The European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students, commonly called Erasmus, is one of the largest exchange studies programme. Students from 33 European countries participate in an unique exchange that will give them not only an interesting new perspective to their current field studies, but also a challenging life experience.
The Erasmus Programme was established in 1987, and it currently operates under the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013, the European Union programme for education. In 2012, Erasmus celebrated 25 years of existence during which 230 000 students studied abroad each year. Since its start more than 3 million students participated, many of which became success stories in their chosen fields.
Erasmus facilitates exchanges between partner universities for students who want to spend a semester or an academic year abroad. Their studies there will be recognized upon return by their home university, and they are not required to pay any fees at the host university.
The programme represents a great merit on anyone’s CV, increasing their employability rate.
Erasmus is mainly aimed at students, but also welcomes teachers and numerous institutions.
Erasmus’ popularity is only rising; in 2012 figures showing a 8,5% increase in student exchanges, informs a press release from the European Commission. The same press release adds that “The Commission has proposed a budget of €19 billion for Erasmus for All in 2014-2020, an increase of approximately 70% compared to the current seven-year budget for existing programmes.”
If you would like to read more about the Erasmus programme, here is the link for the above named press release. Note that the link provides additional reading resources on Erasmus at the bottom of the page. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-454_en.htm
In a 2005 article published by Katrin Bennhold in The New York Times, professor of political science Stefan Wolff talks about the identity of the new European generation of people who had the chance of a greater mobility than their parents who mostly never left their home countries. He calls this new generation “The Erasmus generation” .
Away to UK! 