The Erasmus programme encourages student and teacher mobility and promotes international co-operation among universities across Europe. The scheme currently covers nine out of ten of European higher education establishments.

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said: "Erasmus has developed beyond just being an educational programme. It gives many European university students the chance of living for the first time in a foreign country, and it has reached the status of a social and cultural phenomenon. It is an excellent example of what co-ordinated European action in the field of education can achieve."

The Erasmus programme started in June 1987 and 3,244 students participated in it during its first year. In 2005, the number had risen to 144,032 students. However, out of these, only 7,214 were British students taking advantage of the change to study in another European country. The figure is very small compared to e.g. the 21,561 French Erasmus students in 2005.

For more on the UK take-up, see our press release from 16 March 2006 here.

The UK Socrates-Erasmus Council has more detailed UK data on their website here.

For a press release on the 20th anniversary of Erasmus, see here.

Erasmus programme - facts and figures

FAQ - How does Erasmus work?

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