Erasmus+

Review 2021-2022
Higher Education – student and staff mobility
Contents
· Introduction ........................................................................................................ 4
· Key recommendations ................................................................................... 6
· Addressing the priorities of the programme ....................................... 8
· Making Erasmus+ carbon neutral ................................................... 8
· Making Erasmus more inclusive ...................................................... 10
· Bringing Erasmus+ into the digital age .......................................... 14
· Administration of the programme ........................................................... 16
· Start of the new programme and funding bottleneck ............. 16
· Administration and reporting issues ............................................. 18
· Staff skills and competences ............................................................ 18
· Mobility features ............................................................................................. 20
· Blended intensive programmes ..................................................... 20
· Language learning ............................................................................... 22
· Recognition ........................................................................................... 22
· Staff mobility ......................................................................................... 25
· Erasmus+ traineeships ...................................................................... 26
· International dimension of the programme ............................... 30
· The need for a better and more
inclusive governance of erasmus+ ................................................. 31
· About the authors ............................................................................................ 32
· Reference initiatives ....................................................................................... 34
Introduction

Enabling students to live abroad for several

months, forge friendships with peers from
across the continent and beyond, and become
acquainted with societies and traditions other
than their own gives them the opportunity
to benefit from an experience that fosters
tolerance and has a direct positive impact
on society at large. Erasmus+ is a tangible
expression of the European project, known
by most young Europeans and valued
by European citizens as one of the most
successful achievements of the European
Union.

In trying times affected by the aftermath of

the COVID-19 pandemic and the war led by
Russia in Ukraine interrupting decades of
relative peace on the European continent, the
Erasmus+ programme appears more than ever
as a stronghold for mutual understanding and
a spearhead for modernising the European
Higher Education Area.

4 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

The new Erasmus+ programming period How does the new programme fare?
started in 2021 and will last until 2027. How have its novelties been received?
While the previous Erasmus+ programming What improvements should be considered?
period (2014-2021) was hit hard by COVID-19 The Erasmus Student Network (ESN), the
restrictions imposed on student mobility, European Student Union (ESU) and the
the lifting of those gave extra momentum to European University Foundation (EUF) have
the new period. The programme has been again1 joined forces to find answers to such
designed as “an evolution rather than a questions from the point of view of both
revolution” vis-à-vis its predecessors but it students and Higher Education Institutions
nonetheless introduces important changes and (HEIs). We aim to support the European
novelties, such as a stronger focus on several Commission, the European Parliament, and
horizontal priorities like inclusion, sustainability, all relevant stakeholders in the preparations
and digitalisation. for the mid-term review of Erasmus+ through
an open and constructive discussion on
how to best achieve the full potential of the
programme.

1 https://uni-foundation.eu/uploads/2015_erasmus_1_year_
review.pdf

Student and staff mobility | 5

Key recommendations

Key recommendations to improve the Key recommendations to support the

transition between programming periods: management of the mobility programme:

1. Better anticipate the start of a new 4. Step up the support for HEIs to complete
programming period to prevent massive the digitisation process underway in the
operational issues, as for the start of this context of the European Student Card
programming period this forced HEIs and Initiative and ensure continued adhesion
students to switch to crisis mode. and support of and by the community.

2. Ensure funding levels remain constant 5. Ensure the reporting tools of the
when transitioning between Multiannual programme respond to the business
Financial Framework programming requirements laid out in the Erasmus+
periods, since disruption has a knock-on programme guide to avoid ‘a posteriori’
effect on thousands of institutions and issues for institutions and students.
hundreds of thousands of students.
6. Monitor the implementation of Blended
Key recommendation to support the Intensive Programmes (BIPs) - notably
green transition: with regards to their digital component -
and ensure that this new mobility format
3. Increase the green travel grant top-up does not hinder participation in longer
to 250 EUR to enable travel passes, like credit mobility by decreasing available
Interrail, and make green travel the rule resources.
rather than the exception in Erasmus+.

6 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Key recommendations to improve the Key recommendations to improve the
quality of study and training periods inclusion dimension of Erasmus+:
abroad:
10. Consider establishing European
7. Increase monitoring actions to decrease scholarship schemes for students at
cases of (partial) non-recognition of risk in order to facilitate the support for
study results achieved abroad and strive students fleeing countries where they are
towards automatic recognition, notably by exposed to danger.
nudging European University alliances to
complete this well ahead of 2025 11. Revise the way grant levels are defined
to better fit the needs of the students
8. Strive towards increasing the quality and the socio-economic realities of their
of Erasmus+ traineeships by creating destinations.
an evaluation mechanism of hosting
institutions.

9. Assess the possibility of financially

supporting the introduction of intensive
language courses by the host institutions
to complement the available online
language courses.

Student and staff mobility | 7

Addressing the priorities of the programme

Making Erasmus+ carbon neutral During the first two years of the programme
a “green top-up” of 50 EUR has been made
Making the Erasmus programme greener available to participants choosing more
is one of the overarching priorities of the sustainable means of transportation to and
current programming period, and a lot needs from their destinations. This is a welcome
to happen on this front to make this vision a measure, although clearly insufficient to
reality. be significantly impactful. Furthermore, it
remains a burdensome administrative task
2 https://erasmus500.eu for HEIs to manage the reporting process in
3 https://www.greenerasmus.org/#petition light of the limited grant amount available
per top-up. We believe the reporting on
the means of transportation used should
be done by the students themselves during
their final report and not by the institutions
in the Beneficiary Module. This means that
students should automatically be granted the
green top-up when asking for it and declare
it during their final report. In cases where this
proof is not provided, we suggest that the
amount is deducted from the final instalment
of the grant payment.

8 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

In the context of the Erasmus 5002 campaign,
we have stressed the transformational impact
of equipping all Erasmus+ students with an
interrail-like travel pass to and from their
destination. Until this is a reality, the Green
Erasmus project (of which ESN, ESU and
EUF are all partners) has launched a Green
Erasmus petition3, which advocates for a
higher top-up grant of up to 250 EUR and up
to seven days of travel support. Erasmus+
is essentially a journey of discovery of
oneself, and this would ensure that academic
exchanges are also a journey of discovery
through the history and culture of Europe
and a driving force behind the adhesion to
the notion of a European citizenship. With
the climate emergency and energy crisis
only becoming more acute, this would make
a tangible contribution to decreasing the
amount of intra-European flights and reassure
participants that they are participating in an
initiative that is truly aligned with their values
and concerns.

Student and staff mobility | 9

Making Erasmus more inclusive 10% of the mobile learners7 and the figure
includes participants from outermost regions
Grant levels and is therefore reflecting a higher level
of inclusion efforts for socio-economically
One of the most important policy priorities disadvantaged students than it is the case in
that shape the 2021-2027 programming reality. We also welcome the 12% increase
period is the goal of making Erasmus+ in grant spans announced by Commissioner
more inclusive - a goal we fully support. The Gabriel in November 2022. We hope this
single biggest deterrent to participation in constitutes a first and important step towards
mobility among non-mobile participants is a mechanism which ensures Erasmus+ grants
the insufficient level of funding provided, keep up with inflation through a minimum
as categorically demonstrated in the SIEM automatic adjustment process; however, it
research4 and the Bologna with Student Eyes5 should be noted that the current architecture
reports. The findings from the ESNsurvey6 also of Erasmus grants does not mean that
show that over 50% of students participating adjustments to the ranges directly translate
in intra-European mobility can cover less into an increase of the grants. Indeed, recent
than 50% of their expenses with their months saw both increases and decreases
scholarship (see Graphic 1). The impact of of the rates stipulated by National Agencies,
such constraints among students with fewer according to DG EAC’s own data.
opportunities is even higher (as also shown 4 https://siem-project.eu/documents/SIEM-survey-re-
in the SIEM research report). Accordingly, port_2022_10.pdf
improving this vital architectural aspect of 5 https://esu-online.org/bologna-with-student-eyes-2020/
the programme must be a political priority 6 https://esn.org/esnsurvey
for the European Commission and National 7 See page 8 of Erasmus+ Annual Report 2021:
Authorities. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/
ff16650b-7b6e-11ed-9887-01aa75ed71a1

In spite of this challenging situation, the new

programme has brought relatively few changes
with regards to the grants received by mobile
students. We welcome the increased social
top-up for students from disadvantaged
backgrounds, but such top-up benefits only

10 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

 7149 respondents 1272 respondents

38,30%
34,82%

25,90%
24,18%
18,05%

14,68%
13,74%
8,24%

7,61%
6,2%

4,79%
3,47%

Graphic 1 - Percentage of costs covered by Erasmus+ grants when studying abroad,

ESN Survey 2021.

Student and staff mobility | 11

For all these reasons, we believe more must in addition to paving the way for an important
be done to ensure all students can afford the simplification of payment processes, it would
possibility of studying abroad, and in light of also help do away with the innate contradiction
the above it is impossible not to advocate for a of establishing true European Universities
more profound change in the way grant levels while having to resort to mobility grants whose
are established to make the programme more design remains rooted in a national logic.
inclusive. A powerful way to achieve this is to Given that ensuring broader participation in
index – at least to so some extent - grant levels mobility is one of the transversal priorities of
to the costs of living of the destination cities/ the Erasmus+ programme, it is critical to see
regions8. It is a well-known fact that costs of concrete improvements in the remaining years
living often differ substantially within a country. of the current MFF that go beyond merely
Currently, most National Agencies set the exact keeping up with high inflation. If profound
grant amounts for the low, medium and high (and much needed) changes must wait until
grants within the span indicated by the EC, the next programming period, a concrete step
which results in the fact that a student coming that should be considered at once is giving
from the lowest living costs group of countries universities the tools and the flexibility to set
and going to either the medium or the high their mobility grants in such a way that more
living cost group will receive the same amount accurately reflect the socio-economic reality
of grant in both cases9. This bears little relation of their partner institutions, while remaining
with the actual needs and circumstances of within the ranges stipulated by European
such mobilities, meaning the grants levels are Commission.
neither fit to adequately support students nor
geared towards maximising efficiency on how
public resources ought to be used. 8 Currently the grant levels are based on three country
groups.
9 As described on the Erasmus+ programme 2023, page 66:
Indexing grants to actual living costs at the city/ https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/
regional level could eventually be combined files/2022-12/Erasmus%2BProgramme-Guide2023-v2_en.pdf
with the proposal put forth during the 10 https://erasmus500.eu
Erasmus 500 campaign10, which defended the
establishment of a baseline European grant for
all students studying abroad in Europe. This
is of enormous symbolic and practical value:

12 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

 6397 respondents 1162 respondents

65,40%
35,84%

35,61%
28,55%

17,64%

16,95%
Graphic 2 - Percentage of schedule of grant payment.

Student and staff mobility | 13

Timing of the grant payments Bringing Erasmus+
into the digital age
Based on the findings of the SIEM research
report, advancing initial costs is a key challenge Enhancing the student experience and
for mobile students. The data from the streamlining the administration of mobilities
ESNsurvey 202111 show that more than a has been a longstanding goal of the Erasmus+
quarters students report receiving their grants community, and one of the overarching
later than one month after the start of their priorities of the programme.
mobilities, with around one third reporting
receiving the grant before the start and 40% With regards to improving the student
within one month. Differences between experience, important enhancements have
countries of origin are stark: in Spain, more been made to the Erasmus+ App12, which is
than half report receiving their grant later than increasingly regarded as a single point of entry
one month after the start of mobility, followed for this cohort. In 2020-2022, the existing
by France and Italy with students reporting this App was thoroughly renewed and expanded
at respectively 47% and 32%. It is important by Eötvös Loránd University, ESN and EUF,
to note that the size of the country and the offering a wide range of functionalities that
number of mobilities is not the key determining guide, support and accompany all participants
factor in whether grant payments are made in a mobility experience. The current work
in a timely fashion: in Germany, only 16% provides a good basis for simplifying and
of outgoing students report receiving their improving their mobility experience further,
grants later than one month after the start of i.e. by making it the single point for sharing
their mobility. This points to the importance feedback and enhancing quality assurance.
of national and institutional policymaking to
ensure that all students receive their grants on Conversely, the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP)
time. Changing the grant agreement, which is a initiative13, which forms the interoperability
legally binding document, could be a key step backbone linking HEIs, saw its development
to offer clear assurances to students about the stopped in 2019 and it was only resumed in
timing in which they will receive their grants. early 2022. The fact that the new programme
could not fully benefit from the advantages
that EWP brings to International Relation

14 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Offices amounts to a huge opportunity cost 11 https://esn.org/esnsurvey
which engenders considerable frustration 12 https://erasmusapp.eu
within the Higher Education (HE) community14. 13 https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/european-stu-
Looking ahead, we believe that current steps dent-card-initiative/ewp
to reinforce support and communication 14 https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/news/latest-erasmus-
measures towards HEIs are an important without-paper-assessment-shows-ewp-works-but-some-con-
vector to implement the change management nections-have-problems
process that is underway and that involves 15 https://academy.europa.eu
thousands of staff members from HEIs, while 16 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc/index/
also extending the capacity of the digital
infrastructure to host an increasingly large
number of users and use cases. As 2022
marks the 10th anniversary of EWP, we
also emphasise that the community-driven
approach of this digital transformation
process has been a key factor of success
which should be nurtured in a continued and
considerate manner.

In addition to ensuring that both the Erasmus+

App and EWP are developed further and their
full potential is reached, additional advantages
can be derived from the integration of such
systems with the likes of the EU Academy15 and
the Beneficiary Module 16.

Student and staff mobility | 15

Administration of the programme

Start of the new programme and The consequences of such a difficult start of
funding bottleneck the new programme range from students
receiving their grants (much) later than planned
The Erasmus+ regulation 2021-2027 was to students seeing their mobility period
approved with a considerable delay, following cancelled. To mitigate such a situation, HEIs
a late approval of the whole Multiannual needed to identify mitigation mechanisms,
Financial Framework of the European Union. whereby in some cases they had to reallocate
This has constrained the start of the new internal financial resources; in other cases,
programme in many countries, bringing about national authorities stepped in with emergency
an untenable funding situation among HEIs funding, and in some other cases staff mobility
and, ultimately, students. Reports indicate was put on hold to give priority to student
that some universities saw early cuts of up to exchanges.
34% year on year17. To add to this difficulty,
the signature of the funding contracts was The fact that it was assumed that leftovers
delayed18 across many programme countries, from the previous programming funding could
with many universities only seeing the cover the funding gap led to a situation where
funding for the academic year 2021/2022 HEIs had to juggle parallel funding lines, which
approved and formalised during the fall of resulted in delicate situations where students
2021. Together with the other members of in equal conditions received different grant
the Erasmus+ coalition, we published a joint amounts, jeopardising the principle of equal
statement in December 202119, expressing treatment.
concerns about the situation and proposing
a set of measures that could be taken in the
short and mid term to mitigate the impact and
avoid similar situations in the future.

16 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Chief among the lessons that ought to inform 17 https://franceuniversites.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/
future planning from the Commission is Baisse-des-subventions-du-programme-ERAS-
the notion that funding levels cannot vary MUS-La-CPU-demande-des-clarifications-urgentes.pdf
wildly between the end of the last year of a 18 https://uni-foundation.eu/funding-bottleneck-erasmus/
programming period and the first of a new 19 https://lllplatform.eu/news/statement-erasmus-coali-
one. We advocate for a principle of continued tion-students-and-higher-education-institutions-ask-for-solu-
and stable funding allocation for a programme tions-to-the-administrative-problems-of-the-new-eras-
that involves thousands of institutions. More mus-programme/
specifically, we recommend considering 20 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CEL-
a 7+1-year approach where the previous EX%3A12016E312
programme covers for the funding of the first
year in the new programming period. We also
advocate for an earlier announcement of new
programmes, regulations and budgets to allow
stakeholders (such as National Agencies and
HEIs) to inform their respective target groups
in advance. This could prompt a revision of
TFEU (art 312)20 to add clear deadlines, which
are currently in place for the annual budget
only; this will make sure that HEIs can roll out
or discontinue programme features in a timely
manner without having to turn into crisis mode
for several months.

Student and staff mobility | 17

 Administration and reporting issues Mobility is at the core of Erasmus+ and of
the internationalisation strategies of HEIs,
The introduction of the Beneficiary Module 21 as it is the most tangible way to connect the
has been tumultuous, jeopardising reporting student population with peers from all over
duties to an extent that at times it has affected the world. The performance of HEIs in their
the completion of grant payments. The inability ECHE commitments should be considered in
to activate certain reporting functionalities the evaluation of cooperation projects, so that
(i.e. Blended Intensive Programmes) or simply HEIs have increased interest in meeting the
not to respond/load properly rendered its principles outlined in the charter.
usage difficult - if not impossible at times -
and required HEIs to implement a shadow Staff skills and competences
administration system internally until reporting
options become available. We do recommend International cooperation activities in general,
testing such tools at scale before introducing and the Erasmus+ programme in particular,
them to the entire HEI community. are becoming larger, more sophisticated,
and complex. Consequently, expectations
We welcome the introduction of standardised towards staff members working in international
management procedures for project relations are increasing, especially with respect
applications, funding management and to their ability to master topics like the digital
reporting. However, the introduction of the and green transitions, quality assurance,
lump sum funding model for Collaboration automatic recognition, and advanced
Projects, alongside the return of the real- international project management.
cost funding scheme for the Civil Society
Cooperation grants, sent mixed messages to Understanding the evolution of the
the potential applicants and did not necessarily requirements and expectations that define the
reduce the workload required to manage daily work of International Relation Offices is
such activities when the full project lifecycle thus essential for HEIs that, in an increasingly
is considered (from initiation to the reporting interconnected world, can ill afford to not put
phase). international cooperation front and centre.
In turn, newer policy objectives such as the
European Education Area also rely on HEIs,
which are intrinsically internationally-minded.

18 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

The successful planning and execution of a they pursue a strategy to train and retain
comprehensive internationalisation strategy International Relation Officers to provide
relies on the ability to ensure that staff quality guarantees for the execution of the
members performing work in international programme.
relations or adjacent fields possess the
adequate skills and competences, which must
be continuously updated.

The premise that International Relation Officers 21 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc/index/

are a critical success factor for the correct 22 https://fesc-project.eu
implementation of increasingly larger and 23 https://fesc-project.eu/framework/grouped
diversified budget lines (including funds from
the External Action service) and for enhancing
the quality of student mobility inspired
initiatives that sought to map and address
the needs of staff working with and for mobile
students; this is notably the case of the FESC
project 22 (2018-2021), whose deliverables
include an Erasmus staff competences
framework 23.

While the development of staff competences

in the field of internationalisation is a relatively
recent subject, it is becoming clear that
two parallel conversations will only become
more relevant in the future. One focuses on
what steps can be taken to avoid the risks
inherent to a non-structured “learning on the
job” approach. Another is whether, from a
mid-term perspective, institutions which are
responsible for a certain volume of Erasmus+
funding should be able to demonstrate that

Student and staff mobility | 19

Mobility features

Blended intensive programmes However, the introduction of such shorter

mobilities comes with a set of broader issues
The new programme brings along two that will require monitoring. Although there
important novelties: the possibility to is merit in establishing avenues that allow
undertake much shorter mobilities than before students who could not otherwise partake
and the option to organise Blended Intensive in semester or yearly mobilities to get an
Programmes (BIPs). impression of the essence of Erasmus+,
it also stands to reason that such mobility
BIPs for students arrangements have a proportionally higher
carbon footprint. Furthermore, stakeholders
The BIPs are a welcome addition, effectively have warned against the risk of establishing
reversing the unfortunate decision made in a 1st vs 2nd class dynamics where students
2014 to exclude summer/winter schools from are driven towards shorter mobilities owing
the list of eligible Erasmus+ activities. HEIs to inadequate support (or a desire to boost
have indeed decided to engage with BIPs in participation statistics 24).
numbers despite the funding issues at the start
of the programme. This new learning mobility It is therefore clear that these new mobility
format has brought its own set of challenges formats should be seen as an addition to the
– for instance, how to embed BIPs within internationalisation offer of HEIs, rather than a
study programmes to award credits, ensure substitution: the SIEM project25 has found that
recognition, identify best partners for building 83% of students disagree or strongly disagree
a BIP, structure business process flows to scale that duration of mobility is too long when asked
the organisation of BIPs – and solving those will about obstacles to mobility. Furthermore,
in return inform further enhancements of the research carried out in the HLiTL project 26
scheme. stressed that participation in BIPs cannot
realistically be expected to replace the kind
of skills and competences developed during

20 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

longer mobility periods; instead, BIPs are ideal participants of 15 learners for the BIPs puts
to complement more immersive international some of the trainings at risk of not being
activities and further innovative teaching and funded in situations where some participants
learning. In that sense, BIPs can be used to are obliged to cancel their participation for
provide internationalisation opportunities to whatever reason. We therefore recommend
students in their first years of HE, acting as introducing a greater flexibility for this
a stepping stone towards long-term mobility minimum threshold.
or broader international engagement. They
should prioritise interaction among students
during both the online part and the physical 24 Joint position paper by the European Students Union and
mobility and have a clear flow that helps the Erasmus Student Network: https://www.esn.org/news/
students to develop their collaborative online esu-esn-position-paper-mobility-virtual-exchange-blend-
skills. ed-learning
25 https://siem-project.eu/documents/SIEM_Research_Re-
A lot of work thus remains to be done to port_2021_03.pdf
make the most of BIPs, both in terms of 26 https://uni-foundation.eu/uploads/2022_HLITL_Policy%20
uptake and ensuring it will not be used in a recommendations_FINAL.pdf
way that limits the further growth of longer 27 https://uni-foundation.eu/uploads/2022_HLITL_Policy%20
quality mobility. The emergence of a quality recommendations_FINAL.pdf
framework for blended mobility could provide
guidance regarding the ideal duration of the
mobility components, which current research
27 situates at around 3 or more weeks. We also
recommend assessing how the digital learning
component has been received by learners
and the various formats of implementation
used. Eventually, the minimum number of

Student and staff mobility | 21

Language learning Recognition

The renewed online language learning offer of Recognition continues to be one of the main
the European Commission has been launched problems impacting almost every aspect of the
in July 2022 and the course content has been Erasmus experience, affecting both the access,
embedded in the EU Academy 28 platform. the experience itself and the reintegration
We welcome the open access policy that has process. Data from the ESN Survey 202130
been adopted by the European Commission again demonstrated that potential recognition
for these language courses – this is a major and problems with the flexibility in the degree
step forward from the 2014-2021 situation. programme are among the top three reasons
However, the fact this comes at the expense of preventing students from studying abroad (see
the tutors that used to accompany students in Graphic 3). The SIEM research report shows
their learning activities is simply unacceptable that problems related to lack of flexibility in
and suggests that promoting multilingualism is degree structure affect students from fewer
something the programme no longer attaches opportunities backgrounds more directly than
serious importance to. their peers.

While it is too early to assess the

user-friendliness and impact of the new 28 https://academy.europa.eu/local/euacademy/pages/
learning courses, we recommend assessing the course/community-overview.php?title=learn-the-basics-of-22-
added value of these courses and allocating languages-with-the-online-language-support
funding to ensure that these introductory 29 www.campuseuropae.org
online courses are complemented with 30 https://www.esn.org/ESNsurvey
more advanced, intensive physical courses,
as offered already by several HEIs. This
would truly build upon the very encouraging
results produced by the pilot programme
implemented by the Campus Europae 29
flagship project until 2014, which combined
online language classes with physical intensive
courses.

22 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

 40% 32% 15% 8% 5%

17% 28% 23% 21% 12%

14% 28% 23% 22% 13%

13% 27% 20% 24% 16%

9% 19% 28% 17% 26%

8% 19% 28% 27% 18%

8% 22% 27% 27% 17%

8% 18% 24% 23% 26%

4% 10% 16% 28% 42%

2 3% 10% 14% 71%

Graphic 3 - Non-mobile students' blocking factors to go abroad, ESNsurvey 2021.

Student and staff mobility | 23

The Erasmus Charter for Higher Education
monitoring carried out by National Agencies
should become stricter over the new cycle

72,77%
to ensure that recognition procedures are

71,37%
implemented, including more qualitative

63,68%
components to get a better understanding
of the experiences of students. We further
suggest that continued participation in new
ambitious collaborative programmes such
as European University Alliances should
be conditioned to levels of automatic
recognition31, in order to reinforce the
institutional importance of these processes.
These recommendations are based on the
results of the ESNsurvey 2021 where less than
73% of students reported full recognition of

15,25%
14,47%
their studies abroad (see Graphic 4).

10,20%
8,07%

6,49%
The Erasmus+ App should also become a

5,65%
5,27%
3,33%

3,04%

2,63%
2,47%

1,68%
1,30%
clear tool to channel possible complaints and

1,22%
challenges encountered by students, offering
the opportunity to share this information 0% 1-24% 25-49% 50-74% 75-99% 100%
or more
with relevant stakeholder organisations, incl.
student representative organisations. Graphic 4 - Recognition of studies abroad, ESNsurvey 2021.
Note: overall sample and distribution by mobility type
(NOVERALL = 5,791, NPROGRAMME = 4,899, NPROGRAMME = 892).

31 2018 Council Recommendation on automatic recognition:

https://education.ec.europa.eu/education-levels/higher-ed-
ucation/inclusive-and-connected-higher-education/automat-
ic-recognition-of-qualifications

24 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Staff mobility Funding

While advancing student mobility in Europe The funding available for staff mobility is
is generally recognised as one of the primary often not sufficient to encourage more
successes of the Erasmus+ programme, this staff members to participate in a mobility
same success has not yet been achieved to a programme. Moreover, the grant supporting
comparable extent with regards to the mobility travel and subsistence costs can be subject
of academic and administrative staff. to taxation depending on national regulations
Participation of faculty and staff in mobility (e.g. in Spain). This unfortunately discourages
is useful not just in and out of itself, in a larger number of staff members from
that it plays a vital role in furthering the participating in staff mobility.
internationalisation of HE systems and
contributing to their modernisation; it can Mobility targets
also be seen as a powerful catalyst for
“turbocharging” student participation in We recommend that the European authorities
mobility, by having actors with first-hand consult stakeholder organisations about setting
experience in Erasmus+ promoting it to ambitious mobility targets that ought to be
students to an even greater extent than what is followed with appropriate funding allocation
possible today. and institutional strategies ensuring that most
of their staff members have undertaken a staff
Recognition mobility. This is also aimed at making sure staff
mobility options are widely available and also
To further increase interest and benefits of support junior staff members in building their
staff mobility (for teaching32, staff training or international networks and experience.
job shadowing), institutions should be further
encouraged to embed such mobility options in
their Human Resource policies and practices
and notably count such activities towards 32 As outlined in the Teaching With Erasmus+ policy
recommendations: https://www.canva.com/design/
career progression of staff members.
DAEizBMct-A/Va6kuS-NLuROFZUF02yS6A/view?utm_con-
tent=DAEizBMct-A&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medi-
um=link&utm_source=viewer

Student and staff mobility | 25

Erasmus+ traineeships org platform and the Erasmus+ App. We also
advocate for the full implementation of the
Erasmus+ traineeships are an extremely European Student Card to give Erasmus+
valuable part of the Erasmus+ programme, and trainees access to student services in their host
the interest among students has increased cities, including services hosted by HEIs.
constantly. More recently, the Commission has
included references to Erasmus+ traineeships Language preparation
in the new European Strategy for Universities,
including a benchmark of 100,000 traineeships While traineeships under the Erasmus+
per year. The programme 2014-2020 proved programme have become more popular over
that Erasmus traineeships require dedicated the past years, they remain an underused
support measures to ensure the best possibility. One reason is that the inadequate
experience possible for all participants, notably language proficiency of the students or
regarding the following aspects: graduates prevents them from fully benefiting
from the learning experience. The current
Satisfaction with social life language preparation courses offered through
EU Academy only focus on beginner levels
The results of the ESNsurvey 202133 show that and are therefore insufficient to remove this
Erasmus+ trainees report significantly lower language obstacle. Language and cultural skills
satisfaction with their social life compared are essential for exchange students to navigate
to participants in Erasmus+ study mobility.
different cultural landscapes, and even more
Trainees struggle to get access to the same
important when mediating their professional
support services as their peers doing study
integration abroad.
mobilities, such as welcome weeks or buddy
systems. On the ground, student unions and
student organisations support trainees just
like they support students but reaching out 33 https://www.esn.org/ESNsurvey
to them is more difficult. We recommend a
greater focus on providing support measures
for trainees, involving HEIs present in cities
where the trainees are going and facilitating
access to information provided by local student
associations through the Erasmusintern.

26 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Graphic 5 - Satisfaction with social life of exchange students, ESNsurvey 2021.

Student and staff mobility | 27

 Need for increased quality checks and
support for hosting organisations

Hosting organisations are de facto the

most important factor in the quality of the
traineeship experience of Erasmus+ trainees.
There is a lack of monitoring measures related
to the quality of the experiences provided
by these hosting organisations and a lack of
capacity building and guidance measures on
how to provide quality traineeship experiences.

We therefore recommend that hosting

organisations be required to sign a quality
charter that defines the quality standards to
be met by hosting organisations, in line with
the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education.
The Erasmus+ trainees should then be invited
to evaluate whether the hosting organisation
has met the principles outlined in the quality
charter when filling out the beneficiary report.
Hosting organisations could also be required
to acquire a PIC code when signing the quality
charter (this could be a digital process) and
the participant final questionnaire could be
linked to the PIC code of the host organisation.
Furthermore, in the context of ensuring
high-quality traineeships, it is also important
to ensure regular monitoring by the home
institution.

28 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Administration and support Funding

In line with the recommendations above, we Finally, in some countries students are asked to
propose to expand the Erasmusintern.org take out a third-party liability insurance policy
platform to become the key platform for the ahead of their traineeship - which sometimes
management of the traineeship agreements. costs a considerable amount of money, making
Expanding the platform will create more participation difficult for students. We therefore
opportunities for trainees to share their recommend that such liability insurances
experiences and to connect with student should be covered by the host organisations.
organisations that can support them during We also recommend that National Authorities
their exchanges. put in place regulations that lead host
institutions to co-fund such traineeships, which
would help enhance quality and, critically,
afford more students the opportunity to
participate.

Student and staff mobility | 29

International dimension In addition, we call for re-integrating
of the programme Switzerland and the United Kingdom back
into the Erasmus+ programme as programme
The two funding lines under the internal countries and not international partners. The
and external policy funds are a welcome fact that both countries have been excluded
opportunity for HEIs to open up mobility from the programme is the result of political
opportunities on a global scale. The fact that processes that have been underpinned by lack
internal policy funds only support outbound of mutual understanding and considerations
mobility results in a situation where external for the common future of Europe as a
policy funds are often used to fund only continent. The Erasmus+ programme strives to
incoming mobilities. Simplifying the framework build mutual understanding and is therefore
by making both options available under both the most adequate response to ensure that
funding lines would therefore be a welcome future generations will be in the best position
development. to take appropriate decisions for the future of
their countries – which has been proven by the
We note as well that the efforts made to generational gap of the Brexit vote, whereby
welcome Ukrainian refugees have been more senior British citizens did not have the
hampered by the fact that this was enabled opportunity to travel the world as their younger
using the regular mobility funds allocated to counterparts have nowadays35.
the HEIs for their ongoing exchanges. As a
result, we highly recommend to consider the
call for establishing a European scholarship 34 https://futureu.europa.eu/pl/processes/Education/f/36/
scheme for students34 at risk supported by the proposals/129163
European Students’ Union. 35 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36619342

30 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

The need for a better and more inclusive
governance of Erasmus+

The Erasmus+ programme involves a wide

variety of stakeholders, complex processes
and financial rules. All organisations and
bodies in charge of its implementation should
follow basic principles of good governance.
A high level of democracy, transparency and
accountability should be respected by the
European Commission, the Executive Agency,
National Agencies and HEIs to ensure the
most cost-effective processes and to best
serve the interest of the final beneficiaries,
namely students and staff, across all Europe.
Within National Agencies and European
Commission programme committees, the
inclusion of stakeholders would allow both
students and stakeholders to voice their
concerns and suggestions on how the
programme is implemented.

Student and staff mobility | 31

About the authors

The European Students’ Union (ESU) is the The European University Foundation (EUF)
umbrella organisation of 45 National Unions aims to accelerate the modernisation of
of Students (NUS) from 40 countries. the European Higher Education Area.
The aim of ESU is to represent and promote The Foundation focuses its action on five pillars
the educational, social, economic and cultural and it stands for diversity and social fairness in
interests of students at the European level Higher Education. The network membership
towards all relevant bodies and in particular counts on over 70 HEIs spread across 29
the European Union, Bologna Follow Up Group, countries of the European continent.
Council of Europe and UNESCO. Through its
members, ESU represents almost 20 million https://uni-foundation.eu
students in Europe.

https://esu-online.org

32 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a
non-profit international student organisation.
Its mission is to represent international
students, thus providing opportunities for
cultural understanding and self-development
under the principle of Students Helping
Students.

https:// esn.org

Student and staff mobility | 33

Reference initiatives

The “Erasmus for All” project aims to tackle

the low levels of HE student participation in
Erasmus mobility exchange by proposing a
more economically viable scholarship scheme
that will allow any HE students to spend
part of their studies abroad in any of the 33
programme countries.

https://www.up.pt/erasmus-for-all/

The SIEM project aimed to make the Erasmus+

programme more inclusive and to increase the
interaction between international students and
local communities.

https://siem-project.eu/

The Green Erasmus project strives to improve

the environmental sustainability of the Erasmus
programme.

https://www.greenerasmus.org

34 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

The Erasmus Goes Green (EGG) project aimed
to increase environmental awareness of
mobility and to encourage more sustainable
internationalisation strategies.

https://www.egg-project-eu.uvsq.fr

The Million of Erasmus Grants (MEGA) project’s

ambition is to create and develop a digital tool
that will simplify the management of Erasmus+
mobility grants at university level and secure
the payment of these grants to the students
concerned, both in terms of accuracy and
calendar.

https://projects.uni-foundation.eu/mega/

The aim of the TWE+ project was to create

an online “marketplace” for teaching staff to
facilitate, encourage, and promote teachers’
mobility across Europe and provide a
framework/guidance for teaching mobility.

https://uni-foundation.eu/project/twe/

Student and staff mobility | 35

The ESNsurvey is a Europe-wide research The Erasmus500 campaign came to an end
project covering different topics concerning in December 2020 after 8 months of raising
mobility and education. It is the largest project awareness of the ideas embodied in the
of its kind carried out solely by volunteers. Erasmus500 declaration. The European
Every year since the establishment of the University Foundation, the Erasmus Student
project in 2005, the ESNsurvey team develops Network and the European Students’ Union
an online questionnaire and disseminates it would like to thank all universities, student
among students at European HEIs to collect organisations, networks, students and
information about students’ experiences from stakeholders for their support!
their exchange period abroad.
https://erasmus500.eu
https://esn.org/ESNsurvey

36 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022

Bologna with Student Eyes is a reality-check
of what has been agreed upon by national
governments within the Bologna Process and
what the actual situation is for students.

https://esu-online.org/bologna-with-student-
eyes-2020/

Student and staff mobility | 37

38 | Erasmus+ review 2021-2022