Erasmus to expand programme after record figures

Expansion is in the pipeline for Erasmus, the European Union’s higher education exchange programme. Since its launch in 1987, more than three million students have benefited from the system, which supports cooperation between 33 countries.

In a press release last week, new statistics unveiled by Erasmus covering the 2011-12 academic year reveal that the programme also enabled a record 250,000 students to spend part of their higher education studies abroad or to take up jobs with foreign companies to boost their employability.

More than 46,500 academic and administrative staff also received support from Erasmus to teach or train abroad.

The Irish presidency, in announcing that it had secured agreement on the expanded programme, Erasmus+, among EU member states and with the European parliament, said even more students would benefit over the next seven years.

Apart from its core focus on education, training and youth, for the first time the programme would also include sport. The initiative, to be launched in January 2014, has a budget of €14.5 billion (US$18.9 billion) for 2014-20 – 40% more than funding for the current education and training mobility programmes.

Training and education would receive 70% of the funding, while the youth sector would receive 10%. Slightly less than 2% would be channelled into the sports sector, which would focus, particularly, on cooperation and activities in grassroots sport.

Ruth Sinclair-Jones, head of EU programmes and national agency director at the British Council, said: “Erasmus+ aims to reach almost double the numbers who currently receive support for education and training opportunities.”

Some figures

In 2011-12, out of a total of 252,827 Erasmus students, 204,744 went abroad for studies – an increase of 7.5% on 2010-11.

The numbers going abroad for studies decreased in six countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Romania), while 11 saw an above-average increase. Switzerland, which joined the programme in 2011-12, sent out 2,514 students.

Spain sent out the most students for studies (34,103), followed by Germany (27,593) and France (25,924). Spain remained the most popular destination for studies abroad, hosting 30,580 Erasmus students, followed by France (23,173) and Germany (19,120). Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Spain sent out the most students as a proportion of their student populations.

On average, students went abroad to study for 6.3 months and the average grant was €234 (against €226 in the previous year).

Social sciences, business studies and law were the most popular subject areas for Erasmus students (41.4%), followed by humanities and arts (21.9%), then engineering, manufacturing and construction (15.1%).

Also in 2011-12, 336 students with special needs or with disabilities received additional funding to take part in Erasmus exchanges, compared to 254 students in 2010-11.

Over the same period, Erasmus supported 46,527 staff (teaching and non-teaching) from higher education institutions to teach or receive training abroad. This represents an annual increase of 8.6%.

The top sending countries were Poland (6,312), Spain (4,654) and Germany (3,937). The top destination for staff mobility was Spain (4,554), followed by Germany (4,491) and Italy (3,876).

Out of a total student population of more than 24 million in the 33 participating countries, about 1% of them received Erasmus student grants in 2011-12.

Expanding mobility

At a meeting in Bucharest in April 2012, higher education ministers from 47 European countries adopted the Bologna Mobility Strategy, which states that by 2020, 20% of European higher education graduates should have spent part of their studies abroad. The EU adopted the same benchmark in November 2011.

The intention is for Erasmus+ to focus on mobility, cooperation and policy reform.

Improvements would be made to support for international study, training, teaching and volunteering opportunities, which would benefit higher education and vocational students, trainees, teachers, trainers and youth workers.

Good practice would be shared through cross-cultural and cross-institutional learning in education and training institutions and youth organisations, and these would be formally put in place through ‘knowledge alliances’ at university level and through ‘sector skills alliances’ in vocational institutions.

It is also anticipated that the e-Twinning initiative that connects schools via the internet will be expanded.

Androulla Vassiliou, European commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, said: “The latest record figures, showing that we have exceeded our target of three million Erasmus students, are testament to the enduring success and popularity of the programme.

“Erasmus is more important than ever in times of economic hardship and high youth unemployment: the skills and international experience gained by Erasmus students make them more employable and more likely to be mobile in the labour market. Erasmus has also played a tremendous role in improving the quality of higher education in Europe by opening up our universities and colleges to international cooperation.

“Looking to the future, I'm delighted that our new Erasmus+ programme will enable four million young people to study, train, teach or volunteer abroad in the next seven years.”