Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU student scheme reaches 3mn mark

  • EU commissioner Vassiliou says four million more students will participate in Erasmus over the next seven years (Photo: European Commission)

The EU's student exchange scheme, Erasmus, has reached its 3 millionth participant since the programme was set up in 1987, the European Commission said on Monday (8 July).

The statistics also show that in the academic year 2011-2012, more than 250,000 students went to study abroad or take up a job training for six months.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Apart from EU's 28 member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey also participate in the scheme.

Spain, as featured in the movie L'auberge Espagnole, remains the most popular destination in the Erasmus scheme and also the country that sends most students abroad, despite offering grants of little over €120.

The amount of the grant is set and paid out by national authorities which then get it and is then reimbursed by the EU.

Last year, the average monthly grant was €252, insufficient for a student going for instance to study in a Scandinavian country. Universities sometimes top up the grants, depending on their local funding.

Croatia, which joined the Erasmus scheme in 2009-2010, was the country with the highest increase of students going abroad (62% more in 2011-2012), followed by Denmark (20%), Slovenia and Turkey (17% each).

Meanwhile, Cyprus, Iceland and Romania, saw a decrease in Erasmus student numbers (between 0.6% and 2.7%) compared with the previous year.

"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 on the labour market," education commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in a press conference in Brussels.

The scheme, which last year was at risk of being cut off from EU funding, is now to be expanded to teachers and volunteer exchanges. Another four million people are expected to benefit from the expanded programme in the next seven years, Vassiliou noted.

In the 2014-2020 EU budget, Erasmus is earmarked to receive €14.5 billion, a 40 percent boost compared to the current budget.

Among famous Erasmus participants are the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, EU home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem and German Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht.

Poor students lose out in EU Erasmus scheme

Twenty years after the EU launched its student exchange programme Erasmus, the poorest students still find it difficult to take part in it. Meanwhile, participants from the new member states benefit much more in terms of better jobs than their west European counterparts.

EU student programme hits record popularity

The EU’s student exchange programme Erasmus funded the studies of nearly 270,000 students in 2012/3, a record 15,000 more than previous year, the European Commission has said.

EU commisisoner Šuica sounds alarm on demographic shift

The EU will have to step up its efforts to tackle looming demographic challenges over the next five years. If not, the bloc faces "sleepwalking into dark scenarios", warns EU commission vice-president Dubravka Šuica.

EU commisisoner Šuica sounds alarm on demographic shift

The EU will have to step up its efforts to tackle looming demographic challenges over the next five years. If not, the bloc faces "sleepwalking into dark scenarios", warns EU commission vice-president Dubravka Šuica.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us