Monday, 16 July, 2018 - 17:45

On the 11th of July, The European Parliament Youth Intergroup and the Erasmus Student Network co-organised a stakeholder meeting to discuss the European Commission's proposal for the upcoming Erasmus programme 2021-2027 for higher education student mobility.

The meeting aimed at building bridges between youth and higher education organisations, experts and decision-makers in the European Parliament that can contribute to a stronger Erasmus programme. Following representatives were present at the meeting:

  • Wout Van Caimere, Coordinator of the European Parliament Youth Intergroup,

  • João Pinto, President of the Erasmus Student Network,

  • Joachim Wyssling, Senior EU Project Manager of the European University Foundation,

  • Vanessa Debiais-Sainton, DG EAC European Commission,

  • Santa Ozolina, Permanent Representation of Latvia,

  • Petra Skrinjar, assistant of MEP Milan Zver (Erasmus rapporteur).

 

 

 

 

Participants shared their point of view on the proposal for the new Erasmus Programme and discussed different topics such as the doubled budget of the proposal, its potentially tripled reach, the need to equip students with relevant digital skills, the global dimension of the proposal, European universities, virtual mobility, the simplification of the procedures and the involvement of member states at the national level.

During the meeting, João Pinto pointed out that ESN had an extensive online consultation in which young people all over Europe were asked about their views and wishes for the new Programme. This resulted in the #ErasmusUpgrade Manifesto, in which ESN’s views are summarized in 13 points. Building on that, ESN wrote a reaction to the proposal from the European Commission. 

Overall, ESN is happy to see our priorities reflected in the proposal and we do believe that the proposal sets the right direction. We look forward to receiving more details and clarifications in future documents. Our network is particularly satisfied to see the focus on inclusion in many aspects: reaching out to people with disabilities, but also removing economic obstacles or including people from a disadvantaged background.

 

 

If you'd like to know more about the stakeholders meeting, watch the live stream here. To discover reasons for further increase in the budget, visit Erasmus x10 campaign.