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In 2012, the ERASMUS programme celebrated its 25th anniversary. As one of the best-known initiatives of the EU, it has already enabled almost three million students to spend a part of their studies abroad. But ERASMUS is more than just a simple academic exchange programme: designed to contribute to the creation of a «People's Europe», it has become a successful political instrument for shaping generations of European students. This interdisciplinary volume attempts to explain the fascination behind ERASMUS. The authors examine the role of student mobility within the European integration process and judge its impact on how young citizens identify with Europe. Is there a «Generation ERASMUS», and what characteristics does it have? Can ERASMUS serve as a symbol for «new» Europeans?
List of contents
Inhalt: Benjamin Feyen/Ewa Krzaklewska: The ERASMUS Programme and the «Generation ERASMUS» - A Short Overview - Benjamin Feyen: The Making of a Success Story: The Creation of the ERASMUS Programme in the Historical Context - Ulrike Klose: Learning for Life? The New Role of the ERASMUS Programme in the Knowledge Society - Hannah-Kristin Elenschneider: Das ERASMUS-Programm: Symbol einer europäisch geprägten Auswärtigen Kultur- und Bildungspolitik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland? - Friedrich Heger: ERASMUS - for All? Structural Challenges of the EU's Exchange Programme - Ewa Krzaklewska: ERASMUS Students between Youth and Adulthood: Analysis of the Biographical Experience - Johanna Damerau: Mit Händen und Füßen durch das Leben: ERASMUS-Studenten und ihre (nonverbale) interkulturelle Kommunikation - Ewa Krzaklewska/Paulina Skórska: Culture Shock during ERASMUS Exchange - Determinants, Processes, Prevention - Larissa Wood: Social ERASMUS? Active Citizenship among Exchange Students - Gioia Ambrosi: The Influence of the ERASMUS Programme on Strengthening a European Identity: Case Studies of Spanish and British Exchange Students - Christof Van Mol: ERASMUS Student Mobility and the Discovery of New European Horizons - Agnieszka Roguski: «Ich bin ERASMUS» - Identitätsschöpfung durch die virtuelle Konstanz einer visuellen Gemeinschaft? - Jennifer Striebeck: A Matter of Belonging and Trust: The Creation of a European Identity through the ERASMUS Programme? - Seweryn Krupnik/Ewa Krzaklewska: Researching the Impact of ERASMUS on European Identification - Proposal for a Conceptual Framework - Benjamin Feyen/Ewa Krzaklewska: «Generation ERASMUS» - The New Europeans? A Reflection.
About the author
Benjamin Feyen is researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Germany).
Ewa Krzaklewska is researcher at the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland).
Both have been concerned with ERASMUS as exchange students, as members of the Erasmus Student Network organisation, and as academic researchers.
Report
"The main reason I liked this book was that at no point did any author jump to the conclusion that mobility equalled greater European identity. Where authors drew on their primary research (for example Christof Van Mol), they carefully explore how their findings can be explained. Although each author carefully explores whether mobility can enable greater identification with Europe, the book leaves readers to form their own opinion as to whether ERASMUS mobility establishes a European identity, or just an international community of ERASMUS students." (Alex Seal, Sociological Research online, 01/2014)
