What is the Erasmus+ Learning Agreement for Traineeships?

It is the standardised three-party document that defines a student's Erasmus+ traineeship before it starts: the tasks, learning outcomes, working hours and monitoring plan. It is signed by the student, the sending institution and the host organisation, and forms the basis for academic recognition of the placement back at the student's university.

Who has to sign the Learning Agreement for Traineeships?

Three parties sign: the student, a responsible person at the sending institution (usually the mobility or Erasmus+ coordinator), and a responsible person at the host organisation (usually the named workplace supervisor). All three signatures are required before the traineeship can be confirmed as approved.

When does the Learning Agreement need to be signed?

The Before the Mobility section must be signed by all three parties before the student's departure or start date. Institutions typically build in several weeks of buffer, since the document needs to circulate for review and countersignature across three different organisations.

What happens if the internship plan changes partway through?

Changes are recorded in the During the Mobility section, which exists specifically for this purpose. A change to tasks, working hours or duration should be documented and countersigned within roughly four to five weeks of the change taking effect, rather than left unrecorded until the placement ends.

What is the Erasmus Without Paper digital signing flow?

Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) is the EU infrastructure that lets participating universities exchange and sign Learning Agreements digitally instead of by email attachment and physical signature. Not every host company interacts with EWP directly, since many sign through a PDF or an online form the university sends, but coordinators increasingly route the sending-institution side of the process through it.

Why do Learning Agreements get sent back for revision?

The most common reasons are vague or generic learning outcomes, a missing or incomplete named supervisor at the host organisation, dates that do not match the mobility grant agreement, and tasks that do not clearly connect to the student's field of study. Coordinators check for all four before countersigning.

Does the host company need to keep a copy of the Learning Agreement?

Yes. Once all three parties have signed, each party retains a copy. The host company's copy is the reference document its supervisor should use for the midpoint check-in and the After the Mobility confirmation, since it is the record of what was originally agreed.

The Erasmus+ Learning Agreement for Traineeships 2026: Sections, Signatures and Approval

The Erasmus+ Learning Agreement for Traineeships is the standardised three-party document that defines a student's placement before it begins, and it must be signed by the student, the sending institution and the host organisation. It sets out the tasks, learning outcomes and monitoring plan for the traineeship, and it is the record the sending institution uses to award academic recognition once the placement is complete.

This piece is written for mobility coordinators and host company contacts handling the document itself, not the wider funding question. Here we go section by section: what the Learning Agreement contains, who signs it and in what order, how host companies fill in their part, and the reasons a draft gets sent back for revision.

Right now, in late July, this is a live task for most institutions. Coordinators and host companies across Europe are finalizing Learning Agreements for the autumn semester mobility window, and a document that is vague or incomplete at this stage tends to cause delay in September, when there is far less room to fix it.

What the Learning Agreement is for

The Learning Agreement answers one question before the student sets foot in the workplace: what, specifically, will this traineeship consist of, and how will it be assessed. It is not a formality attached to the grant, it is the planning document that makes the placement recognisable as part of the student's academic programme.

Three things depend on it: the sending institution's ability to award ECTS credit or another form of academic recognition, since it needs a documented, approved set of learning outcomes to grade against, not just a completed internship; the host company's clarity on what it has committed to, including tasks and supervision; and a shared reference point if the placement needs to change partway through, since the agreement already has a section built for that.

Without a signed Learning Agreement before the mobility starts, most sending institutions will not confirm the grant payment or the academic recognition, regardless of how the placement itself goes.

The three sections of the document

The Learning Agreement for Traineeships is structured around the traineeship's timeline, not around the three signing parties. Each of the three sections below corresponds to a phase of the mobility, and each carries its own signature requirement.

Section	When it is completed	What it contains
Before the Mobility	Signed before departure or the placement start date	The proposed tasks, learning outcomes and objectives, the monitoring plan, working hours, and the level of language competence expected of the trainee
During the Mobility	Completed only if the original plan changes	A record of any change to tasks, duration, working hours or supervisor, countersigned by the same three parties, typically within four to five weeks of the change
After the Mobility	Completed at the end of the placement	Confirmation that the traineeship took place as agreed (or as amended), the basis for the Trainee's Transcript of Records or completion certificate issued by the host and recognised by the sending institution

Key distinction

Only the first section is mandatory before the mobility starts. The second exists purely as a change log, and is left blank if nothing changes. The third is what converts the completed placement into a credential the sending institution can record.

Who signs, and in what order

The document requires three signatures, and in practice they tend to happen in a consistent sequence, even though the template itself does not enforce an order.

The student drafts the initial content, usually with direct input from the host company on the tasks and expected working arrangement, since the student is rarely in a position to describe the role accurately without the company's involvement at this stage.
The sending institution's coordinator reviews and approves the draft, checking that the proposed learning outcomes are specific enough to support academic recognition and that the placement fits the student's field of study. This is usually the same person referenced in the mobility coordinator's guide.
The host company's named supervisor signs, confirming they accept responsibility for the tasks, hours and monitoring plan described. See our guide for host organisations for what a company is agreeing to at this step.

All three signatures are generally in place before the mobility start date. Some institutions still manage this by email and PDF, circulating the document to each party in turn. A growing number use the Erasmus Without Paper digital signing flow, which lets sending and receiving institutions exchange and countersign the agreement through shared EU infrastructure, though the host company's own step still typically comes down to reviewing and signing a document sent to them.

How host companies fill in their section

For a company encountering the Learning Agreement for the first time, the host section asks for three things: a description of the tasks and objectives the trainee will work on, the name and role of the supervisor who will oversee them day to day, and agreement to the monitoring plan, meaning how and how often progress will be checked in with the sending institution.

The most common friction point for first-time hosts is not the paperwork itself but the specificity it asks for. A task description like "general marketing support" is not enough. The coordinator is looking for something closer to "supporting the content calendar for two product launches, with weekly review of drafts by the marketing lead," because that level of detail is what lets them judge whether the placement matches the student's degree. Companies that have already reviewed why companies prefer Living Profiles when selecting a candidate tend to find this step faster, since the documented background gives a natural starting point for the task description.

A second friction point is the named supervisor field, which needs a specific person with a role, not a department or a generic "HR" placeholder. Sending institutions increasingly reject drafts where the supervisor line is left vague, because the monitoring plan depends on one identifiable person the university can reach if something needs attention.

Common reasons a draft gets sent back

Coordinators reviewing Learning Agreements check for the same handful of issues before countersigning. Getting these right the first time avoids a revision cycle that, during a busy intake period, can cost a week or more.

Vague learning outcomes. Outcomes written as generic statements ("gain professional experience") rather than specific, assessable objectives tied to the student's coursework.
Missing or incomplete supervisor details. No named individual, or a name with no role or contact information attached.
Dates that do not match the mobility grant agreement. The Learning Agreement's start and end dates need to align exactly with the dates the sending institution has already registered for the student's grant.
Tasks that do not match the student's field of study. A clear mismatch between the degree programme and the proposed role is one of the fastest ways a draft gets returned, since it undermines the case for academic recognition.

None of these require special expertise to avoid, they mainly require the host company and student to fill in the initial draft with enough specificity that the coordinator does not need to ask follow-up questions before signing.

Working with Internship Abroad on Learning Agreements

Internship Abroad works alongside sending institutions and host companies to keep this process moving, from matching students with a role that genuinely fits their field of study through to a Learning Agreement draft that is specific enough to sign on the first pass. Host organisations can review the internship toolkit for templates and reference material that support this stage, and register your organisation to start receiving applications from students who arrive with a documented profile already in place.

For related reading, see how ECTS credit recognition works for what the Learning Agreement ultimately feeds into back at the sending institution, or the European Commission's own programme reference at ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus.