All students can go on exchange, regardless of functional needs.
If you want to study abroad, we recommend starting your planning early, especially if you need accommodations in your daily study life. We are here to support you, and we want as many students as possible to have the opportunity to go on exchange.
What can be facilitated?
The services offered vary from country to country. This may include:
- Accessible or adapted housing
- Travel assistance
- Accessibility and physical access
- Exam accommodations/alternative exam formats
- Adapted learning materials (e.g., audiobooks)
- Access to assistance or a support person
- Sign language interpretation
- Preparatory visits to the host institution
On the website The European platform about inclusion and support services, you’ll find an overview of available accommodations at different higher education institutions across Europe.
Most universities also have dedicated Special Needs Services that provide information on available support measures.
How to get started
Explore exchange opportunities
Use USN’s exchange portal to see where your study programme offers mobility options. Note: All institutions participating in Erasmus+ are required to provide accommodations for students with special needs.
Contact us early
Send us an email at international@usn.no Together, we can find good solutions for your stay.
We can help you:
- Establish contact with the accessibility coordinators at the host university
- Explore the possibility of a preparatory visit
- Clarify academic or practical questions together with student advisors
Contact information for accessibility coordinators at USN can be found here: www.usn.no/english/academics/special-needs/
Describe your needs
The earlier we know about your needs, the easier it is to find solutions together with the host institution. We know it can be challenging to share personal information regarding functional needs, and you decide what you want to disclose.
Tip: The organization Association for Higher Education Access and Disability has created useful Disclosure Guidelines on how to talk about your needs.
Support schemes and financing (including Erasmus+)
All educational institutions that participate in Erasmus+ must make arrangements for people who need it. Students from underrepresented groups within study mobility are hereby granted an additional scholarship during their Erasmus+ stay. The goal is for students from underrepresented groups to make greater use of the opportunities that Erasmus+ provides.
You can receive an additional grant of €250 if you are a student from underrepresented groups (2026):
Erasmus+:
Students with children under 18 years of age or other caregiving responsibilities
All students with children under 18 years of age, regardless of whether the child accompanies them on the mobility or not, can receive an additional scholarship. However, only one additional scholarship can be granted, so no more is given if one has multiple children.
Students with caregiving responsibilities for younger siblings, older family members, and/or family members with serious mental and/or physical illness, as well as substance dependence, can also receive an additional scholarship.
Documentation requirements: Students must sign a declaration of honor to confirm that they belong to the category of “students with fewer opportunities”.
Students with permanent disabilities and chronic illnesses
All students who fall under the UN’s definition of persons with disabilities are considered “students with fewer opportunities”. This definition is broad and indicates that the disability and/or chronic illness must be long-term.
“Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may prevent them from fully and effectively participating in society on an equal basis with others” (taken from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – un.org).
Documentation requirements: Students must sign a declaration of honor to confirm that they belong to the category of “students with fewer opportunities”.
The category of disabilities and chronic illnesses includes conditions that make it much harder for students to participate equally with others. These are not temporary or minor issues but serious barriers that can be physical, cognitive, or psychological. Students with these conditions need special support to succeed in their education.
Students with refugee status
All students with refugee status are considered to have fewer opportunities.
Documentation requirements: Students must sign a declaration of honor to confirm that they belong to the category of “students with fewer opportunities”. Currently being updated.
Students belonging to indigenous peoples and national minorities
All students who have a connection to the indigenous people (the Sami) or the national minorities (Jews, Kvens/Norwegian Finns, Romani people/Tatars, Forest Finns, and Roma).
The affiliation can be linked to language and cultural anchoring by the student either
a) using the relevant language as a home language and/or b) having or having had a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent with the relevant language as a home language
Or (applies only to Sami students) c) being listed, or being the child of a person who is or has been listed, in the Sami census
Documentation requirements: Students must sign a declaration of honor to confirm that they belong to the category of “students with fewer opportunities”.
The information above is from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills.
Additional Erasmus+ funding for special needs
You may apply for support to cover documented extra costs not covered by existing funding schemes, for example related to:
- Disabilities
- Chronic illnesses
- Reading and writing difficulties
NAV
If you receive benefits from NAV, you must contact NAV International to check how a stay abroad affects your support.
- Stay in the EEA or Switzerland: www.nav.no/opphold-i-eos
- Stay outside the EEA: www.nav.no/opphold-utenfor-eos
- NAV International phone: +47 55 55 33 33 (options 7 + 1 + 3)
Personal assistance
Municipalities issue decisions regarding personal assistance, including for stays abroad. Regulations vary, so contact your municipality as early as possible.
Lånekassen
Students going abroad can receive support from Lånekassen.
Lånekassen also offers an additional grant for students who cannot work alongside their studies due to disabilities. This support can usually be kept while on exchange.
Useful information
Inclusive Mobility Europe has collected testimonials from former exchange students who received inclusion support: www.inclusivemobility.eu/testimonials
ANSA: When you are going to study abroad, it can be useful to be a member of ANSA. As a student abroad you may experience challenges, which means that you need someone to talk to.
With ANSA's social advisers, you can address practical, emotional, study-related or health-related challenges. They also organize social activities so that you can get to know each other quickly and become part of the student network at your new place of study: www.ansa.no/medlemskap
Nordens velferdssenter has made a great film about studying abroad with a functional impairment:
Questions about adaptations/facilitations? Contact international@usn.no