Grant

Please note: As the educational agreement between Switzerland and the EU will entail essential changes, the information below is only valid until the end of 2010. However, StudEx may support trainees with a Leonardo grant until May, 31st 2011. Please find more information here.   

Within the vocational programme “Leonardo da Vinci” there are funds available to financially support traineeships abroad. You may profit from these funds no matter whether you were placed by StudEx or found your traineeship on your own.

This partial funding includes a monthly grant to help you cover the cost of living as well as a contribution to your travel expenses (max. CHF 250.-) and to a language course (max. CHF 300.-). Please note that you can only submit an application for a Leonardo grant if the criteria of eligibility of the programme are met.

The Leonardo grant depends on the traineeship salary. For European young workers (graduates of a vocational school) who are completing a traineeship in Switzerland, the monthly contribution amounts to CHF 500.- at the most and up to CHF 750.- for Swiss young workers with a trainee position in Europe.

Please note that even if your request for a grant is accepted you might need some funds of your own, since the cost of living in Switzerland and in most European countries is considerably higher than the Leonardo grant. If you do not have any money available to cover the remaining costs, you should therefore not accept an unpaid traineeship. Please find more information on the cost of living in Switzerland and Europe here.

Please note that the deadline to hand in your request for a grant is four weeks after the beginning of your traineeship.

Request for a grant

The StudEx grant application consists of the following documents:
(all forms can be downloaded in our Download Area):

1. The form "Request for a Leonardo-Grant". Please fill in the form and do not forget to print the request afterwards, sign it and have it stamped and signed by your employer.
2. A signed work contract, stating the exact dates, working hours, salary, your tasks as well as the conditions of your traineeship. If your employer does not issue a contract, we can accept a written and signed confirmation which includes the information noted above. Please note that your employer may use our model contracts.
3. The signed and stamped form "Company’s Statement".
4. The signed form "Young Worker's Statement".
5. The signed and stamped form "Vocational School Confirmation".
6. The signed "Declaration of Consent".
7. A copy of your diploma.
8. A xerox copy of your identity card or passport (page with photo and your personal information).

Allowance of grant requests

Since the number of placed young workers is small compared to the one of students and graduates and since we would like to support the mobility on the vocational level, we can accept all incoming applications at the moment.

The requests are continuously processed. If your request is complete, you will receive the grant contract within ten days per email. If it is incomplete, you will be reminded to send us the missing documents. Should you not receive any answer from us within ten days, you can assume that your request was lost.

ATTENTION! We unfortunately cannot support traineeships with monthly gross salaries of CHF 2300.- or more.

The signed grant contract must be returned within four weeks. Having received the contract, it will take another three weeks until you receive the first installment(s).