MBA Exchange Semester Plan Template

Exchange Semester Plan: [Your name, home programme and exchange term]

A planning workbook for an MBA exchange term at a partner school: whether to go, choosing the partner, credit transfer and pre-approval, timing against recruiting, a budget with currency sensitivity, and visa, entry, insurance and housing checks. It is for first-year students deciding whether to apply for exchange and second-year students preparing to leave. Source basis: the exchange structures common to international full-time MBA programmes, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) as described by the European Commission, and official government pages on entry rules, each cited with the date checked. Exchange rules, partner lists, visa and entry requirements change: check your school's exchange office and the official pages before you rely on anything here. This is a planning aid, not immigration, legal or financial advice. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

Document control

Contents

1. Should I go?
2. Choosing the partner school
3. Courses and credit transfer
4. Timing against recruiting
5. Budget
6. Visa, entry, insurance and housing checks
7. Timeline
8. Quality checklist and common mistakes
9. Self-test, notes, sources, answer key

How MBA exchanges usually work

Many leading MBA programmes have bilateral exchange agreements with partner business schools. The common pattern, which you must confirm for your programme, is:

• One term away, usually in the second year, after the core is finished. Some programmes do not offer exchange in the full-time MBA, cap the number of places, or offer only shorter options (global immersion weeks, study tours; see mba/mba-global-immersion-plan).
• Tuition paid to the home school. Under most bilateral agreements you keep paying home tuition and the host does not charge tuition, so the cost difference is mainly living, travel and visa costs. Check whether any fees are charged by the host.
• An internal selection round. Places at popular partners are limited and allocated by the home school, often by ranking, grades, a statement or a lottery, months before the term.
• Credits transferred, not grades. Courses are often recorded as transfer credit or pass/fail on the home transcript, subject to a minimum grade. Check how this interacts with honours, concentrations and grade non-disclosure policies.
• Host rules apply on site. Attendance, exams, academic integrity and AI-use rules at the host school apply to you while you study there.

1. Should I go?

Example. Mateo Ferreira holds a return offer from his summer internship in a consulting firm's office in Lisbon and wants a Western European network and stronger finance electives. He answers "yes" to all but the club question: he would give up a club vice-president role, which he decides is acceptable.

2. Choosing the partner school

Criteria

Scoring (Example, computed in calc/mba-exchange-semester-plan.py)

The weights are in row 2 (B2:F2). For School B: 0.30 x 4 + 0.25 x 5 + 0.20 x 4 + 0.15 x 4 + 0.10 x 3, that is 1.20 + 1.25 + 0.80 + 0.60 + 0.30 = 4.15. Mateo's target market is Western Europe, so his own career score for School A would be 5 and for School B 3; with those scores School A rises to 4.20 and School B falls to 3.65. The point: the same matrix gives different answers to different students, so use your own scores.

Questions to ask

• Which courses are open to exchange students, and are any reserved for the host's own students?
• What is the class format (case method, lectures, projects), the language of instruction and the grading scale?
• Does the host's career service support exchange students, and can you attend employer events?
• What housing support exists, and when does it open?
• What do recent exchange students from your school say about workload, integration and cost?

3. Courses and credit transfer

Credit systems

Credits do not translate one to one between schools. Your home school sets the conversion, usually in the exchange agreement or the exchange office's rules. Common systems you will meet:

• ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), used across the European Higher Education Area. As of October 2026 the European Commission's ECTS page states that 60 ECTS credits correspond to a full year of study or work. ECTS credits express workload linked to learning outcomes; the ECTS Users' Guide (2015) relates a full-time year to roughly 1,500 to 1,800 hours, about 25 to 30 hours per credit. Check the European Commission's ECTS page (education.ec.europa.eu) and the host's course descriptions.
• Semester or course units at US and many Asian schools, where one course may be 1.5, 3 or 4 units depending on length and contact hours.
• Course counts at some schools, where the requirement is a number of full-term courses, with half-term courses counting as half.

Credit conversion worksheet (Example)

Assumed agreement for this example: 6 ECTS at School A count as 3 home credits; the home school requires 12 home credits for a full exchange term. Computed in calc/mba-exchange-semester-plan.py.

Totals: 27 ECTS (=SUM(B2:B6)), 13.5 home credits at the agreed ratio (=B7*3/6), 1.5 above the 12 required (=13.5-12). 27 ECTS is 45% of a 60-ECTS full-time year (=27/60), a normal single-term load. In this example the language course does not count toward the degree, so the countable total is 12.0 home credits (=13.5-1.5), exactly the requirement: there is no buffer if one course is cancelled, which is why each counted course has an alternate.

Checks before you accept the place

• Which home requirements can exchange courses satisfy (free electives, concentration, none of the core)?
• What minimum grade is needed for credit, and how is the grade recorded (pass/fail, transfer credit, letter grade)?
• Do host exam periods fall after your home term ends, and does that delay your graduation audit or a visa or job start date?
• What happens if a pre-approved course is cancelled or full on arrival?

4. Timing against recruiting

Recruiting calendars vary by industry (consulting, banking, technology, corporate roles, startups), by country and by year, and they have moved earlier in several industries in recent years. Take dates from your career centre and employers, not from classmates or forums, and write them into the timeline in section 7.

5. Budget

Example budget for School A (euro area), four months, home costs in USD, example exchange rate USD 1.10 per EUR. All figures are fictional and computed in calc/mba-exchange-semester-plan.py.

Tuition is assumed to be paid to the home school either way, so it is left out of both columns.

Currency sensitivity

The host-side costs are in euros, so the dollar cost moves with the exchange rate. Total cost includes the 10% contingency.

A 10-cent move in the rate changes the total by about USD 993 (=9030*0.10*1.1). For why rates move and what a forward rate implies, see mba/mba-fx-interest-parity-card. Whether and how to hedge, borrow or budget is your own decision; this worksheet only shows the exposure. For loan and financial-aid questions, ask your school's financial aid office (see mba/mba-budget-during-program and mba/mba-funding-scholarship-plan).

6. Visa, entry, insurance and housing checks

This section lists dated facts as of October 2026 and the questions to ask. It is not a statement of what you need. Rules depend on nationality, length and purpose of stay, and they change, sometimes at short notice. Check before you rely on any of them.

Dated facts (checked 2026-10-28)

If you hold a student visa in your home-school country

International students often hold a student status in the country of their home school (for example, F-1 in the United States or a Student visa in the United Kingdom). A term abroad can affect that status, re-entry documents, work authorisation after graduation and the counting of enrolment periods. Before you apply for exchange, ask your home school's international student office in writing how the exchange term is treated and what documents you need to return. See mba/mba-international-applicant-plan.

Questions for the host international office

Insurance and safety

• Confirm health cover abroad: does your home plan cover the host country, emergencies, repatriation and pre-existing conditions? Some host countries require a specific policy for a permit.
• Register with your country's embassy or consular service if it offers this.
• Note the host's emergency numbers and the home and host school emergency contacts.
• Check travel advisories from your government before booking side travel.

Housing

• Use host-recommended housing or verified platforms; be cautious with listings that ask for deposits before you can verify the landlord.
• Line up the lease with the term dates and any exam period.
• If subletting your home housing, check that your lease allows it and agree the terms in writing.

7. Timeline

8. Quality checklist

• Section 1 answered; the exchange serves a stated purpose.
• Partner chosen from the current official partner list.
• Every counted course pre-approved in writing, with an alternate.
• Countable credits meet or exceed the requirement, with a buffer if possible.
• Recruiting calendar for my target industry checked with the career centre.
• Budget built, with currency sensitivity and a contingency line.
• Visa, permit or travel authorisation requirements confirmed with the host and the official page, with the date.
• Home-country student status questions answered by the home international student office (if applicable).
• Health insurance confirmed for the host country.
• Transcript request process and graduation audit date in the calendar.

Common mistakes

1. Choosing the partner for the city, not the courses. Then finding that the courses that count are full or not offered to exchange students.
2. Assuming credits transfer. Without written pre-approval, a course may not count.
3. No buffer in credits. One cancelled course delays graduation.
4. Ignoring the recruiting calendar. Students without an offer miss key events in the term they are away.
5. Underestimating incremental cost. Forgetting double rent, flights and side travel, or the currency move.
6. Starting the visa process late. Consulate appointments and document issuance can take months.
7. Relying on forums for entry rules. Rules depend on nationality and change; use the official page.
8. Forgetting home-country student status. International students can affect their status or later work authorisation by leaving without the right documents.
9. Missing host deadlines. Host add/drop, housing and exam registration deadlines differ from home.
10. Ignoring host academic integrity and AI-use rules. They apply to you while you are there.
11. Treating the term as a holiday. Grades can matter for credit and for recruiters who ask for transcripts.

Self-test questions

1. Under most bilateral exchange agreements, which school do you pay tuition to, and why does that matter for the budget?
2. As of October 2026, how many ECTS credits correspond to a full year according to the European Commission, and what share of that is 27 ECTS?
3. Using the example agreement (6 ECTS = 3 home credits), how many home credits do 24 ECTS give?
4. Why does the example credit plan have no buffer, and what is the fix?
5. In which recruiting situation is an exchange term usually most risky?
6. Using the example budget, what is the incremental cost at USD 1.10 per EUR, and how is it calculated?
7. By about how much does a 10-cent move in USD per EUR change the example total, and what is the Excel formula?
8. As of October 2026, what is the status of EES and ETIAS according to the official EU pages?
9. For the UK, how long can you study under the Standard Visitor route, and what does an ETA cost?
10. Who should an international student ask about the effect of an exchange on their home-country student status?

My notes and next steps

• Decision and reason: [ ]
• Partner ranking submitted: [School A, School B, School C] on YYYY-MM-DD
• Pre-approvals received: [course IDs, dates]
• Visa or permit steps and dates: [ ]
• Open questions for the exchange office: [ ]

Sources and further reading

• European Commission, European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), education.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-10-28; ECTS Users' Guide (2015), Publications Office of the European Union.
• GOV.UK, Visit the UK as a Standard Visitor: visit to study, gov.uk/standard-visitor/visit-to-study, checked 2026-10-28.
• GOV.UK, Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), gov.uk, checked 2026-10-28.
• European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs, Entry/Exit System, home-affairs.ec.europa.eu, checked 2026-10-28.
• European Union, Travel to Europe (EES and ETIAS), travel-europe.europa.eu, checked 2026-10-28.
• Directive (EU) 2016/801 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, training, voluntary service, pupil exchange schemes or educational projects and au pairing, eur-lex.europa.eu.
• U.S. Department of State, travel.state.gov, student and exchange visitor visa pages; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Study in the States, studyinthestates.dhs.gov.
• Your home school's exchange office rules, partner list and career centre recruiting calendar.

Answer key

1. Usually the home school; the host waives tuition. So the budget compares living, travel and visa costs, not tuition.
2. 60 ECTS for a full year; 27 ECTS is 45% (=27/60).
3. 12 home credits (=24*3/6).
4. The language course (1.5 credits) does not count, so countable credits are exactly 12.0 against a requirement of 12. Get alternates pre-approved, or add one more countable course if the load allows.
5. When you are recruiting for a full-time role without an offer, in the home market, and cannot take part remotely.
6. USD 4,531: total exchange-term cost of USD 13,731 (host-side USD 9,933 plus home-side USD 2,550, plus 10% contingency) minus the stay-home cost of USD 9,200.
7. About USD 993: =9030*0.10*1.1.
8. EES became fully operational on 10 April 2026 after a progressive start on 12 October 2025; ETIAS was not yet in operation and no confirmed start date was published. Check the official pages again before travel.
9. Up to 6 months at an accredited institution; the ETA costs GBP 20 (as of October 2026).
10. The home school's international student office, in writing, before applying for the exchange.

Revision history

Standard and licence note

Based on the exchange structures common to international full-time MBA programmes, described in general terms, the European Commission's description of ECTS, and official government pages on entry and study rules in the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States, checked on 2026-10-28 and summarised in original words. The text is original and independent; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by any school or government. Entry, visa and credit rules change: check the current official pages and your school's exchange office before relying on any statement here. This is not immigration, legal or financial advice. Template licence: MIT.