Completion of a Joint Programme  

Universities have different rules for students concerning the possibility of taking a leave of absence during their studies or completing the JP after the normative duration of the programme and how long afterwards a student can complete the studies and be awarded joint/double/dual degrees from the joint programme.

The consortium agreement shall include a section on students’ right to re-enter and complete the programme after a leave of absence.

In case a student agreement is in place (for example, in JPs with external funding), it is a good policy to include an article expressing the possibility of completing the JP after the normative duration of the programme.

The consortium agreement should specify:

●      The eligible period for students to re-register, complete the studies and graduate from the JP.

●      The costs for re-enrolment to be paid by the students, if any.

●      A statement whether students are eligible to graduate from a single university (which ones).

●      Procedure and contact details for re-enrolment.

See the Joint  Programme Design Filtering Tool  for details of each Unite! university regarding students’ rights to re-enrol and complete a study programme after a study leave.

Termination of a Joint Programme

Termination of a joint programme is a process which requires a long-term plan. It is a good policy to agree on a deadline for a partner to inform the others about an intention to withdraw from the JP.

Since the partners must be given sufficient time to consider new possible study tracks and perhaps also new possible partner/s, an intended withdrawal should be made known no less than 10 months before opening the call for applications.

In the case of termination of a JP, the university management should be informed at least six months before the coming call for student applications.

For JPs dependent on external funding, e.g., Erasmus Mundus, it is essential to agree on whether the programme shall continue when the external funding period ends. When renewing external funding applications, be aware that the funding premises, including available scholarships, must be known as the programme opens the call for applications.

For the termination process of a JP, the agreement should, besides the previous points, specify:

●      The responsible university for informing students who, so far, have not graduated from the JP and also how many cohorts that should be traced.

●      Including if it is a total or gradual extinction of the JP