It’s the Commission’s flagship and arguably most successful education initiatives.  But new proposals from the European Commission for its ERASMUS Programme could have serious consequences for students who want to take advantage of the scheme in future.
In its 2008 evaluation of the Programme and its impact on higher education, the Commission finds that ERASMUS has had multiple positive effects, systemic, institutional and individual.  Key systemic improvements can be seen, for example, in terms of agenda setting, infrastructure and content on the Bologna Process, quality assurance, ECTS and qualifications frameworks.  At the institutional level, ERASMUS has resulted in improvements in high-level management, teaching and learning, research and student services.

The report goes on to make a series of recommendations for the future development of the ERASMUS scheme to 2013 and beyond.  There is much to be welcomed, such as reducing bureaucracy, greater promotion of mobility opportunities, simplifying visa procedures, setting up of benchmarks, removing mobility barriers such as recognition.  In particular, ESU supports the call for additional grants to be made available to cover extra mobility costs, for greater funding to be found to expand the number of ERASMUS places available, and encouraging institutions’ to take account of a student’s socio-economic background in determining the size of the grant.

However, one of the recommendations is a cause for concern: the proposal to reduce the average length of an ERASMUS stay abroad from 6.5 months to 3 months to free up resources for additional grants flies in the face of flexibility and the idea of providing opportunities tailored to the needs of the individual student.  While shorter stays may be suitable for some, ESU strongly believes that length should be the choice, as far as possible, of the student to enable the ERASMUS experience to bring maximum benefit to the individual.  As concluded from the Validation Conference of the ‘Let’s Go’ mobility campaign last October, the option of shorter or longer study periods abroad should be made available.  Fixing a time frame for a study period abroad prevents many people from being able to engage in mobility, e.g. due to family commitments or children.  We need to increase the diversity of options available for both students and staff by making the time frame of study periods abroad more flexible, and in this way, ensuring that everyone has the chance to take advantage of them.