Development of european consciousness in Erasmus students

• Main Author: Sevda Mutlu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Foundation Pro Scientia Publica 2011-12-01
• Series: Journal of Education Culture and Society
• Subjects: EU; European Consciousness; Erasmus Student; Academic Experience; Personal Experience
• Online Access: http://nowadays.home.pl/JECS/data/documents/JECS=202=282011=29=2087-102.pdf

This research is the content analysis of 502 Erasmus students’ experiences published in the website www.20erasmus.eu. One of the main purposes of the Erasmus Student Exchange Program is to maintain a cross-cultural dialogue through student activity, to remove prejudices and thus to strengthen interaction and join EU citizens under such concepts as “European Consciousness” and “Being European”. The purpose of this study is to determine how successful the Erasmus Student Exchange Program is through the shared Erasmus experiences of the participating students. In conclusion, in this research, it is observed that the students talked highly positively about the Erasmus experience. The students described this process as enjoyable and productive. It could be argued that the Erasmus experience contributed to students’ “individual development” rather than “academic development”. It could also be maintained that one of the key purposes of the Erasmus exchange program is to remove prejudices by maintaining student mobility and cross-cultural dialogue and to unite societies under the European Consciousness and European People understanding via strengthening interactions between EU member citizens. Data collected in this research present evidence that the Erasmus programme has reached this aim