This winter, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency published the Erasmus Mundus Graduate Impact Survey 2024 (GIS). Conducted annually since 2007, the survey assesses the short- and long-term impact of Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters through graduates’ perspectives. The aim is to better understand how alumni shape communities and policy around the world, while trying to further improve the action in order to better respond to the needs of students, academic institutions, and employers. 

The survey targeted all Erasmus Mundus alumni who graduated in the years 2013/2014, 2018/2019, and 2023, addressing both Erasmus Mundus scholarship recipients and self-funded graduates. Responses were collected and subsequently weighted to reflect the graduate population’s distribution of gender, region of origin, cohort, and funding source (i.e. scholarship). 

The key findings highlight: 

• The expanding global nature of the programme, as the share of non-EU graduates has continued to rise across subsequent cohorts (from 62% in 2013/2014 to 83% in 2023), with sharp increases from South, South-East and East Asia, Africa as well as from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (with relative increases of +63.2%, +66.7% and +100% respectively). 
• Overall high satisfaction levels, with 85% of students and graduates reporting a positive experience with Erasmus Mundus (48% very satisfied, 37% satisfied) although several specific aspects such as opportunities for exchanges with potential employers recorded lower satisfaction scores. 
• Areas with notably high levels of satisfaction include opportunities for profound personal development, including intercultural competencies (74%), improved career prospects (67%), and positive attitudes towards the EU (62%). 
• Closer links with the labour market, with 80% success rate for job searches in the first 6 months after graduation and 74% of graduates being currently employed or self-employed. 

The GIS 2024 edition reconfirms the importance of Erasmus Mundus in fostering academic excellence and intercultural understanding and provides guidance for future improvements in terms of strengthening connections with potential employers and improving awareness of opportunities offered by Erasmus Mundus among prospective students around the world.