ABSTRACT
The Erasmus programme was launched in 1987 with the aim to promote further student mobility within the European Union. This European programme has given thousands of higher-education students in Europe the opportunity to spend some time in another European university through exchange agreements 1 . One of its key elements is that the study period abroad is temporary, but the student receives recognition of his or her achievements during the study period abroad once back at the home institution. ‘Temporary study abroad is most highly valued in the home country and [is] most efficient when it is accepted as equivalent to a study period at home’ (Teichler, 1996, p. 156). The key driver of the Erasmus programme is to give European higher-education students the opportunity to spend one or two exchange semesters abroad at one of the universities participating in the programme and to financially support the increasing number of students that would prefer to spend a period of their study in a university abroad (Russell, Rosenthal, and Thomson, 2010; Van der Wende, 2003).
