The Voices of Erasmus
Hear how Erasmus has changed people's lives
Maddie
A year abroad with Erasmus was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
That doesn’t mean it was all smooth sailing, though. Moving to a whole new country was challenging at times. It was high pressure, but this taught me how to manage difficult situations carefully and effectively, helping me later down the line in both my personal and professional life. Erasmus was life changing and it is so disappointing that people just like me studying at the University of Manchester today aren’t able to explore Europe with the same ease. I know I’d be a different person today if I hadn’t had my Erasmus experience and that is why we must rejoin the programme now!
Ned
Before selecting a Modern Languages degree – every student is sold the idea of the ‘Year Abroad’. Perhaps that is why they chose the degree in the first place, as at the age of 18, the idea of spending a year in Europe with complete freedom is enough to drive people into studying a language.
Unfortunately, this cultural enlightenment that students are promised no longer exists. What is supposed to be the best year of your life has ultimately become a burden: a bureaucratic obstacle of visas, forms and endless paperwork, to the extent that, upon completion, it is a relief to return to the safety and shelter of university life.
I study German and Italian, and what only a few years ago would have been a straightforward year abroad became very challenging due to the UK’s distant relationship with the EU. After the last year, I, and many other languages students, feel that there is no future in the Year Abroad, unless we can bring back Erasmus+ because within years, the opportunities that so many seek at university will slip away due to our self-inflicted divorce from the European community, over which we had no say...
Lucy
My story with the Erasmus programme began while I was in secondary school. I was one of four students chosen to take a trip to Essen Germany to represent my school in a project on homelessness. I still remember my warm and inviting hosts, Svenja and Lärs, very well and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being invited into their home. I keep in touch with them to this day.
Having had a taste for European culture and the richness it can bring, I finished my undergraduate degree in the UK and immediately booked a flight to the beautiful country of Switzerland to become an au pair and complete my MSc degree. After my au pair year, I met my partner and joined him to live in France. I fully immersed myself in French culture, taking classes to improve my speaking, reading and listening. I landed my dream internship at the Bureau de l’UNESCO à Paris.
The idea to live abroad had never crossed my mind, or seemed possible. With the opportunity of the Erasmus scheme, this showed me the possibilities that I didn’t even know existed. I am grateful for my first trip to Germany which started a domino effect. It opened my eyes to a wider world and taught me to look further than our national border.
Cyndi
I was the Chair of an Education Trust in the North-East of England from 2013-2020, and over the years I proudly oversaw many successful Erasmus+ projects. In my town, we regularly welcomed students from Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Bulgaria and children from our school regularly travelled to these European countries (including my own children who went on exchanges to Spain and Germany).
Erasmus+ was unlike anything else, it created a safe space for children to focus on promoting school improvements and governmental improvements. It gave some children the chance to create friendships with students from European countries that they may never have travelled to with their families. It gave young people the chance to learn lessons about different European languages and cultures.
Peter
My wife, Claudine and I met on an Erasmus exchange programme in 1995 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Newcastle University and Nancy University were sister universities and had regular exchanges, but not in my area. The universities had to agree that they would accept me for Erasmus though I was not part of the programme.
My Erasmus+ experience and the people I met along the way encouraged me to obtain a competition exam to the Group of the Party of European Socialist in the European Parliament. I have ever since worked in the European Parliament and was working closely with the UK members until Brexit. I will always fight in order to get the UK back into the EU. The UK belongs in the EU.
I now have 4 children with Claudine: Léo-Paul, Mélissa, Alexis and Yanaël. Our children all speak fluent English, for us it was paramount that they have a good level already at an early age. We are ever grateful to the EU, the UK and France for this wonderful opportunity we were given during our studies and after and believe it is so important that the UK rejoins the Erasmus+ programme now.
Annabelle
My semester abroad at Sciences Po during my master’s degree at King's College London proved to be an invaluable yet challenging experience in the wake of Brexit. I was eager to take advantage of the rare opportunity to immerse myself in the culture, language, and academia of another European city and institution. However, it was clear the realisation of this dream had become increasingly difficult due to the changing landscape for British students wanting to study in Europe.
A major factor was the requirement of a long-stay student visa to study in France for just six months, presenting several financial, logistical, and administrative barriers. Applying for the student visa was a lengthy and complex process with considerable red tape to meet requirements.
Studying abroad in Europe is an opportunity that every student should be able to experience regardless of financial circumstances. However, since Brexit, it feels as though this opportunity has narrowed and been made a lot more difficult. That is why we need to rejoin Erasmus+ now!
Daniel
Whilst at school, I was lucky enough to be a part of the Comenius Project, an exchange programme enabled by Erasmus+. The project strived to build relationships between six schools, each in a different country, with exchanges taking place at each school. My exchange was in Istanbul along with three other classmates from my school. While we were there, we experienced Turkey’s fascinating culture, saw many sites and forged new relationships with other exchange students and their very welcoming families. Our hosts held a celebration to welcome us all to their school, fed us generously with local dishes and even saw performances from whirling dervishes.
Truly, the trip was an amazing experience, one that I still reminisce about with the people I went with to this day - we made memories and friends for life. I just wish that young people today still had the chance to experience different cultures through Erasmus+.
Alexandra
I am a French Student from Sciences Po Paris and I was very strongly motivated to choose London as my Study Abroad destination due to my appreciation of British culture since childhood. I have personally been strongly impacted by my experiences of everyday life in London. I feel very lucky to have daily access to museums, cultural activities, and active student associations on campus.
I believe that such initiatives create better informed and more open-minded citizens, as the students are led to discover new environments with their unique socio-economic contexts, and better understand the existing interconnectedness between countries. This opportunity is also highly relevant in the context of professional development, as this experience helps students develop technical, linguistic and adaptability skills, which in the long run create better equipped professionals.
Though I feel very lucky to have been able to participate in this exchange, I feel that there is a fundamental financial barrier that prevents some highly motivated students from having access to this opportunity. For many students, without regional or Erasmus + grants, studying and living in London would be financially impossible.
Erasmus Stories From Across the UK
Hear from more people across the UK to learn how Erasmus impacted their lives
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