The Erasmus Programme is an educational programme named after Erasmus, combining all the EU's current schemes for education, training, youth and sport. It was created as the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students, a European Union (EU) student exchange programme established in 1987. The original idea for the programme was first developed in the 1960s by Italian pedagogist Sofia Corradi, who advocated for the official recognition of study periods abroad.Council decision, OJ L 166, 25 June 1987
Overview Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. The programme involves the 27 EU Member States and 7 non-EU associated countries (North Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, and the United Kingdom (2027)), with 55 national agencies responsible for the decentralised management of most of the programme's actions. Other countries across the world may also participate in certain parts of the programme. The overall responsibility for the programme's management, direction and evaluation lies with the European Commission (Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture), assisted by its Education, Audio-visual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
The objective of Erasmus+ is to promote transnational learning mobility and cooperation, as a mean of improving quality and excellence, supporting inclusion and equity, and boosting innovation in the fields of education, youth and sport. In all these sectors, the aim is to provide support, through lifelong learning, for the educational, professional and personal development of participants in Europe and beyond.
The programme's objective is pursued through three key actions:
Key action 1: Learning mobility of individuals Key action 2: Cooperation among organisations and institutions Key action 3: Support to policy development and cooperation
Other activities include "Jean Monnet" actions, which support teaching, learning, research and debates on European integration matters, e.g. on the EU's future challenges and opportunities.
Full information on the current profile and the activities for which funding within the programme is available can be found in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide.
Launched in 1987, the Erasmus programme was originally established to promote closer cooperation between universities and higher education institutions across Europe. Over time, the programme has expanded and is now referred to as Erasmus+, or Erasmus Plus, combining the EU's different schemes for transnational cooperation and mobility in education, training, youth and sport in Europe and beyond. The Erasmus+ programme concluded its first funding cycle from 2014 to 2020 and is now in its second cycle, spanning from 2021 to 2027. Noted for its participation among staff, students, young people, and learners across age groups, as of 2021, the programme had engaged over 13 million participants. Its name refers to Erasmus of Rotterdam, a leading scholar and inspiring lecturer during the Renaissance period who travelled extensively in Europe to teach and study at a number of universities. At the same time, the word "Erasmus" is also an acronym for "European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students".
In 1989, the Erasmus Bureau invited 32 former Erasmus students for an evaluation meeting in Ghent, Belgium. The lack of peer-to-peer support was singled out as a major issue, but it was also a driving force behind the creation of the Erasmus Student Network. The organization supports students from the Erasmus programme and other bilateral agreements and cooperates with national agencies in order to help international students. As of 23 July 2020, the Erasmus Student Network consists of 534 local associations ("sections") in 42 countries and has more than 15,000 volunteers across Europe.
As of 2014, 27 years after its creation, the programme had promoted the mobility of more than 3.3 million students within the European community. More than 5,000 higher education institutions from 38 countries are participating in the project.
The Erasmus Programme, along with several other independent programmes, was incorporated into the Socrates programme established by the European Commission in 1994. The Socrates programme ended on 31 December 1999 and was replaced with the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, which in turn was replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 on 1 January 2007.
Beside the more popular student mobility (SMS), the Erasmus+ programme promotes the teacher mobility (STA), by which university teachers can spend a short period, for a minimum of 2 teaching days and a maximum of 2 months, teaching at least 8 hours in a foreign partner university. The average and suggested stay is of 5 teaching days.
Background and history
Origins of the name
The programme is named after the Dutch philosopher, theologian, Renaissance humanist, monk, and devout Roman Catholic, Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Erasmus, along with his good friend Thomas More, became one of the main figures of European intellectual life during the Renaissance. Known for his satire, Erasmus urged internal reform of the Catholic Church. He encouraged a recovery of the Catholic Patristic tradition against what he considered to be contemporary abuses of the sacraments and certain excessive devotional practices. He famously clashed with Protestant revolutionary Martin Luther on the subject of free will. ERASMUS is a backronym meaning European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. Erasmus travelled widely across Europe and he was a pioneer of the European Republic of Letters. He was one of the first intellectuals to use as a vehicle of diffusion of his ideas a path-breaking technology, namely the movable type and spent a lot of his time inside printing workshops.
The programme's origins can be traced through a series of significant events documented on the official European Commission programme page:
From 1973 to 1976, the first European-level education action programme was established.
Between 1976 and 1987, the foundations for what would later become Erasmus were laid through the "Joint Study Programme" (JSP) scheme in higher education. The organisation and execution of the JSP was entrusted to the European Cultural Foundation. This initiative gained traction as more universities and students participated, contributing to the development of mobility, partnership, and joint curricula.
From 1985 to 1987, the "Erasmus" proposal was developed and negotiated. In 1985, the Directorate for Education and Training presented the proposal to the Council and European Parliament. The Council officially adopted the "Erasmus" programme on June 15, 1987, and it was officially launched on July 1, 1987. The responsibility for the central operations office of the programme was in the hands of the European Cultural Foundation until 1995.
Italian educator and pedagogist Sofia Corradi is credited as the originator of the Erasmus Programme. In 1958, after completing a Master's degree in comparative university law at Columbia University with a Fulbright scholarship, Corradi returned to Italy to find that her American academic credits were not recognized by La Sapienza University, forcing her to repeat coursework. This experience led her to advocate for a European system of student mobility with mutual recognition of academic credits. Beginning in 1969, Corradi worked as a scientific consultant to the permanent conference of Italian university rectors (Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane). From this position, she promoted her proposals at the European Conference of Rectors in Geneva in 1969, presenting a note delivered by rector Alessandro Faedo. Her advocacy contributed to the adoption of the Resolution of 9 February 1976 by the European Economic Community, which established the framework for student exchanges and Joint Study Programs that operated from 1976 to 1986. The programme gained political momentum in 1986–1987 when the EGEE student association (now AEGEE), founded by Franck Biancheri, convinced French President François Mitterrand to support the creation of the Erasmus Programme.
This active collaboration between AEGEE and the European Commission and especially Domenico Lenarduzzi, Ministry of Public Education, allowed the approval of the Erasmus programme in 1987. It became an integral part of the Socrates I (1994–1999) and Socrates II (2000–2006) programmes. From 2007 it became one of the elements of the Lifelong Learning Programme (2007–2013).
In June 1984, the European Council decided in Fontainebleau to establish an ad-hoc European citizens' committee with the mission to make proposals to improve the image of the European Union. Each council member would select a member and together they should present a set of proposals to be approved at a future European Council. Under the chairmanship of Pietro Adonnino, the committee presented two successive reportsL'impact du Comité Adonnino (1984–1986): Rapprocher les Communautés Européennes des Citoyens, Nathalie Tousignant, Etudes Internationales, vol. 36, 1 maart 2005, Erudit that were approved at the Council session in Milan on the 28–29 of June 1985.Session du Conseil Européen, Milan 28 et 29 juin 1985, Conclusions des Sessions du Conseil Européen (1975–1990), 240–245. Under the proposals that were advanced in these reports was the suggestion (to be found in the second report from number 5.6: University Cooperation) that the ministers for education and universities and higher-education establishments should establish a cross-frontier cooperation enabling students to pursue part of their studies in an establishment in a member state other than their own; should implement, a comprehensive European inter-university programme of exchanges and studies aimed at giving this opportunity to a significant section of the EU's student population. These suggestions were advanced by the Belgian member Prosper Thuysbaert and were discussed and approved by the committee.
1987 European Commission proposal By the time the Erasmus Programme was adopted in June 1987, the European Commission had been supporting pilot student exchanges for six years. It proposed the original Erasmus Programme in early 1986, but reaction from the then member states varied: those with substantial exchange programmes of their own (essentially France, Germany and the United Kingdom) were broadly hostile; the remaining countries were broadly in favour. Exchanges between the member states and the European Commission deteriorated, and the latter withdrew the proposal in early 1987 to protest against the inadequacy of the triennial budget proposed by some member states.
European Court of Justice decision This method of voting, a simple majority, was not accepted by some of the opposing member states, who challenged the adoption of the decision before the European Court of Justice. Although the court held that the adoption was procedurally flawed, it maintained the substance of the decision; a further decision, adapted in the light of the jurisprudence, was rapidly adopted by the Council of Ministers.
Adoption and growth The programme built on the 1981–1986 pilot student exchanges, and although it was formally adopted only shortly before the beginning of the academic year 1987–1988, it was still possible for 3,244 students to participate in Erasmus in its first year. In 2006, over 150,000 students, or almost 1% of the European student population, took part. The proportion is higher among university teachers, where Erasmus teacher mobility is 1.9% of the teacher population in Europe, or 20,877 people.