What is the Learning Agreement?
The Learning Agreement for Study (Learning Agreement for Study or LAS) is the document that establishes your study plan during your mobility period at the University of Parma and the course units to be recognized at your home university at the end of your mobility.
Your home university can use two tools to manage your LAS:
- entirely online, with collection of digital signatures via a informatic platform;
- with management of a document (in Word or PDF) sent directly to the responsible persons via OneDrive, and then signed "manually" (physical or scanned signatures) - Our University adopt a system through OneDrive. Read below for details.
In accordance with Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) standards, the European Online Learning Agreement (OLA) platform allows you to prepare the document and receive comments, approvals, and signatures online. DO NOT send Learning Agreement to be signed via email to the Erasmus office, but only once complete.
Please note that the academic offer is updated in July. You can base your choice of course units on the previous year's course catalogue pending the publication of the final course catalogue (to facilitate students, the final offer is also emailed to nominated students).
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 on 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 should I choose?
According to your university's rules, you will need to process your Learning Agreement in one of the two formats listed above.
EWP stands for "Erasmus Without Paper." If your university uses an "EWP compliant" platform, it means that you can create your Learning Agreement directly through your university's digital platform, and send it to the University of Parma through the same platform by simply entering the correct professor's name ("Responsible Person").
In this case, it is called an "Online Learning Agreement (OLA)".
This is the recommended mode, when available, because it simplifies document exchange and signature collection.
- The EWP/OLA platform connects the student, the mobility officer at the home university and the mobility officer at the University of Parma.
- All parties involved electronically sign the document.
- Once signed, you must download a PDF copy of the OLA and email it to the Parma Erasmus Office. If you do not send it, the course units will not be uploaded to your study plan.
If you are not sure if your university uses an EWP platform, ask your International Relations Office for confirmation.
In this case, you need to proceed without using the EWP/OLA platform, following these steps:
- Fill out the Learning Agreement form.
- Ask your academic officer at your home university to review and sign the document.
- Upload the signed document to the University's OneDrive to get it to the academic officer at the University of Parma.
- Your academic officer at UNIPR will also need to review and sign the Learning Agreement.
- Once approved, the Erasmus Office will email the document to you.
In this case, scanned signatures are permitted.
Course catalogue
The academic offer for the upcoming academic year is published during the summer and emailed to nominated students.
If your mobility year's offer is not yet available, you can refer to the previous year's offer, pending the final course list.
In the section of your academic year of mobility you will find:
- The Course Catalogue (detailed list of course units available to exchange students in the academic year. IMPORTANT: if a teaching is not on this list, it means that it is not available for 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:
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?
You can use a Learning Agreement template from your university or download our template:
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.
Learning Agreement Templates
Who will approve my LA?
When filling out your Learning Agreement you are asked to indicate a Contact Person and a Responsible Person.
Contact is the administrative person in the International Office of the University of Parma while the Responsible Person is the professor in charge of evaluating and approving your Learning Agreement.
Contact person: the person in charge of the Unit (administrative part).
- Dr. Elena Raschiani
- Head of Welcome, Mobility, and International Students Unit
- 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 Referents (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.
Entry of courses on ESSE3
After receiving the Learning Agreement for Study complete with signatures, the Erasmus Office will upload your career to ESSE3. This will enable you to register for the different appeals to take your exams in Parma.
Uploads in your Esse3 profile begin after the deadline for Learning Agreement changes, and continue for a few weeks. Please wait until the end of November before asking updates about your esse3 exams and career.
Deadlines:
- 1st semester: October 31
- 2nd semester: March 31
FAQ - Exams and appeal inscription
Do you have any doubts? Have a look at the FAQs posted on the exam page.
