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.
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:
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