Europe to open student mobility scheme to rest of world

Officials in Europe are pressing on with plans to expand its flagship student mobility programme beyond the borders of existing eligible countries despite the economic crisis.

They see the Erasmus student mobility programme as one of the success stories in the development of the European project. Plans under consideration in Europe’s decision-making bodies could see that programme lifted onto a global plane within two years.

The European Commission’s Erasmus for All – the third generation of the programme that enables Europe’s students to study for part of their degree in another member state – streamlines existing schemes and raises the prospect that some European students could study in 'third' countries outside the European Union, EU, and the close cluster of European neighbours who are currently eligible.

And students from third countries may spend part of their studies at a European university.

As Dr Siebert Wuttig of the German national exchange programme DAAD told the British Council’s "Going Global" 2012 conference in London on Thursday, 80% of European students still study only in Europe.

“So this is an opportunity to open a window to the rest of the world," Wuttig said.

The commission has produced a proposal setting out the changes in existing programmes, the scope of the programme from 2014-20 and an overall €19 billion (US$25 billion) budget.

Final decisions – particularly on the budget and the priorities within the programme – will be taken by the European parliament and the Council of Ministers.

Even the programme’s name is not yet completely settled, but that is likely to be the least controversial aspect of the forthcoming discussions.

Jordi Curell (pictured), director of the education and culture directorate at the commission, explained that the proposal brought together existing programmes such as Erasmus and Tempus, the higher education capacity building programme that is seen as having been successful in transforming universities in the EU’s eastern neighbours. It also incorporates schools programmes and technical and vocational education.

“We are proposing, in this new programme, to open up graduate mobility to the rest of the world. Of course there will be budgetary constraints but with the kind of increase we are proposing there will be a significant impact.”

Funding for activities that involve current participating countries (that is, the EU plus a number of other states in Europe) and so-called third countries will support some 135,000 individuals over the lifetime of the programme out of a total of five million students.

The programme will also support capacity building and institutional cooperation with universities outside Europe – although the exact pattern is one of the issues to be decided in the negotiations.

One of the more controversial elements is the hiving off of doctoral studies from the existing Erasmus Mundus programme to the Marie Curie research programme which is outside Erasmus for All.

DAAD's Wuttig said this was a “mistake” and also questioned how quality could be assured at universities in third countries.

He got no response when he asked: “What happens if the member states – the ministers and parliament – do not agree with the commission’s full budget proposals in times of crisis?

“Is there a Plan B? In 2006, when we were negotiating the current phase of the programme, we expected €14 billion and ended up with €7 billion.”

David Hibler, British Council Erasmus programme manager, who chaired the "Going Global" session, told University World News that a long period of falling student numbers from the UK had been reversed and participation had grown “quite significantly” over the past two years.

One element in this, he suggested, was the possibility of work placements as an alternative to study in Europe.

“This has been very popular in the UK. One-third of outgoing UK students is undertaking work placements rather than study. But even allowing for the popularity of work placements there has been an increase.”