Who applies as a free mover?

95% of free movers are currently enrolled students at a higher education institution, and go abroad for one or two semesters to take courses at a foreign university, earn credits, and convert those credits toward their degree at home.

This is the profile wearefreemovers is built around, and it is the one most articles on this platform address in detail.

The process follows a defined structure: the student selects courses abroad that align with their home curriculum, secures a signed learning agreement before departure, completes the courses and exams at the host institution, and returns home with a Transcript of Records that triggers credit recognition. The credits earned abroad count toward their degree as if they had been taken at home.

This profile covers students at every level: bachelor’s students going abroad in their second or third year, master’s students going abroad in their first or second year, and students in professional programs who incorporate a semester abroad as a deliberate step in their academic path. The level you are enrolled at determines which courses you can take at the host institution, as most universities require that your course selection matches your degree level.

If this is your situation, the rest of the resources on this platform are designed for you: you’re going to have a great time here! Just sign up and apply to the university of your dreams. Check our application process guide along the way: it might be useful.

Some students have completed all their academic credits and are in the thesis phase of their degree when they decide to go abroad. Their goal is not credit accumulation but access to a specific research environment, laboratory, library collection, or academic supervisor at a foreign institution.

This profile is real and growing, but it is structurally different from standard credit mobility in one important way: there is no standardized application process. The student must identify the professor or research supervisor they want to work with at the target institution, contact them directly, and negotiate an arrangement that both institutions find acceptable. The home university also needs to approve the arrangement, which often requires a formal agreement between the two institutions or a co-supervision agreement signed by both supervisors.

The outcome can be formal or informal. At the formal end, a cotutelle arrangement (common in French-speaking systems) places the student officially under dual supervision, with their thesis jointly awarded by both institutions. At the informal end, a student spends a semester working in a lab abroad under a visiting arrangement, producing work that feeds into their home-institution thesis without formal joint supervision.

wearefreemovers does not handle thesis mobility. The reason is practical: there is no standardizable process to streamline, because every arrangement depends on the specific agreement between two supervisors at two institutions. If this is your situation, start by identifying the supervisor you want to work with and reaching out to them directly, then engage your home university’s international office to understand what formal framework applies.

PhD students and researchers going abroad occupy a similar position to thesis students: they are seeking access to a specific research environment rather than course credits. A doctoral student might spend a semester at a foreign institution working with a leading researcher in their field, attending seminars, or accessing equipment or datasets not available at home.

As with thesis mobility, this profile requires direct contact with the host institution‘s academic staff rather than a platform application. Some universities have formal visiting researcher programs with defined application processes. Others accommodate visiting researchers on a purely informal basis arranged between supervisors.

Funding for research mobility varies. The EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship program, Horizon Europe research grants, and bilateral agreements between institutions all provide frameworks for funded research mobility. Some PhD students also arrange research stays through their supervisor’s personal network, without any formal funding structure.

wearefreemovers does not currently serve this profile, as research mobility is sufficiently individualized that it falls outside the scope of a standardized application platform.

A small but consistent proportion of people who apply through wearefreemovers are either not currently enrolled at a university, or are enrolled but explicitly not seeking to convert credits. They simply want to spend a semester at a foreign institution for the intellectual, cultural, or personal experience.

Graduated students who want to continue learning in an academic environment before entering the workforce, or who want to explore a subject area adjacent to their original degree, fall into this category. They apply, attend courses, and may or may not receive a transcript, but they are not converting credits toward a formal qualification.

Gap year students represent a specific and culturally distinct case. In French higher education, particularly within the grandes écoles system, a structured gap year is a recognized and sometimes mandatory part of the curriculum. Students take a year off between academic years, often to work, do research, or study abroad in an unstructured format. French business school students in particular use free mover mobility during their gap year to attend a foreign university without the credit conversion requirements that would apply in a standard semester.

Gap year practices also exist in other systems. Some British students take a year off between secondary school and university, though this is a pre-enrollment gap year rather than a mid-degree one. US students sometimes take a gap year between undergraduate and graduate study.

For these students, free mover mobility still works. The application process is the same, the visa requirements and practical logistics are identical, and the host university treats them as visiting students regardless of their credit conversion intentions. The key difference is that the learning agreement and credit recognition process is optional rather than required. If you fall into this category, you can still apply through wearefreemovers, but you should inform us during the application process that credit conversion is not your goal, as this affects the document requirements.

Across all profiles, two conditions define the baseline for free mover eligibility.

• You must be at least 18 years old. No partner university on our platform accepts visiting students under 18. This is a hard floor, not a guideline.
• You should be enrolled at, or a recent graduate of, a recognized higher education institution. For the standard credit mobility case, active enrollment is required. For non-credit and gap year students, recent graduation or current enrollment at any point during the application window is typically sufficient. Universities are not generally open to applicants with no connection to higher education at all, as they expect a baseline of academic preparation.

These are the entry conditions. The prerequisites that follow, covering GPA, language certification, financial means, and documentation, are evaluated once these baseline conditions are confirmed.

To be direct about where the platform is and is not useful:

We serve: enrolled students at any level pursuing credit mobility for one or two semesters, and non-credit visiting students including gap year students who want to attend a foreign university without formal credit conversion.

We do not currently serve: thesis mobility requiring direct supervisor contact, PhD and research mobility, or students seeking arrangements that require bespoke institutional negotiations. For these profiles, the starting point is direct contact with the academic department or supervisor at your target institution, not a platform application.

If you are unsure which profile applies to you, the simplest test is this: are you looking to attend courses at a foreign university and return home with credits or simply with the experience? If yes, the platform applies. If your goal is specifically to access a research supervisor or complete a thesis component abroad, start with direct institutional contact instead.