The highly popular Erasmus Programme “has contributed to improving, opening up and modernising both higher education institutions and education policies” finds a recent report - The Impact of Erasmus on European Higher Education: Quality, Openness and Internationalisation - conducted by CHEPS, INCHER and ECOTEC for the European Commission. The study focuses on the institutional and higher education policy impact of Erasmus since its inception in 1987 and is based on a survey carried out among 750 institutions' top management and more than 1 800 Erasmus coordinators both at international offices and faculties.

In particular, with regard to higher education policy, the programme played a central role in the internationalisation of national, European and international higher education, the study assesses. It also stresses the role of Erasmus in supporting other relevant developments in the field, such as the Bologna Process, the establishment of a European credit transfer system, the award of joint and double degrees, etc.

The institutional impact of Erasmus is deemed to have been strong, particularly on larger institutions as well as in new the member states, stimulating the introduction of international offices and support services for mobile students and also increasing the quality of teaching and learning.

For a more detailed overview of the findings, the study can be downloaded from the European Commission’s website.

European Commission