We have gathered here information about universities our students have been to in the past and the way you should go about securing your place in that university, what you can do there, what language skills are needed, etc.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask: karoli.koiv@emu.ee.

Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Denmark - 824 EUR / month

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain - 756 EUR / month

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Türkiye - 700 EUR / month

PLUS

Read about green travel top-ups here.

Travel grant based on distance

10–99 km - green travel 56 EUR/participant, regular travel 28 EUR/participant

100–499 km - green travel 285 EUR/participant, regular travel 211 EUR/participant

500–1 999 km - green travel 417 EUR/participant, regular travel 309 EUR/participant

2 000–2 999 km - green travel 535 EUR/participant, regular travel 395 EUR/participant

3 000–3 999 km - green travel 785 EUR/participant, regular travel 580 EUR/participant

4 000–7 999 km - green travel 1 188 EUR/participant, regular travel 1 188 eurot EUR/participant

8 000 km or more - green travel 1 735 EUR/participant, regular travel 1 735 EUR/participant

PLUS

250 EUR/month for students with fewer opportunities

PLUS

112 EUR from Estonian government

To apply, submit an application on Solemove. To get access, e-mail karoli.koiv@emu.ee and indicate where you want to do your training.

4th year students: you can start on June 8th the earliest. Keep in mind that you need to pass your prerequisites to the trainings before your learning agreement can be signed!

Nordplus scholarships for 2025/2026 academic year:

Long mobility (1-2 months) - 250 EUR/month (extra weeks 70 EUR/week)

Express mobility (1-3 weeks) - 250 EUR 1st week + 100 EUR 2nd week + 100 EUR 3rd week

Travel grant

To Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland - 330 EUR

To Latvia, Lithuania - 150 EUR

To Iceland - 660 EUR

To apply, submit an application on Solemove and before the mobility, you will receive two documents that need to be signed at the end of your mobility and you will receive the scholarship after successfully completing the mobility. To get access, e-mail karoli.koiv@emu.ee and indicate where you want to do your training.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes - more information about amounts will be added soon!

Erasmus+ scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Ursula Schober, ursula.schober@vetmeduni.ac.at

Language requirements: English B2, German highly recommended!

What have our students done there: small animals, equine

When do they take students: spring and summer

More information: https://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/en/internationaloffice/student-mobility/incoming/erasmus-smt

Procedure:

international@vetmeduni.ac.at

Please indicate in this e-mail:

1) Name of home university

2) Planned traineeship period from - until

3) Target unit for traineeship

Deadline: October 1

Student testimonial from summer 2024:

If you already know some German and want to practice it more, this is a really good place for it. Almost everyone is really nice, and the hospital has a lot of specialists in different fields, so you get to meet a lot of widely qualified people. Also, if you have a very specific interest, for example surgery, this is a really good place, since you'll always be with one department for the whole month.

There were a lot of rotational students at the same time, and everyone was really nice and helpful, so that was also a really positive thing.

The clinic is very modern, so you get an opportunity to see a lot of fancy machines in the work. For example, I got to see 3D technology used for assistance during a spinal surgery. As far as I know, Vetmeduni is the only one in Europe that has this technology.

German isn't mandatory for the university, as far as I know (there was one other trainee in surgery department at the same time as me and she didn't speak any German) but it is highly useful to know some! No need to be fluent, though, because most vets speak also really good English and will gladly translate if you don't understand something. I personally spoke mostly German, but also some English here and there when I didn't understand or my brain was buffering with German too much.

Erasmus schoalrship available: Yes

Contact at university: Christine Winter, Christine.Winter@tiho-hannover.de

Language requirements: English B2, some knowledge of German helps but it's not essential. In large animal clinic, staff are very happy to include you and explain things in English. In the small animal clinic, it's more difficult because owners are not so eager to communicate in English, so most visits are done in German. So some understanding of German helps!

What have our students done there: small animals, production animals

When do they take students: spring, summer

More information: https://www.tiho-hannover.de/en/university/international-academic-office/international-academic-office/ways-to-the-tiho/students

Procedure: Fill this application form and e-mail it to erasmus@tiho-hannover.de together with your CV and motivation letter.

Deadline: no specific deadline but apply about 1 year in advance!

Student testimonial from spring 2024:

I can definitely recommend the TiHo (Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover) university for the small animal practical training! I have had a great time so far, I absolutely love it here. 🙂 

The university required applications at least a year in advance (even though the SoleMove was done just last autumn). Once accepted, the university sends an Acceptance letter together with a comprehensive information package which includes information on the school, the departments, and what a student needs when going to a practicum. And all this a year before the practicum!

Also, their Erasmus coordinators sent me a good list to help with apartment hunting. The university has cheap dormitories, however, they do not let dogs (or pets) to join there. I found my apartment through airbnb. 

Dogs are however allowed at the clinic during the days, they are allowed in the student break room. Many students have their dogs there, so the dog has to be friendly to be able to stay there. But having a dog with you there is nice, since during lunch break you can take them out etc, since the days can be quite long (usually 8-17, but there are lots of exceptions).

Erasmus students (exchange students in general) are taken in very well! Everyone is super nice and happy to teach, in German and in English.🙂 They do appreciate if you understand or want to learn German, but it is not required.

I was asked for a German language certificate by EMÜ less than two weeks before beginning of the training, that would be nice to have done a bit earlier. But all the vets there speak English on different levels and even without German proficiency students are able to learn and the vets will teach in English, too. 🙂 

Basically, if a student is eager to learn, everyone wants to teach. If a student just wants to be a "wall flower" and observe, then they will not really make contact. They have their own students doing their practicals at least in the spring around the clinic, rotating through departments, so it is easy to go with them and they've been very helpful with everything. 

The students at TiHo have their own study seminars every week, and I was welcomed to join if interested! There are also Journal Clubs in every department once per week, where the vets discuss current topics and research in their field, these are mostly in English and students are welcome to join. Also two radiology seminars are held during each week, where the vets interpret radiographs to learn themselves. All seminars, Journal Clubs and radiology seminars take around 1-2h and are during the working days. 

The whole scheduling of the practicum happened on the first day, but changes can be made throughout the practicum. Everyone is very happy to help, and the coordinator from the clinic wants to help with anything they can! Exchange students are not required to do night shifts but if there is interest, exchange students are welcome to join the night shifts, too! Those are just scheduled whenever a student wants, just let the night vet know about interest. 

 The small animal clinic (Klinik für Kleintiere) only treats dogs and cats, so if a student wants to also spend time with exotics (Klinik für Heimtiere, Reptilien und Vögel) or in reproduction medicine (Reproduktionsmedizinische Einheit der Kliniken), they need their own applications (can be sent in the same email, but needs separate application forms for each!). 

TiHo also has production animal and equine clinics, but I heard from the students that the equine clinic does not let students do much and only let them observe (plus a requirement is speaking fluent German). So I wouldn't recommend the equine clinic. I have only heard good things about all the other clinics. 

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Sari Mikkola, studentexchange@helsinki.fi

Language requirements: Finnish for small animal and production animals, equine can also be done in English

What have our students done there: small animals and equine can be easily cmbined, production animals are also available but located elsewhere and they require you to do a full rotation (more than 4 weeks)

When do they take students: summer (Finnish-speaking for all clinics, English-speaking for equine), spring (non-Finnish students only!)

More information: will be available by January 2026

Procedure:

For summer: you submit an application to us in January (separate e-mail will be sent to you), we select the students and nominate you to Helsinki and you submit an application to them. By February-March you will know if you were accepted.

For spring: you submit an application to us in spring (separate e-mail will be sent to you), we nominate you and then they will let us know if they can take you and then you still need to do an official application to them in early autumn.

Deadline: February 15 for summer, October 1 for spring.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Sven Menčik, erasmus@vef.hr

Language requirements: English B2

What have our students done there: small animals, equine

When do they take students: spring, summer

Procedure: e-mail them at erasmus@vef.hr and send them the following documents (please also indicate when you would like to go, for how long and what training you want to do there):

1.     CV in Europass format

2.     Letter of Recommendation written by any of your teachers in official paper of the Faculty with the signature and Stamp of the Institution

3.     B2 certificate of English language (or some valid certification for the Sending Institution – Faculty).  

4.     Certificate of the enrollment in the 4th year of studies and the credentials of the preclinical subjects

Deadline: no particular deadline.

Student testimonial from summer 2024:

Almost all of the staff speak good English. They days are not very heavy (mentally or physically), so no need to worry about feeling exhausted during the practical.

I would recommend Zagreb if you don’t want to overwork yourself in the practical and enjoy the Southern European easy mentality. Be prepared to have difficulties with the schedule and organising of the practical though.

Student testimonial from spring 2025:

- The university is divided in several clinics (Imaging, infectious diseases, internal medicine ...) and the Equine clinic is part of the small animal surgery clinic. So if you are going to horses for a few weeks, be ready to also go to surgery when there is no cases in Equine. 

- For the Equine, rubber and reinforced boots are mandatory. You will not be able to go there if you don't have them with you. There is a possibility to borrow a pair from the university but you might not get them on time. 

- For the Equine, there is not many cases, depending on which vet is there. Sometimes one or two per day. The vets are very nice, they speak english and take time to teach us many things, including practices with the school horses (X-rays, ultrasound...) 

- Bring your scubs and clinic shoes with you. All colors of scrubs are accepted but green is prefered for students and light blue is only for the vets.

- Bring your stethoscope with you. 

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Giovanni Palermo, giovanni.palermo@unina.it

Language requirements: officially English B2 but in reality, Italian really helps

What have our students done there: small animals

When do they take students: spring, summer (they are mostly closed in August)

Procedure: e-mail them at giovanni.palermo@unina.it and explain what you would like to do, when and for how long.

Deadline: no particular deadline, apply at least 6 months in advance.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Giulia Cagnotti giulia.cagnotti@unito.it

Language requirements: officially English B2 but in reality, Italian really helps

What have our students done there: small animals, equine, small animals

When do they take students: spring, summer (they are open all summer)

Procedure: e-mail them at giulia.cagnotti@unito.it and explain what you would like to do, when and for how long.

Deadline: no particular deadline, apply at least 6 months in advance.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Sara Nannarone, sara.nannarone@unipg.it

Language requirements: officially English B2 but in reality, Italian really helps

What have our students done there: small animals

When do they take students: spring, summer

Procedure: e-mail them at sara.nannarone@unipg.it and explain what you would like to do, when and for how long.

Deadline: no particular deadline, apply at least 6 months in advance.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Luigi Intorre, luigi.intorre@unipi.it

Language requirements: officially English B2 but in reality, Italian really helps

What have our students done there: small animals

When do they take students: spring?, summer

Procedure: e-mail them at luigi.intorre@unipi.it and explain what you would like to do, when and for how long

Deadline: no particular deadline, apply at least 6 months in advance

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: mobility@slu.se

Language requirements: English B2

What have our students done there: small animals, equine, production animals

When do they take students: summer

Procedure: submit an application to us on Solemove and then we will nominate 5-6 students to them and then you submit an application to them by their deadline.

Deadline: to us on Solemove by October 16 and those who are nominated will submit their applications to SLU by December 16.

Erasmus scholarship available: Yes

Contact at university: Anete Freiberga, anete.freiberga@lbtu.lv

Language requirements: English B2

What have our students done there: small animals, equine, production animals

When do they take students: spring, summer

Procedure: e-mail them at anete.freiberga@lbtu.lv and explain what you would like to do, when and for how long

Deadline: no particular deadline, apply at least 6 months in advance

Erasmus scholarship available: No, you'd need to use Nordplus

Contact at university: exchange@sund.ku.dk

Language requirements: English B2

What have our students done there: small animals, equine, production animals

When do they take students: spring and summer

More information: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/education/student-mobility/exchange-students/veterinary-exchange-students/

Procedure: submit your Nordplus traineeship application to us on Solemove (ask karoli.koiv@emu.ee for access if you don't have it), we nominate you and then you submit your application to them (you will receive guidelines from them).

Deadline: to be determined for spring/summer 2027 (not available for 2026)

• Norwegian University of Life Sciences - since the mobilities wouldn't be balanced (their students don't want to come here), they cannot accept our students.

• University of Utrecht - they only accept students from their partner institutions and we are not a partner and they are not interested in having us as a partner :)