VilaWeb - Diari escola: European Students: Erasmus and Comenius Programmes

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dilluns, 6 de maig de 2024

European Students: Erasmus and Comenius Programmes

> Promoting a European Awareness

> Comenius: aimed at schools

> Illustrious Names

dijous, 10 de maig de 2007

Erasmus, the world's most extensive student exchange programme, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Since its launch in 1987, more than 1.5 million European students have participated in the programme. The aim is to increase that figure to 3 million by 2012.

The figures for the 2005-2006 academic year certainly support such a forecast with 154,553 students (and 23,462 lecturers) taking part in exchanges, increases of 7.3% and 12.4% respectively compared with 2004-2005.

Students participating in the Erasmus programme spend between three months and a year at a university or higher-education institution in another country. Thirty one countries take part: the twenty seven European countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey.

Erasmus is part of the European Union's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013, which also includes the Comenius (school education), Leonardo da Vinci (vocational training) and Grundtvig (adult education) programmes.

+ European Commission: The Erasmus programme celebrates its 20th anniversary.
+ Webs relacionades dins Nosaltres.Cat: Ensenyament.
+ Webs relacionades dins Nosaltres.Cat: Beques, ajuts i premis.

Promoting a European Awareness

+ More than 1.5 million European students have participated in the Erasmus programme.

Erasmus is much more than just an education programme; its is a tool for promoting European awareness to new generations, the feeling of belonging to a continent with a great diversity. Erasmus students have the opportunity to get to know other languages and cultures at first hand, factors that generate tolerance, respect and co-existence. However, the programme has attracted criticism as well as praise. It has been said that it is a minority programme (with 1% of the student population taking part) and been criticised for a lack or organisation and a lack of funding.

Comenius: aimed at schools

+ Comenius programme logo.

As we mentioned above, the Comenius programme is aimed at the school education system, from primary to secondary. One of the things Comenius does is to promote the development of joint projects between different European countries. From 2008, the programme is going to include the possibility of secondary-school pupils going to study in another country. The programme is named after the Czech teacher and theologian Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a defender of human rights and considered to be one of the founders of modern education.

Illustrious Names

+ Self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig programmes owe their names to three other illustrious Europeans: Erasmus of Rotterdam (1469-1536) was a tolerant humanist, pacifist and traveller who took his expertise to different European countries; Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), a Renaissance genius who was interested in all fields of knowledge; and Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783-1872), a Danish poet, historian, theologian and teacher, considered to have been the founder of adult education.

MATERIALS

The Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013
Format:Web
Promou l'intercanvi, la cooperació i la mobilitat entre els sistemes educatius de la Unió Europea. Informació dels programes Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci i Grundtvig.
Oficina de Cooperació Educativa i Científica Internacional
Format:Web
Difon a Catalunya els programes educatius d'abast europeu i internacional.
Àmbit internacional
Format:Web
Recull d'iniciatives educatives.
20 anys d'Erasmus, l'edat de la innocència?
Format:Web
Dossier de la publicació europea cafebabel.com.

QUE HO SABIES?

Out of the list of top 20 universities in terms of the number of students who go to another country to study, five of them are from the Catalan-speaking countries: the Universitat Politècnica de València, the Universitat de Valencia, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat de Barcelona and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Along with the Universitat d'Alacant, these universities are also some of the leading host universities.
The programme started in 1987 with 3,000 students. Since then, approaching 1.5 million students (60% of them women) have participated in the programme.