Top 10 Reasons to Take part

Stand out in the job market – a great addition to your CV

Return more motivated, independent and confident

Get a grant and have your tuition fees waived (if you go for the full academic year)

It counts towards your degree –it’s not a gap year

Learn a range of life-skills not taught in the lecture theatre

Access a wider range of subject areas than in the UK

Improve your language skills

Gain an international network of friends and meet your lifelong partner! (1 in 10 students do)

Discover a different culture and gain an international perspective

It’s really good fun!

Hear what former Erasmus students and staff have to say about the programme and their experiences by watching our short film

Stand out in the job market

The job market nowadays is an international one, so when you graduate, not only will you be competing with UK graduates, but also with highly qualified graduates from other countries. In this multi-cultural, multi-lingual European job market, the ability to communicate in another language is highly desirable; and demonstrating that you have lived, studied and worked in another environment enables you to compete more effectively. Developing self-assurance and independence are the keys to a successful career. As less than five per cent of the student population participates in Erasmus - you’ll stand out and employers will notice you.

“The value of (a student’s) international experience goes beyond purely the acquisition of language – it lies in the ability to see business and personal issues from other than your own cultural perspective.” *

Charles Macleod, Head of UK Resourcing, Pricewaterhouse Coopers

*Quoted in a report commissioned by the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) - 'A guide for universities'

Get Mobile

Mobility is a fact of life - we live in a mobile world where people travel in increasing numbers - it affects our work, our pleasure, our food, our law, our environment and our society.

“ Given the globalised environment in which we operate, we are looking for people with an international perspective. We are very focused on increasing mobility within our organization as we see this as being an invaluable experience and one which can only benefit our organization and our people in the longer term.”*

Managing Director, Corporate Communications, Morgan Stanley

A different outlook

The Erasmus programme offers you the chance to study your subject in different contexts, with different teachers and different class mates. You’ll be surprised by the different approach and the insights that students from other countries can bring. It’s both challenging and highly rewarding.

Life Skills

The Erasmus experience will enhance your personal development, your job opportunities, your confidence, and your enjoyment of life. Erasmus students are not tourists - you'll live and participate in the day to day life of the country you choose. Living and studying in a new country is a challenge – you will find yourself facing new and unexpected situations. Overcoming these obstacles and learning to manage your life within another culture brings maturity, confidence and self-reliance – great life skills.

Fun

Not only will you acquire a broader range of skills to offer a future employer, but you’ll have fun doing it. Erasmus students say it is the best part of their time at university, after all nearly one in ten find their life partner while doing their Erasmus programme. For ideas of the festivals that go on in Europe take a look at our Fun things to do page and read some of our Case Studies to get an idea of what former Erasmus students experienced.

Language Skills

A Report for the Routes into Languages Initiative,McPake & Sachdev (2008) states:

"Findings from several decades of research into plurilingualism (i.e. competence in several languages, rather than just one) show that there are considerable benefits both for the individual and the society which promotes plurilingualism among its members. For the individual, plurilingualism is known to produce cognitive advantage (Bialystok, 2001), to improve performance on a range of tasks related to educational attainment (Ricciardelli, 1992), including acquisition of literacy (Kenner, 2004), to facilitate the learning of additional languages (Cenoz & Valencia, 1994) and to delay the effects of ageing on the brain (Bialystok et al., 2006). There are economic advantages for societies in which adults can use more than one language in commercial contexts (CILT/ InterAct International, 2007) and social gains to be derived from ensuring that public services are linguistically accessible to all (Corsellis, 2001). People who grow up speaking more than one language in their daily lives therefore have the potential to gain personally but also to constitute a valuable resource for wider society."

It also reports that there is considerable current interest in the employability of languages graduates, reflected in extensive work by CILT, the National Centre for Languages and the Regional Language Networks (RLNs) in England both to investigate supply and demand factors, and also to measure the value added to businesses which employ linguists. Key findings to emerge from this work are:

• executive recruiters see competence in at least one other language in addition to English as ‘critical’ for business success in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and that plurilingual executives have ‘significant competitive advantage’;

• language skills are required at every level of business, not just in the professional and managerial echelons;

• there is a clear correlation between good business practice in relation to languages and increased turnover;

• a lack of language skills prevents UK businesses from tapping into developing markets (where English is less likely to be used), despite the fact that these have greater potential than mature markets for economic growth.

(CILT, 2005c)

CILT’s survey of providers of language services to business (2005b) found demand for a wide range of languages, with the major European languages in the lead, but Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Russian and eastern European languages on the increase.

Employers ranging from law firms to multinational banks to major aid and development organisations confirmed that applicants with languages were, at the very least, viewed more favourably than those without; while some stated categorically that they would not employ people who spoke only English. For some companies, the specific languages were immaterial: they saw students with languages as more flexible and adaptable, more likely to appreciate the need for intercultural communication skills and more able to build relationships with counterparts or clients in other countries. A recruiter for an international financial services company commented:

"For our global scheme we need language capabilities and recruit graduates accordingly — the more languages the better. Languages are seen as very impressive and an indication of inter-cultural communication. In fact, even if a job doesn’t require a language, we prefer candidates with language skills."

Some recognised also that those who had demonstrated the ability to learn other languages in the past would be better placed to learn new languages as the need arose.