Erasmus: Record-breaking numbers

Their mean age is 22, most of them are young women (61%) with a Bachelor’s Degree. It’s the profile of the so-called “Erasmus generation”, namely, 270 students who decided to continue their studies in a foreign country for at least six months. Among them, 29% of young people hold a Master’s degree, while 1% has a PHD. Strengthening EU citizenship. “Over the past 27 years Erasmus has enabled over three million students to go abroad to broaden their horizons and increase their skills. The opportunity to study at another university continues to be the most popular choice for students. It contributes to strengthening a sense of belonging to the European family and Erasmus job placements, in which students spend a period abroad in a workplace related to their studies, continue to grow rapidly”. Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Education and Youth, commented on the figures released July 10 regarding the academic year 2012-2013, during which the community Program for training abroad registered further progress and record-breaking numbers. Erasmus+, the “new program for education, training, youth and sport, will enable students to gain international experience and skills through study, training or volunteering abroad over the next seven years”. Since the program was launched in 1987 nearly three million students benefited of a grant to study abroad. Figures increased year after year. It involved 183 thousand students in 2007-2008; 231thousand in 2010-2011, with an increase of almost 40 thousand more in the following two-year period. Spain and Germany: favorite destinations. “The opportunity to study in universities in foreign countries continues to be the most popular choice for students. However, one in five students opted for Erasmus traineeships in companies or other organizations related to their field of studies”. In 2012-2013 Spain was the most popular destination country with 40 thousand incoming students, followed by Germany (30 thousand) and France (29 thousand); followed by the United Kingdom (27 thousand), Italy (19thousand), Poland and The Netherlands (10 thousand arrivals respectively), Portugal, Belgium, Finland, Czech Republic. Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Finland are the countries sending out the most students compared with the size of their graduate population. Also the 100 universities preferred by European students are in Spain: Granada, Valencia, Seville, Madrid and Barcelona have the most requested universities in the continent. The characteristics of the new program. Erasmus isn’t just a student exchange program. In the period 2012-2013 more than 52thousand higher education staff received Erasmus grants to go abroad for studies, job placements, teaching or training. “The experience thus gained – clarifies the Commission – not only benefits the individuals concerned, but also the quality of teaching and learning in their academic institutions of origin upon their return”. The Executive underlined that “over the next seven year period (2014-2020) “the new Erasmus+ program will issue grants to 4 million people, that include 2 million university students and 300 thousand teaching staff”. The new aspects of the program. Erasmus+ is the new EU program for education, training, volunteering and sport, launched in January 2014. It has a total budget of nearly €15 billion for a seven-year period: a 40% increase compared with the previous period. The average monthly EU grant is rather modest: €272 (250 euro in 2010). Erasmus+ will fund also 135 student and staff exchanges in European and world partner countries. The extended program, “that includes Erasmus and similar mobility programs for other groups, such as trainees and volunteers, places greater emphasis on language, has more flexible requirements for grants and provides additional support to people with special needs” or disabilities, people from disadvantaged groups or remote European regions.