25 Years of Erasmus

25 Years of Erasmus - 25 interesting facts about Erasmus:

As you've heard, there won't be a Babel show this week but we're proud to host a debate on 25 years of Erasmus together with the International Relations Unit of UC. But for your entertainment - and education, of course - we've gathered 25 facts about Erasmus, not all historic or scientific, but definitely all informative and intriguing.
HERE you get to the broadcast anniversary debate. Enjoy! 

1) „Erasmus“ is a student mobility program, established in 1987 by the European, thus it's celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year – 2012.

2) The name „Erasmus“ derives from the Dutch Renaissaince scientist, philosopher and humanist Desiderius Erasmus from Rotterdam, who had been traveling the study and knowledge centres of his time in Europe. Also, it's a backronym for „European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students“.

3) The program primarily aims at European exchange, Non-European partnerships and mobility is included in the Erasmus MUNDUS program.

4) Right now Erasmus is part of the umbrella program Lifelong Learning Program 2007 – 2013, which is going to undergo some changes in its structure during the renewal following next year's expiration as „Erasmus for All Program“.

5) The first academic year Erasmus took place was 1987/1988. Overall 3 244 had the possibility to spend a part of their studies abroad that year.

6) Inititally eleven countries participated in the program, among those France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, to name a few. 

7) Right now, Erasmus provides mobility into 33 countries (that have university partnerships), which are the 27 EU memberstates, the AELE/EFTA states and the two adhering states Croatia and Turkey.

8)In the academic year 2010/2011 about 231 408 students participated in the exchange.

9) Erasmus is hosting the classical student exchange program, a traineeship program called „Erasmus Placements“, a mobility program for professors and lecturers and one for university staff.

10) Overall, Erasmus provided mobility to more than two million students, the goal is to reach the three million limit at expiration.

11) Refering to 2010/2011, Spain sent the most outgoing students, followed by France, Germany, Italy and Poland.

12) But also Spain was the most popular destination, again followed by France and Germany, after whose the United Kingdom and Italy.

13) The duration of an Erasmus stay can range from three months up to one year.

14) The average stay was around six months, which is easily explained by the duration of the average academic year.

15) Around two thirds of the exchange students are in their Bachelor, one third is in their Master classes, and a tiny amount is on short-term stays or doing a doctorate.

16) On average, students get a monthly grant of 230€, but there are also students going on Erasmus without grant and of course the amount is varying from country to country.

17) The students participating have an average age of 23 years.

18) Incredible, but true, despite all obstacles women come across in the professional sector due to discrimination or the „glass ceiling“, around 60 percent of Erasmus students are female.

19) Averagely speaking, every three minutes a student leaves his/her home country for an Erasmus stay.

20) 20 percent of all mobility students were doing a trainee program/Erasmus placement.

21) The most „mobile“ subjects are social sciences, business and law, with around one third of all Erasmus students taking these studies, closely followed by humanities and arts students. Science and engineering subjects were rather underrepresented among mobility students up to now.

22) In Valencia, there is a regular concert every year called „Erasmusjam“ that originates from mobility students staging and is now linking the different generations of Erasmus in Valencia.

23) „Erasmus Student Network“ (ESN) is a student organization founded in 1989 with now over 12 000 members all over Europe. They're present in 36 countries and aim at helping exchange students integrating socially and personally.

24) There is even some kind of an Erasmus „newspaper“ called Cafebabel.com, where Erasmus students contribute articles and feature on all kinds of topics and which is availiable in many European languages.

25) And finally, Erasmus experiences were immortalized by Cédric Klapisch in his infamous 2002 movie „L'Auberge espagnole“ about a French student having the time of his life during his Erasmus in Barcelona and finding out more on life, love and everything that goes with it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERASMUS! 

We hope we could provide you with a little edutainment and for you having an equally amazing stay in Coimbra as Xavier had in Spain...

by Franzi