Training, Integration, Inclusion: an Evaluation of the Direct and Indirect Impact of the Erasmus Program

In 1987, the Council of Ministers of the European Community passed the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS). The main objective of ERASMUS is ‘to achieve a significant increase in the number of students [...] spending an integrated period of study in another Member State’ (Council of the European Communities, 1987). Student mobility was to be increased through the creation of a European university network, individual scholarships and mutual recognition of academic credits. Since then, ERASMUS has continually expanded. Today the Erasmus programme contributes to quality improvement in higher education at 3 levels: systematic (policy), institutional, and individual, and thus enhances employability of University graduates who have taken part in Erasmus mobility. One of the principal tendencies in current University education is the internationalization process (Bryła, 2012), which includes international student mobility. Temporary study in another European country has remained an exceptional and professionally highly rewarded experience for students from South, Central and Eastern European countries (Teichler & Janson, 2007). The Erasmus programme enhances the employability of graduates by enabling them to participate in an international collaborative project without the need to extend their degree length (James, 2013). The concept of mobile learning encompasses three dimensions: mobility of the technology, mobility of the learners, and mobility of the learning process and the flow of information (El-Hussein & Osman, 2010). A recent study based on data collected from 48 countries and regions concludes that countries aiming to attract talents from other countries should pay more attention to attract international students and encourage them to seek working opportunities in local employment markets after finishing study (Wei, 2013).This paper will focus on the impact that the participation in international student mobility programmes, like Erasmus in Europe has ou obtaining, allows to obtain a much wider and more intensive educational and social experience, and its strong implications for the subsequent individual professional career and on the policies of the Union.