[juggernought]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if it is possible to skip the erasmus year? It seems as though there is little hope of actually getting permission from uni to skip it (unless there are some serious personal problems) but if you just didn't turn up, would you get in trouble? Surely it would be possible to work from the uk and do the work set in spain. And if you got somebody (or a business) to vouch for you and say that you had worked there throughout the year, do you think it would be possible to skip it?

Also, if I did have to go, would it only be during term time? And also, would I have to attend a Spanish uni, or could i just choose to get a job?

Thanks1

[duracell]

It sounds like you haven't fully understood everything about years abroad. Are you set to do it from September?

My uni gave us 3 options: Study at a university; become an English Language Assistant through the British Council; or find our own work placement. The consequences of you 'not turning up' will be different depending on which one you'd do - however I'd say all of them would be rather serious.

It would be fairly difficult to a) get work from (for example) a Spanish university sent to you in the UK if you're enrolled at the university in Spain, and b) find a business/'somebody' to say that you had worked somewhere when you hadn't.

Is there a particular reason that you don't want to do it?

[superwolf]

Er, Erasmus is entirely voluntary. If you mean the compulsory year abroad that forms part of most modern languages degrees, then you're right in that you'd be highly unlikely to be exempted from it, except under exceptional circumstances. And yes, if you didn't turn up then you'd definitely get into trouble. After my year abroad (Russia) I had to hand in the certificates I'd got there, to prove that I'd attended my language courses (and I believe the people who got jobs instead also had to provide proof), otherwise I would not have passed the year and so presumably would have had to repeat it. We also had someone from RLUS (organisation that helps send students to Russia) come out and check on us, although that's probably not the case in most countries - just Russia can be a bit harder to adapt to, so you get your uni keeping a closer eye on you.

If you were caught faking being on your year abroad when in fact you weren't, I expect your uni would be justified in kicking you off the course. Plus of course even before that you'd be self-sabotaging already, by not taking up the opportunity to further your language skills.

Different academic departments have different policies, but for my one (Russian at Manchester) if you wanted to get a job rather than study then you had to demonstrate that you already had sufficient proficiency in the language. However like I say Russia is a bit of an exception generally, so for EU countries the general policies may well be different. In terms of what dates you'd have to be there, that probably depends on whether you're working or studying - if you got a full-time job you could hardly expect them to give you student-length holidays. You may also find that your school stipulates that you spend a certain number of weeks abroad in total, which they will likely check up on.

I have to ask though, why the hell would you want to do a language degree when you're so put off by the idea of the year abroad? It's a great opportunity to advance a hell of a lot with your language, you get to meet all kinds of cool people, travel, see different ways of life, and the majority of people have a great time.

[hannah_dru]

Why don't you want to/can't you do it? I'd fully recommend doing it as it's beneficial in so many ways.

[Purple Giraffe]

The year abroad is an integral part of a MFL course. To fully understand a language you need to know its background and culture, which you can get a good grasp of by living in the country where the language is spoken. It will also rapidly and vastly improve your language skills, not to mention the incredible experience you'll be able to put on your CV, especially if you work there.

Why do you want to skip it? Surely if you're reluctant to live in the country whose language you want to learn, you are studying the wrong language :P That said, if you are under unique circumstances that's fair enough, but I'm not sure whether unis allow you to skip such a vital step or not. I guess the best thing to do is ask the uni itself.