Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the UK, almost 200 colleges of further
education are involved in international pro-
grammes. Of these colleges, 133 are recruiting
students to UK-based courses; 56 are delivering
programmes in-country; 145 have non-
commercial learning and quality improvement
partnerships with overseas education institutions;
and 72 are engaged in franchising abroad.
Franchising is particularly important in Cyprus,
where there are a number of private colleges that
are now being turned into universities.
after the launch of the programme. Growth
rates in participation by the new entrants have
been slightly slower. The new and prospective
entrants now account for 13% of student mobi-
lity, considerably less than their 18% share of
the total population of the 30 SOCRATES
participant countries. At the moment, students
from the former communist bloc in particular
face greater barriers to mobility, particularly in
terms of low incomes.
Although individual students face barriers
to mobility, there is a clear institutional desire to
participate in exchange schemes. For example,
while the 'take-up rate' or participation of eligi-
ble institutions participating in SOCRATES in
the EU15 was 38% in 1999/2000, in the new
participant countries this figure was 54%. The
largest number of outbound students from the
new member states going to Western Europe
is generated by Poland (5400 in 2003) and
the Czech Republic (3000), but even relatively
small countries such as Lithuania (1000) are
beginning to generate substantial outbound
mobility. The lowest levels of participation are
found in Malta (72) and Cyprus (91), probably
reflecting their small population size.
The Role of SOCRATES, ERASMUS
and other Exchange Programmes
The ERASMUS programme, launched in 1987,
is one of the most successful EU programmes in
the field of education. In the past 18 years, a
total of more than one million students have
spent a period of study in another country
under the ERASMUS scheme or its successor,
SOCRATES.
As Fig. 5.1 shows, the growth in participa-
tion in the existing EU states was very steep
Fig. 5.1.
ERASMUS exchange student numbers 1987-2003. Source: EURYDICE, 2005.
