• How many are we?
• Who wants to go abroad?
• Where do we like to go?
• What do we study abroad?
• How much is the average grant per student?
• Did you know that with Erasmus, teachers go abroad too?

Who wants to go abroad?
Among the EU Member States, Portugal, France, Austria and Germany clearly show a growing trend. However, the greatest increase in students comes from the associated countries.

Where do we like to go?
The UK, which is by far the biggest net importer of students, receives more than double the number of students it sends. Ireland is also a big importer (receives 92% more students than it sends out) as well as Sweden (62%) and the Netherlands (40%). Among the EUR 18 (the 15 Member states and the EEA states: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) there are few net exporters: Italy is sending 49% more students out than it receives and Greece has 43% more outgoing students. The number of incoming students continues to rise in several EUR 18 countries, mainly in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Belgium and Germany. Reciprocity is still a great challenge for the associated countries: on average the ratio between incoming and outgoing flows in the associated countries is 1:5.

What do we study abroad?
Most Erasmus students study business management/social studies, art/humanities/ languages and engineering/architecture. However, a comparison of the subject area distribution over the last four academic years indicates a tendency towards a greater balance between the subject areas. Efforts to promote medical sciences, natural sciences, maths/computing and engineering/architecture have had some success.

How much is the average grant per student?
The grant policy reflects the balance between two principles: on the one hand, extending mobility to the largest possible number of students and, on the other hand, ensuring a sufficiently high grant level. Apart from the academic years 1994/95 (highest point of average grant) and 1997/98 (lowest point), the average grant for EUR 18 has been quite stable at about 135 to 140 Euro.

Did you know that with Erasmus, teachers go abroad too?
During the academic year 2000/2001, teacher mobility was managed for the first time at decentralised level by the National Agencies. Despite this change in management, the number of Erasmus teaching staff has continued to grow. During the past four academic years, that is from 1997/98 to 2000/01, the number of teachers participating in the programme has been increasing from 7.800 to about 14.400. The biggest increase was registered in 1998/99, when the numbers rose by 36% from the previous year. The main reason was the arrival of the associated countries in the programme in 1998/99. Since 1998/99 the annual overall increase rate has been 15-17%.