / Languages cafes
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Civic engagement activities (YUFE Help Desk / YUFE@Home Initiative / YUFE Community Volunteering Programme)
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Professional training activities (YUFE Challenge Teams / The YUFE Entrepreneurial Initiative including MOOCs, Talk Shows, Hackatons)
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YUFE Star System (Mobility Star / Language Star / Civic Star / Professional Star)
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YUFE Academy Lectures
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YUFE Induction Courses
Opportunities
YUFE Student Journey
Application Requirements
Eligible applicants must be registered as a student in one of the universities in the YUFE Alliance and be at least in their second year of bachelor (master students are also eligible). If you are a first-year bachelor student, you can only apply in semester II of your first year to be eligible to begin the YUFE activities in your second year of bachelor. Furthermore, a minimum B2 level of English proficiency is required of applicants.
Additionally, undergraduate students from the University of Essex need to have a minimum year mark of 50 in the first year of the course and students from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid need to have a minimum grade average of 6/10 in the previous academic year.
The next application period for enrolment onto the YUFE Student Journey takes place from 3 April until 26 May, 2023.
Application Steps
First you will have to create an account for the YUFE Virtual Campus › . With this account you can apply for the YUFE Student Journey and sign up for single YUFE activities.
You can apply for the Student Journey on the YUFE Virtual Campus from 3 April until 26th May, 2023.You will be asked to upload your details and your motivation letter there.
When the application period is over, a selection committee will select the students based on their eligibility and motivation. Students selected for the YUFE Student Journey in Spring 2023, will have four semesters to meet the requirements for the YUFE Student Journey Certificate or create their own learning path. For these students, this four-semester period starts counting from semester I of the Academic Year 2023/2024, when they can begin attending YUFE courses/activities.
Disclaimer
Pilot
Since the YUFE Student Journey is still a pilot activity, we can open up only for a relatively small number of students. A maximum of 400 students will be able to join in our next application call. Students part of this group will co-create and help build our European University; the Young Universities for the Future of Europe.
Students from University of Essex and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Undergraduate students registered at the University of Essex need to have a minimum average Year 1 mark of 50% to be eligible to apply. This is in line with the policy at the University of Essex for their students who want to study abroad via other exchange programmes. There is no minimum mark for postgraduate students from the University of Essex.
At UC3M, competitive admission processes are based on equality, merit and ability. Particularly those competitive processes addressed to students, apply as admission/selection merit criteria the student average grade. In line with this policy UC3M will ask a minimum average grade to their students in order to be eligible to apply for the YUFE Student Journey.
FAQ
We encourage you to read YUFE’s FAQ › before applying, because this provides you with a lot of background information about the YUFE Student Journey and the application and selection procedure.
Motivation letter
Before applying you need to write a motivation letter and sign the YUFE Co-creation Agreement (by which we share YUFE’s goals and visions with you and ask you to work with us in further optimising our European University.) The Co-creation Agreement will be provided to you as soon as the call is launched.
Please keep in mind that the YUFE Selection Committee will use only your motivation letter for their selection. In order to provide some guidance regarding the letter of motivation, the YUFE Student Journey Selection Committee has generated a few prompts or topics that it would like to see you discuss in your letter. These topics or prompts represent matters that the selection committee sees as important aspects of being successful as a YUFE student. Even though academic excellence is something we value highly it is certainly not the only thing we are looking for in students wishing to participate in YUFE. You are encouraged to use examples or experiences from your own life when you deem them relevant to making a point to us. Also, feel free to use information from the YUFE website that you think is relevant but do not tell us things we already know.
Please deal with the questions below in your motivation letter by integrating maximum 150 words per question to formulate a response.
1. What makes participation in YUFE important to you personally and what will you bring to YUFE?
2. In which way do you think that the YUFE programme will alter your study experience? Give some specific examples of changes that you expect to happen.
3. What are your plans after graduating from your university and how can YUFE be instrumental in letting these plans come to fruition?
Opportunities
YUFE Star System
At YUFE we find it important to not only acknowledge your academic performance but also acknowledge your effort in mobility, language learning, professional training, job shadowing, and community volunteering. This is why we have created YUFE Stars ›, an innovative recognition system for activities with specific and personalised learning goals that go beyond academic education in a European University setting.
The YUFE Star System consists of 4 Stars:
- the Mobility Star;
- the Language Star;
- the Professional Star; and
- the Civic Star.
They encourage all kind of learners to pursue personal and professional development while experiencing the possibility to contribute as individuals to society through activities with a Europe-wide impact.
The YUFE Star System is an innovative system that rewards YUFE learners for taking up extra-curricular YUFE activities and for reflecting on their learning goals by means of Personal Development Plans. At this moment the YUFE Star System is opened to students only but the groups of learners will be enlarged in the near future.
Opportunities
YUFE Mobility Star
The YUFE Mobility Star is awarded to learners who engage in physical or virtual mobility through academic courses or extracurricular activities. The main goal of the YUFE Mobility Star is to encourage learners to gain international experience as part of their education and to seek interaction with different cultures and mindsets. The YUFE Mobility Star also has different levels, which depend on how many international courses/activities a learner does – a higher number of such experiences will be reached in a higher level of the YUFE Mobility Star.
Questions about your YUFE Mobility Star Journey can be addressed to: mobilitystar.YUFE@uniri.hr
YUFE Language Star
The YUFE Language Star is an award for your achievements in your YUFE Language Journey. The YUFE Language Star is a threefold model which consists of formal learning, practice and real-life language experiences, complemented by three short reflections. The YUFE Language Star will be awarded to you at the end of your YUFE Student Journey.
Carl Christian Dreyer, University of Bremen, describes his YUFE language journey: “The YUFE language courses allowed me to improve my language skills while being embedded in a framework that fosters learning and intercultural collaboration. From my personal experience I can tell that it is highly beneficial to learn a language in an intercultural setting. I can also recommend taking part in ‘informal’ ways of learning a new language. The tandem gave me some structure for my individual learning as well as providing a language sparring partner. The YUFE Language Star Journey played a significant role in preparing for my semester abroad in Bordeaux, France. Thanks to that I was able to take lectures in French as well as to boost my language capabilities to C1. I am really thankful for having been granted this amazing opportunity.”
Questions about your Language Star Journey can be addressed to: languagestar.yufe@uantwerp.be
In short: YUFE Language Star infographic ›
In detail: YUFE Language Star Factsheet ›
YUFE Professional Star
The YUFE Professional Star recognises and rewards personal and professional development activities undertaken by learners within YUFE.
Based on the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) › , the activities will focus on developing an entrepreneurial and creative mindset that allows YUFE learners to identify opportunities to improve existing solutions or develop new alternatives to implementing positive changes. They have a strong problem-based orientation.
Through these activities, learners will have the opportunity to work in an inclusive learning ecosystem, fostering international and inter-cultural collaboration within the YUFE Alliance, and fostering collaboration among research, education, industry and citizens.
YUFE Professional Star activities include:
- YUFE Challenge Teams
Intensive teamwork process to solve real social, scientific or technological challenges by providing a novel and innovative solution with a collaborative, multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. - YUFE Entrepreneurial Training Programme
This programme aims to provide online training and support to YUFE students and staff as well as citizens in activities to enhance their entrepreneurial skills and capabilities. The online training tasks include: MOOCs (massive online open courses in Entrepreneurship and Innovation), talk shows and a YUFETHON.
The achievement of the YUFE Professional Star will be assessed as “pass” or “no pass” based on the self-reflection report and the verification of worked hours by the YUFE learners. More information ›
Questions about your YUFE Professional Star Journey can be addressed to: professionalstar.YUFE@uc3m.es
YUFE Civic Star
The YUFE Civic Star will be awarded for active citizenship related actions, in which universities and cities work together to develop solutions to local challenges, many of which are also of European and global relevance. Gaining the YUFE Civic Star means that citizenship and personal competencies have been developed as well as having contributed to society.
Learners can take part in YUFE actions in society by choosing to participate either in the YUFE Help Desks, YUFE Community Volunteering Programme or YUFE@Home Initiative. It is not possible to mix the activities in order to gain the YUFE Civic Star. Through these activities and specific tasks, learners will become active members of society and co-build strong university-citizen communities. By doing so, the learner contribute towards solving European challenges and co-create a more cohesive society for current and future generations living in Europe and beyond.
The work towards the YUFE Civic Star consists of training, the activity itself and self-reflection. Achievement of the YUFE Civic Star will be assessed as “pass” or “no pass” based on the self-reflection report and the verification of worked hours by the YUFE assessor.
The Personal Development Plan will give an overview of the progress made in the journey leading to the YUFE Civic Star.
Questions about your YUFE Civic Star Journey can be addressed to: CivicStar.YUFE@uef.fi
Programmes
The YUFE Open Programmes will make Europe-wide higher education a reality for students from all backgrounds. Personalised academic curricula will be the backbone of an equitable, diverse and effective education system that recognises and optimally fosters individual talents. The YUFE Alliance will provide students with unique opportunities to be trained in an inclusive research- and work-based learning ecosystem leading to interdisciplinary and intersectoral knowledge and skills that will allow them to contribute to addressing current and future challenges in four YUFE Focus Areas:
- European identity and responsibilities in a global world
- Citizens well-being
- Digital societies
- Sustainability
These correspond with some of today’s greatest global challenges, and those likely to face our societies in the future, in Europe and elsewhere. By bringing together research, education, industry and citizens, we will work towards solutions that benefit every European citizen and region. YUFE Open Programmes will be open to local and international students at all levels of study.
YUFE students will also have access to YUFE-wide extracurricular activities paired to an innovative recognition system based on YUFE Stars. YUFE Stars will be awarded for mobility (physical or virtual), language learning, professional training and job-shadowing, and community volunteering. The YUFE Star System is an accessible and rewarding setting to fully pursue personal and professional development while experiencing the possibility to contribute as individuals to society and to have Europe-wide impact. These YUFE Stars will be featured on the YUFE Journey Certificate.
Programmes
How can I register for/join YUFE?
YUFE will open the call for applications for the YUFE Student Journey from 3 April until 26 May, 2023.
Students selected onto the YUFE Student Journey in fall 2022 will have four semesters to meet the requirements for the YUFE Student Journey Certificate or create their own learning path. For these students, the four-semester period starts counting from semester II of the Academic Year 2023/2024, when they can begin attending YUFE courses/activities.
We hope to see you soon!