Inclusive universities: evidence from the Erasmus program

Abstract

The Erasmus Program is the main international mobility program in Europe and worldwide. Since its launch in 1987, it has been growing both in terms of participants and budget devoted to its activities. However, despite the possibility to obtain additional funding, the participation of students with special needs in the program remains extremely low. This work quantifies the participation of these students to Erasmus and explores the network of universities involved in their mobility, along the period 2008–2013. In addition, it proposes a novel index to measure the level of inclusiveness of universities welcoming international students with disabilities. Quantifying and analyzing this aspect could be the basis for better designing targeted policies and for widening the participation of students with impairments to international mobility.

Erasmus Staff Mobility in the Building of a European Network: The Case of a Central European University

“…On the whole, however, empirical studies and data on Erasmus+ mobility and its effects on individuals and HEIs do not abound, and there is a particular shortage of reliable data and research that goes beyond perception analysis and into the measurement of real effects and outcomes. Moreover, most of the studies on Erasmus mobility concentrate on the mobility of students [17,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], while the mobility of academic staff is relatively less common [34,35]. However, as Zajadacz et al [35] stated after analyzing the mobility of Polish academic teaching staff, mobility had the most significant impact on their professional development.…”