Collaborative learning refers to methodologies and environments in which learners engage in a common task where each individual depends on and is accountable to each other. These include both face-to-face conversations, working group and online forums, chat, etc. The aim of this paper is to outline the main features of a project of collaborative learning in an international context: the Erasmus Intensive Programme Sono un Migrante to be implemented at the University of Salerno. Funded by the Italian Erasmus LLP Authority, the project involves the participation of students and teachers from 7 different universities of 6 EU countries.

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This chapter examines the main migration flows concerning the countries of southern Europe; those are a) the immigration from developed countries b) the so-called ‘new emigration’, and c) the persistent flow of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. They receive a very different treatment in local political debates, which are dominated by the concern for ‘the crisis,’ (i. e., the whole range of economic, social, and political changes arising from neoliberal globalization). While discussing the current literature on these topics, the chapter shows how these flows are politically constructed for the purposes of the establishment. At the same time, the chapter highlights the relationships between these trends and the general changes affecting southern European countries.

Migration research has long highlighted the role of factors influencing migration flows at the structural level. Recent literature has shifted researchers’ attention to the individual drivers influencing the definition of migration strategies and, before that, the individual propensity for mobility. In this paper, we present the results of a multiple regression model applied to data collected by means of an online survey of students at the universities of Salerno (Italy) and Extremadura (Spain). The model highlights the low prominence achieved by factors such as gender and parental cultural capital on this propensity. A more important role is played by the personal experience of living abroad, a proactive attitude toward the future, and the propensity to seek professional self-fulfillment even at the price of sacrificing one’s territorial affiliation.

According to the official Italian administrative data, the community of Italians living in Athens went on growing over the years, including the last decade. What are the drivers of Italian immigration in a less-developed country than Italy, a country which recently has also experienced a more serious crisis than the Italian one? To answer this question, we followed a research strategy based on in-depth interviews to Italians living in the Athens area. After reviewing the features of the Italian community and those of the group of interviewees, we focus on the respondents who found a job in Athens, both as independent workers and as employees. Our results show that a great number of drivers are at work in producing a migration flow from Italy to Greece. They support the idea that contemporary international migration (more specifically, intra-European migration) cannot be fully understood by relying exclusively on an economic approach.