What is a Learning Agreement?
The Learning Agreement for Study (LAS) establishes your study plan during your period of mobility at the University of Parma, as well as the subjects to be recognised by your home university upon completion of your mobility period.
Your home university can use two tools to manage your LAS:
- online, digital signatures through an IT platform.
- Alternatively, they can manage a Word or PDF document sent directly to the relevant people for manual signing (physical or scanned signatures).
In accordance with Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) standards, the European Online Learning Agreement (OLA) platform enables you to prepare the document and receive comments, approvals and signatures online. Only send the Learning Agreement to the Erasmus office by email for signing once completed.
Please note that the academic offer is updated in July. You can base your choice of courses on last year's academic offer, pending publication of the final offer (to make things easier for students, the final offer will also be sent by email to those who have been selected).
Why is it important?
Your place at the University of Parma will only be confirmed once your Learning Agreement has been completed and approved by both universities, so it is best to send it as soon as possible, complete with approval from both institutions. In any case, your Learning Agreement must be completed and approved before you arrive in Parma.
Exceptionally, during your stay it will be possible to make changes to the Learning Agreement.
Please note that the academic offer is updated in July. You can base your choice of courses on last year's academic offer, pending publication of the final offer (to make things easier for students, the final offer will also be sent by email to those who have been selected).
Which format?
Your university's rules state that you must complete your Learning Agreement using one of the two provided formats.
EWP stands for 'Erasmus Without Paper'. If your university uses an 'EWP-compliant' platform, you can create your Learning Agreement directly through your university's digital platform and send it to the University of Parma via the same platform by simply entering the name of the relevant lecturer ('Responsible Person').
This is called an 'Online Learning Agreement' (OLA).
This is the recommended method when available, because it simplifies the exchange of documents and the collection of signatures.
- The EWP/OLA platform connects students, home university mobility officers and University of Parma mobility officers.
- All parties electronically sign the document.
- Once signed, you must download a PDF copy of the OLA and email it to the Erasmus Office in Parma. If you do not do this, the OLA will not be uploaded to your study plan.
If you are not sure whether your university uses an EWP platform, please ask your International Relations Office for confirmation.
In this case, you must proceed without using the EWP/OLA platform. Follow these steps:
- Fill in the Learning Agreement form in PDF format.
- Ask your academic officer at your home university to review and sign the document.
- Upload the signed document to the university's OneDrive so that it is accessible to the academic officer at the University of Parma.
- The head of UNIPR will also need to assess and sign the Learning Agreement.
- Once approved, the Erasmus Office will send you the document by email.
In this case, scanned signatures are permitted.
Educational offer
The academic offer for the upcoming academic year is published in the summer and sent by email to selected students.
If an offer for your mobility year is not yet available, you can refer to last year's offer while you wait for the final course list.
In the section for your mobility year, you will find:
- The Educational Offer, which is a detailed list of the courses available to exchange students for the academic year. IMPORTANT: If a course is not on this list, it means that it is not available to exchange students.
- The extract from the course offer only shows the courses offered in English.
- If your department has specific instructions for completing the Learning Agreement, you will find dedicated guides here.
To consult the university's entire educational offer, including only English-language courses, please refer to this link:
Courses.
Guide to filling out the Learning Agreement
When creating your Learning Agreement, please note the following:
- You can only enter courses in your LA that are listed in the 'Learning Offer' Excel spreadsheet for your mobility year. Follow the instructions in the guide below and any additional instructions from your UniPR department.
- Although the titles of available courses are listed in both Italian and English, this does not indicate the language in which the course is taught. This information is available in the details of each course.
- Incoming mobile students may choose to take courses from different departments or degree courses (with some exceptions!).
- Each part of your Learning Agreement must be completed correctly; the teaching code, teaching name and number of credits must match, otherwise you will not be able to register for the corresponding exam.
Read the following guides for more information on how to choose which exams to include in your Learning Agreement and how to complete the document correctly.
I don't have an OLA, what do I do?
The Learning Agreement must be uploaded on the OneDrive platform of the University of Parma. In this way, the person responsible at this University can assess whether to approve the document and sign it. Depending on the course department, the LA must be uploaded in a specific folder.
Below you will find links to upload your LA.
If you do not receive a reply after at least ten days after you have uploaded your LA, please contact your Contact Person directly to request an evaluation.
The full list of Departmental Referrers is available here (online xlsx file).
If you have used OLA or another EWP (Erasmus Without Paper) compliant platform (i.e. all three signatures can be collected through the platform), you must email the PDF to incoming@unipr.it once your Learning Agreement is complete with signatures and approved by all parties.
Who approves my LA?
When filling in your Learning Agreement you are asked to indicate a Contact Person and a Responsible Person.
Contact person is the administrative person of the International Office of the University of Parma while the Responsible person is the professor in charge of assessing and approving your Learning Agreement.
Contact person: the head of the Internationalisation Unit (administrative part):
- Dott.ssa Elena Raschiani
- Head of U.O. Reception, Mobility and International Students
- Telephone: +39 0521 904203
- E-mail: incoming@unipr.it
Responsible person: the professor who will approve your Learning Agreement (academic part).
You can find the person responsible for signing your Learning Agreement in the list of Contact Persons (online xslx file).
Is it possible to edit my courses?
The Learning Agreement for Study can be amended, if necessary, only once per semester using the appropriate section for amendments - the ‘During Mobility’ part.
For further information you can consult the page dedicated to possible amendments to the Learning Agreement.
Entering courses into ESSE3
After receiving the Learning Agreement for Study complete with signatures, the Erasmus Office will upload your career in ESSE3. In this way, you will be able to register for the different exams in Parma.
Uploads begin after the deadline for changes to the Learning Agreement, and continue for a few weeks.
Deadlines:
- 1st semester: 31 October
- 2nd semester: 31 March
FAQ - Exams and roll call registration
Any doubts? Check the FAQ on the exams page.
