EU erwägt Erasmus-Reform, um Mobilität der Studierenden zu stärken[en] 

The EU's Erasmus programme, launched in 1987, gives students the opportunity to spend part of their university studies at a foreign institution. 

At present, over 180,000 students per year make use of the scheme, and the European Commission estimates that some 4% of European students receive an Erasmus grant at some stage of their studies. 

The Commission opened a public consultation on promoting the learning mobility of young people in 8 July 2009, launching a debate on "how best to boost the opportunities for young people in Europe to develop their skills by spending time abroad". 

The 'Green Paper on promoting the learning mobility of young people' invited stakeholders to consider how to convince more students to spend time abroad, how to overcome the remaining obstacles to mobility, and how to improve cooperation between governments, educational institutions and NGOs in this regard. 

Meanwhile last autumn, the European Parliament agreed to quadruple the budget for the EU's Erasmus Mundus programme from €230 million to €950 million for the period 2009-2013 (EurActiv 22/10/08). 

Erasmus Mundus aims to attract to Europe highly-qualified students and professors from non-EU countries. 

Stakeholders are this week gathering in the Swedish city of Lund (5-6 October) to discuss the future of the Erasmus programme at a conference entitled ‘Erasmus: The way forward and the Green Paper on mobility of young people’. 

The Erasmus programme, which celebrated its two millionth student this summer, allows young people to spend part of their university studies at a foreign institution. 

EU and government officials, as well as representatives of higher education institutions, NGOs and student groups, are currently discussing challenges facing the Erasmus scheme as well as its future prospects at a Swedish EU Presidency-backed conference at the University of Lund. 

Issues to be addressed by stakeholders include how to better promote and fund the scheme, with a particular focus on boosting university-business cooperation, as well as how to simplify its administration. 

Presenting the two millionth Erasmus student with an award at the Lund conference yesterday, new EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Maroš Šefčovič said "the Commission strongly supports the view that going abroad to learn should become the rule rather than the exception for young Europeans". 

The Commission wants to improve the Erasmus programme to allow more students to benefit from it, and launched a public consultation in July on how to encourage more young people to study abroad, as well as on how to remove remaining obstacles to mobility (see 'Background'). 

The consultation closes on 15 December. 

Hailing the milestone of the two millionth Erasmus student, new EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Maroš Šefčovič told the Lund conference that the programme is "a European success story". 

"Rather than being the exception, as is currently the case, going abroad for learning should become a natural feature of being European and an opportunity open to all young people in Europe," reads a statement by the European Commission. 

Stefanie Bakelandt, a 21-year old student from the University of Ghent in Belgium who spent four months studying under the Erasmus programme at Vilnius Pedagogical University in Lithuania, said: "I realised that the experience made a whole new person of me and that I would never look at the world and Europe, my home, like I did before." 

Kate Samways, a 21-year old language teacher from the University of Cardiff in Wales, spent time studying on Erasmus placements at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and an IT training centre in Millau, France. 

"Erasmus life for me is about opportunities. Every opportunity I had, I took it, and I thank Erasmus for it," she said.