Erasmus Malta - part of a million

The EU, together with all Socrates participating countries, will be celebrating the one millionth Erasmus student this October.

All EU member states, as well as the candidate countries and EEA countries, participate in the Socrates programme. As soon as a country expresses formally its intention to apply for EU membership, the EU invites this candidate country to participate in the three educational programmes, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates and Youth.

Malta was invited in 1995 to participate and started to set up its organisation to manage its participation in these programmes.

This plan was halted when Malta froze its membership application in 1996. As soon as Malta reactivated its membership application, in 1998, the EU again invited Malta to participate in these programmes - an invitation which Malta gladly and readily accepted.

In fact, Malta started participating in Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates in January 2000, while its participation in Youth started in 2001. Hence, Malta has been participating in Socrates only 30 short months.

In Malta nobody denies or argues the benefits accruing to all participants in these programmes and I will not dwell on these crystal clear advantages. However, the fact that very soon we will also be celebrating the one millionth Erasmus student, Malta will rejoice that our university Erasmus beneficiaries form a small but growing part of this one millionth figure.

Briefly, Erasmus is the action within Socrates that provides mobility opportunities for university students around European universities.

All countries and especially the Erasmus beneficiaries themselves are aware of the academic, personal and social benefits gained from Erasmus.

In reply to a parliamentary question (No. 34572) by Jason Azzopardi, I gave data on Malta's participation in Erasmus.

Briefly, I was pleased to report that in academic year 2000/2001 there were 93 Maltese Erasmus students, while in the present academic year there are already 300 Maltese Erasmus students, an increase of 200 per cent.

In the first year, the Maltese Erasmus beneficiaries came from seven faculties and institutes, while this year they came from 12 faculties and institutes.

Our students spent their Erasmus Mobility in 30 different universities of 11 countries, i.e., Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

On the other hand, in academic year 2000/2001 the University of Malta hosted 113 European Erasmus students while, this year, it hosted 254 European Erasmus students studying in 13 different faculties and institutes of our university.

These figures are impressive and surely reflect the immediate and long-term impact Erasmus has had on our university students, as has happened to the million EU Erasmus students. But, on deeper reflection of our students' participation in Erasmus, we could also elicit other significant and long-lasting benefits.

Firstly, Erasmus is promoting a new culture among our youth through spending a semester of their undergraduate studies in a European University.

Such an experience augments the academic, personal and social development of our students, making them eventually better-prepared for their future careers, enhancing their CV, and in turn enriching the Maltese society. Without Erasmus, our students would have been denied this beneficial opportunity.

Secondly, the financial help given to all Erasmus beneficiaries makes it possible for all students of varying financial means to participate, as the grants are adequate to meet all costs involved. It is also fair to say, in this context, that the EU (through the EU pre-accession funds) subsidises Malta's participation in these programmes by two-thirds of the total cost.

For every Lm1 spent, the EU gives Malta 66c. Obviously, on accession to the EU, Malta will not have to pay for participation, not even the 33c per Lm1 as at present.

Thirdly, the multiplier effect of this participation is impossible to quantify. The experiences acquired by Erasmus students are evident to other students and are shared by them. Their exposure to foreign university systems definitely enriches the individual students as well as the whole student body.

Fourthly, the influx of 307 Erasmus students in our universities also has its economic gains. In fact, they may be considered as long-stay tourists and that fact is enhanced because these students come during lean tourism months.

If we calculate a rough estimate where each Erasmus student spends Lm1,000 during his/her stay, then, globally, these students spend about Lm 367,000 during their stay in Malta.

Besides this direct economic gain, these Erasmus students will serve to promote Malta to their families and friends which could result in return visits to Malta.

Eventually, this tourism aspect of Erasmus can develop into something similar to the economic gains of the English language schools and provide a boom for low-class accomodation hostels and host families.

Erasmus Malta is one of the many benefits offered to our youth as a result of Malta's reactivation of its EU membership application and no other alternative can offer these same benefits on the same terms, if at all.

Our students' positive response to Erasmus is only a reflection of our participation in all other actions of the three EU programmes, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates and Youth.