More than thirty-five years after the creation of the Erasmus program (European Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students), more than 10 million Europeans have benefited from a mobility stay. Nelly Fesseau, director of the Erasmus+ France education and training agency, notes that it continues to attract young Europeans, even after the Covid-19 pandemic, which had stopped university exchanges.
Erasmus+ is intended to create a sense of belonging to Europe, but there was Brexit in 2016 and a war that has lasted for more than a year in Ukraine. What are the consequences ?
Before Brexit, a student enrolled in a French university – with registration fees of a few hundred euros – could go and spend a year in Oxford or Cambridge as part of Erasmus +. Participation in the program ensured a mix of audiences. Today, only the most affluent students can afford to study in the UK. This outing is a great shame for young people, but it is, in my opinion, the middle-class Britons who are the first to be penalized. Other Europeans who wish to live an immersion in an English-speaking country go to Ireland, Malta, or any other country that offers courses in English.
As for Ukraine and Russia, they are not part of the program of the European Union [UE]. Ukraine is accessible as a third country in the EU neighborhood. Europeans felt with great empathy what was happening to their Ukrainian neighbors. Educational establishments across the territories have mobilized to welcome refugee students. Erasmus+ funds have been released for this. Today, it is a question of accelerating the entry of Ukraine into the program. This is proof of the good results of exchanges over the long term to build new generations of Europeans.
Does the program have the means for this ambition?
Erasmus+ funding is programmed over seven years. Over the period 2014-2020, for the twenty-seven members of the Union and six associated countries, the budget was 15 billion euros. For the period 2021-2027, it rose to 28 billion. Regarding the Erasmus+ France education and training agency, our budget is 2.2 billion over the period 2021-2027, an increase of 1 billion compared to the previous seven-year period. This reflects a very strong political will on the part of European parliamentarians and the European Commission to intensify the program and fund even more mobility. In 2022, we financed 136,000 transfers. Our goal is to exceed 200,000.
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