General agreements

Target audience:

• In general, students in all UNIL faculties, except for the School of Medicine

Geographical areas covered:

• Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, Oceania

1. Attend the information session on university exchanges organised by your faculty or school/section at the start of the academic year.
   For the date of the session, check your faculty’s website at the beginning of the academic year, check the e-mails on your UNIL account regularly, and if necessary, contact your mobility adviser.
2. Check how much time your faculty allows you to spend away on an exchange.
3. Identify the destination(s) you are interested in for your exchange via the database of agreements proposed by UNIL.
4. Study the course programmes at the universities you are considering carefully and check that they are compatible with the course you are taking at UNIL.
5. Make an appointment with your Faculty Advisor for Studies and Mobility to make sure that the courses you are planning to take abroad will be recognised when you return.
   It is your coordinator who will have to "approve" the study plan(s) you have drawn up for the destination(s) for which you are applying. In the right-hand column of this page, you will find a model "Learning Agreement" to download (under "Contact"). This document is your study plan/contract/project (one Learning Agreement must be completed for each university chosen), and must therefore be discussed and 'approved' by your Faculty Advisor for Studies and Mobility.
6. Make sure you start the process of taking the language proficiency tests (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.) required by some non French-speaking destinations early enough.
7. Gather all documents required for your application :
   1. cover letter (in French for French-speaking universities, in English for all other universities. If you apply for both French-speaking and non-French-speaking universities, one in English is fine);
   2. resume (in French for French-speaking universities, in English for all other universities);
   3. learning agreement (one for each university);
   4. your transcript records (available in your MyUNIL account);
   5. copy of your university diplomas if any;
   6. your language proficiency test results (if required by the university you apply for);
   7. any document you may consider useful to support your application (facultative)
8. Once you have all the documents, click on the link to the application form in point i.

   Log in with the following access:
    

   username : sasme
   password : sasme

   Note : log in only if your application file is complete and you're ready to send your application.

9. Complete the online form and upload your full application file in a single PDF document at the end of the form until December 1st 23:59 (Swiss time). Don't forget to press the "envoyer le dossier" at the end of the process. Then click the "logout" button to quit.

Applications for university exchanges in 2025/2026 will open on this page on 1 November 2024.

The application deadline is December 1 for the following academic year (fall and/or spring semester).

UNIL is also part of the ISEP  (International Student Exchange Program) network, which allows students to go and study in universities in the United States.

1. Choosing universities in the "ISEP" network program: 

You can only choose sites that are in the United States, and only the "ISEP exchange" program, not the "ISEP direct" program.

https://www.isepstudyabroad.org/planning/how-to-apply

You must choose a minimum of 5 US sites, a maximum of 10. This is an internal requirement for a UNIL application

a. Chances of Placement:

When choosing, you must absolutely consider the chances of placement of each site.

You may only choose one site as "Most competitive", which must be your first choice. You can choose several sites that are "limited", but we strongly recommend that you choose no more than two, which should also be among your top 3 choices in order of preference.

All of your other choices should then be in "fair, good or excellent" chances of placement.

Example : 

1^st choice : most competitive

2^nd choice : limited

3^rd choice : limited

4^th choice : fair, good, excellent

5^th choice : fair, good, excellent

Here are some comments from ISEP on how to apply for these placement chances:

To ensure that your students receive a placement in our priority round (first round), those interested in ISEP-Exchange should list at least 4 programs on their applications (5 minimum pour ce qui est des exigences UNIL), and at least 2 or more out of the 5 first choices with a good or excellent chance of placement. For students willing to study in the US with the ISEP-Exchange program, we recommend at least 7 programs in total on their application, that is at least 4 sites with fair, good or excellent chances of placement.

b. University search:

The "Program Finder" search engine allows you to make a selection according to various criteria of the universities where to do your exchange. The main criterion should of course be your field and level of study.

Use the filters at your disposal (region, field of study, chances of placement) to help you make your selection. Not all filters appear on the homepage, but you can click on "more filters" to see others.

Please pay attention to the "sites' requirements", especially the language proficiency requirements

Each ISEP program requires an official transcript. ISEP Exchange programs also require an academic reference. Some programs may require a statement of interest, writing sample, language proficiency report, or resume. You can find specific requirements on each individual program page, which shows academic and language requirements, fields of study, dates and fees, and links to course lists. When you add a program to your application, you can return to the corresponding page by clicking on the program’s title.

2. How to apply for the ISEP program:

Step 1: Inform your study/mobility advisor before the December 1st deadline that you wish to apply for the ISEP program.

Step 2: Submit your application online before December 1st on the UNIL website.

There are two possibilities:

1. You apply for one or several universities with which we have a direct exchange agreement (general agreements), and you also apply for the ISEP program.
2. You apply only for the ISEP program.

If your first choice is the ISEP network, there is no point in applying for other destinations.

If, on the other hand, you have other choices that are higher priority than the ISEP program, then you will need to list your destination choices in order of preference when you apply on December 1.

In both cases, you will need to apply twice before December 1:

a. First, an application on the ISEP website ("application"). To apply on the ISEP website, you will need to create an account and then ask Mr. Olivier Goumoëns for access to the ISEP online application.

You do not need to have filled in all the sections and provided all the documents in the ISEP online application. There are several documents that you will need to upload to the online application that you will not have by 01.12. You simply need to have completed the main fields of the ISEP application, and found the 5-10 sites that interest you. It is therefore very important that you discuss your choice of sites and courses with your faculty mobility advisor. You will not be asked for a specific course list for each site during the ISEP application.

b. Once you have completed the essential information in the ISEP online application and "submitted" the application, you will be able to generate a PDF document of your application.

Please note: we recommend that you start this step several days before December 1st in order to have time to finalize your application on the ISEP website before submitting your UNIL application in time

c. This is when you need to make your second application, this time on the UNIL website. Attach your ISEP application to your UNIL application in a single PDF document before December 1st.

d. If you are selected for the ISEP program, you will need to complete the online ISEP application with all the documents you will need to provide, including a reference letter from a UNIL teacher.