The new Erasmus +

More simple, more efficient and with a much larger budget.
That is some of the key ingredients in the new Erasmus+ programme, which the Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament agreed upon on the 26^th of June this year. The programme runs from 2014 to 2020 and deals with education, training, youth and sports. The aim is to improve people´s skills, personal development and job prospects. In pursuing this, the Erasmus+ brings together in a single programme the Lifelong Learning Programme, Youth in Action and five international programs such as Erasmus Mundus. In this program sport will also be covered for the first time, as it is a new area of the EU competence under the Lisbon Treaty. 

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Erasmus+ will be open to all EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, EU candidate countries and other countries in the Western Balkans.  Several non-EU countries will also benefit from actions aimed at promoting study and training opportunities abroad, as well as youth activities.

Read more about the Erasmus + on the European Commissions site: http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus-for-all/

Any good advice for future exchange students?

                                                             Picture: abe.org.uk



Have you been abroad to study and do you have any good advice for future exchange students? 


-Places to go, ways to deal with economics, good online forums, things not to do, things to remember to do, how to live, etc.....
 Please share your comments below here! 

Double up

The Erasmus+ program has a budget on approximately €19 billion in the period 2014-2020. That is more than 50 percent more than all the former programs had at their disposal. During the next seven years the program is expected to give mobility possibilities to 5 million people, of whom 3 million will be students of higher education or vocational students. This is almost a doubling of the number of students going abroad.  As a completely new element, around 330.00 Full-time Masters' students will also benefit from a new loan guarantee scheme set up with the European Investment Bank Group.

Do you think, the goals for the Erasmus+ are ambitious enough?

Is this a good way to spend the European Unions money?

To put the number in perspective, here are three charts showing the development in the overall student mobility in Europe until now.

The first chart shows, how many students went abroad with Erasmus to study in the period 1988-2011.


The second chart shows, how many European students went abroad to study from 2000 to 2011 in thousands. Includet in this number is both exchange students and full degree students.

The third chart shows, how many European students went abroad to study from 2000 to 2011 in  percent of the entire student population.Includet in this number is both exchange students and full degree students. 

Efficient and effectful

By comprehending all programs dealing with education, training, youth and sports in one, Eramus+ is supposed to increase efficiency by making it easier to apply for grants and reducing duplication and fragmentation. Furthermore, the Erasmus+ is expected to be much more effectful, because the program will increase possibilities to cooperate across education sectors and across borders of formel and informel learning. To do this, the Erasmus+ program will focus its action and activities on three main areas running through all education sectors and youth areas: Mobility, cooperation and policy reform.

An important - and completely new - tool in this strategy is the creation of 200 “Knowledge Alliances” and 200 “Sector Skills Alliances. Knowledge Alliances are large-scale partnerships between higher education institutions and businesses to promote creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship by offering new learning opportunities and qualifications. Sector Skills Alliances are partnerships between education and training providers and businesses to promote employability by forming new sector-specific curricula and innovative forms of vocational teaching and training.

Read more about the Erasmus + on the European Commissions site: http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus-for-all/

Differences in mobility in the EU member states

Even though student mobility is an important political goal for the entire Europe, student mobility varies greatly among the countries. 
The chart below shows the differences in student mobility in Europe measured as outflow of students in percent of the total amount of the student population. The reason why small countries like Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Cyprus have such a high student mobility is probably that they due do their small population size are not able to offer so many different higher educations as in countries with larger populations. Therefore, many students have to go abroad to attend their dream education.

Economic and political challenges to student mobility

With the larger budget the Erasmus+ program enables more students to finance a period of studying abroad.  But there might be other economic obstacles standing between the student and a study period abroad. For instance it can in some countries be impossible or difficult to take study grants or loans abroad. Likewise, the current economic crisis can have affected student’s possibility to fund a period of studying in another country.

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Other obstacles have to do with lack of information about the possibilities to study abroad or with problems about mutual recognition of study and training results. As a consequence, The EU Education Ministers in May agreed to work for the removal of national and regional obstacles to studying or training abroad. This work is still in progress – so right now you have a good opportunity to influence the future policies. 

What do you think, your national politicians or the European Union can do to make it easier to go abroad to study?

Cultural and psychological challenges to mobility

Cultural and psychological differences can also be a reason why, student mobility varies between the European countries.
Maybe studying abroad is just not a possibility in the mind of the individual student. Or maybe the language skills of the students limit their possibilities so much that they can ´t find a university abroad, where they can follow courses connected to their study in a language that they master. For instance, following a course in French or German is too difficult for a lot of students.
The national education systems have a great responsibility for increasing the international awareness of the pupils and teaching them foreign languages that enables them to attend a study on a university abroad. 

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How many and which languages should pupils be taught in elemenatary school to give them more possibilities to study and work in other european countries later on?

What makes a country an attractive study destination?

What is important in the mind of the students, when they decide where to study abroad?Is it the professional quality of the University? Or the universities reputation for taking good care of the foreign students and creating an inspiring international student environment? How important is it that the universities offers a broad palette of courses taught in English to choose from? And what does other factors like a nice climate, cool metropoles or sunny beaches mean, when students decide what foreign country, they want to study in?

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As you can see on the chart, the inflow of students measured as a percentage of students in the host country varies a lot in the different EU-Countries. Luxenbourg and Lichtenstein clearly top the list, but apart from that there doesn´t seem to be any clear patterns.

 

Most popular Erasmus universities

Among among Erasmus Students Spain, Denmark and Italy to the list.
To see the Top 100 for higher education institutions receiving most Erasmus students in 2011-2012 press the link: http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/doc/stat/1112/receiving_en.pdf

In the year 2011/2012 Aarhus University in Denmark was number 6 on the top 100 list of higher education institutions receiving most Erasmus students. In this interview international director at Aarhus University Ulla Gjørling tells, what Aarhus University has done to make the university attractive for students from abroad, and how the university benefits from having international students.



In your opinion, what can countries and universities do to become more attractive for students from abroad?