Erasmus VS COVID-19
Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. It provides an opportunity to people from 18–30 (sometimes even younger) to travel to another European country, either for their university studies, Bachelor or Masters, (Erasmus Studies + Erasmus Mundus respectively), their internships (Erasmus Placement), for special themed trainings of non-formal education (Youth Exchanges, Training Courses), or even for voluntary work (EVS).
Students who participated in the programme and travelled to another country gained many advantages and benefits! The experience of living for a short period of time in a multicultural environment and meeting new people from different countries, gives young people the opportunity to discover the world, explore new aspects, challenge themselves and evolve.
In 2020, however, the situation “caught up” with most students. The dream of the Erasmus experience came face to face with a global crisis: The pandemic brought by COVID-19. Most states have closed their borders and cities have been “frozen”. The students had to take the right decisions (without anyone knowing what the right decisions were). Eventually, the Erasmus dream turned into a different adventure.
This new adventure wasn’t so positive for international students, whose mobility, in many cases, have been cancelled, interrupted or postponed. ESN (Erasmus Student Network) impact study gives very interesting insights. 22,000 international students and trainees in Europe provided information about their experiences. Some of the key findings of the report are the following:
· Almost two-thirds of the students’ mobility periods continued. A quarter of them were cancelled.
· The proportion of students who have stayed in their exchange destination decreased slowly during the time that the survey was open.
· Approximately 2/5 of the students experienced at least one major problem related to their exchange. The most common one was related to the loss of transportation to return home, followed by problems with accommodation and problems with access to basic needs such as food and sanitary products.
· 1/4 of Italian students and 1/5 of Asian students have experienced discrimination based on their nationalities, either to a great extent or to a very great extent.
· Half of the students whose mobility continued have moved to online classes. 1/3 of them have moved to partial online or partially postponed classes.
· Three-quarters of the students whose mobilities were cancelled got support from their home universities. The most common form was support with course schedules and the academic programme.
In order for us to have a realistic picture of how exactly COVID-19 impacted the Erasmus program, we had to speak to actual Erasmus students that had to deal with this situation. This is why we conducted interviews with 8 individuals and got to listen to their stories, and also find out how the respective countries (Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Hungary, Turkey) dealt with the situation. All these students started their Erasmus with the highest expectations and, later, were left heartbroken and disappointed. They experienced not only the breaking news of their Erasmus -the way they knew it- coming to an end, but also accommodation, transportation and educational difficulties. This tough experience, however, made them grow and urged them, in a way, to find an alternative silver lining. Using these stories, we created a 19-minute-long podcast that provides an in- depth view of their experience.
After conducting those interviews, we tried to deepen more in their possible problems and help them gain strategic, problem-solving oriented and positive thinking. So, gained some insights from a life coach, a HR company and the organization that helped Erasmus People, ESN. ESN Panteion, ESN Greece & ESN International helped us have a holistic approach to students’ problems, starting from the local level and ending with the international one. All the insights led us to compose two guidelines; ”Gain new skills guide” and “A different guide for Erasmus”. The first guide suggests books, webinars and speeches, in order for Erasmus people to spend constructively their time during those days. The second has a business oriented chapter that explains what steps you should follow to organize your daily and prioritize the development of some skills and a positive thinking chapter that gives advice for a different way of thinking.
In conclusion, Erasmus 2020 was a different experience in comparison to the Erasmus experience that we all have heard off and are familiar with. Was it bad or good? That’s a statement that only students as individuals who have experienced it can give, but it was for sure different from what they were expecting when they decided to sign up for that experience. Based on the research that we conducted and what we released is that Erasmus 2020 still has fulfilled its purpose. This initiative encouraged those affected to share their particular situation and to understand the severity of each individual’s circumstance. Erasmus is all about new experiences, meeting new people, growing as a person, make your decisions, and be responsible for yourself. Maybe the fun part of the mobility programme wasn’t as intense as usual, but still, students that participated in the mobility programme had the opportunity to understand a bit better of themselves and gain knowledge. What we can surely declare is that Erasmus 2020 was a life-changing experience for students that participated in the programme.
by Team Brand New
Paraskevi-Vasiliki, Eva, Evangelia, Anna & George
for “Leadership & EQ Lab” of #ADandPRLab
