Insurance and safety during exchange
Having adequate travel insurance is a requirement for receiving a grant. It is also important to familiarise yourself with the health and safety guidance for your host country and to know how to respond in the event of problems or emergencies. Once these essentials are in place, you can make the most of your exchange experience with greater peace of mind.
Insurances
All students going abroad for exchange must have a broad insurance cover. Here you can see which insurances are required and whose responsibility they are:
| Insurance | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Personal accident insurance (incident, group) | TAMK (world wide) |
| Business liability insurance | TAMK (not USA and Kanada) |
| Travel insurance for free time, including medical costs, repatriation | Student |
All students must acquire a travel insurance for free-time activities, this is also one condition of the grant. The grant will not be paid unless you fill in the insurance number and the name of the insurance company to the grant agreement.
For studying in the EU/EEA or Switzerland you need
- Travel insurance for free-time activities (including medical costs and repatriation)
- European Health Insurance Card which completes but does not replace the travel and health care insurance. The European Health Insurance Card is available to everyone covered under the Finnish health insurance system.
For studying outside the EU, you need
- Travel insurance for free-time activities (including medical costs and repatriation)
Health and safety issues
FSHS offers nothing else but a certificate only for mandatory student exchanges. For voluntary exchanges, the student must apply for certificates from either private or welfare area operators. Laboratory/X-ray examinations required for student exchanges - that is, also for mandatory exchanges - should always be obtained from private or welfare sector operators, as they are not part of the FSHS services.
Other health and safety measures you should undertake:
- File a travel notification to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Finnish / in English).
- Check the travel destination information for your destination country (by Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (only in Finnish).
- Check the vaccination guide for your destination country (only in Finnish).
- Tuberculosis screening: Students going abroad to work or study in the health care field or social services, please check
- If you are taking regular prescription medication, make sure to bring the medicine prescriptions with you and enough medication for your exchange duration. For further information about travel and medicine, see:
- Make sure any electronic devices you take with you are secure, in case you lose them, or they are stolen. Keep copies of your files in multiple places (a cloud, USB drives) to avoid losing important documentation and material.