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Abstract
This study explores the rationale and aims of European Commission (EC) mobility programmes for schools and higher education systems, namely the Comenius and the European Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) funding schemes. Our findings indicate that the aims, rationales and means of mobility programmes for the school and higher education levels are nearly identical in terms of formal policies and prescriptions. Moreover, regarding both schools and higher education, mobility funding schemes focus on students’ skill acquisition and individual agency attained through internationalisation as part of the quest to tackle macro-economic challenges at national and regional levels. Differences were found in the respective policies’ approach to macro-level issues: internationalisation of higher education addresses the European Union’s need to compete in the global sphere, forging ‘global citizenry’, and pragmatic rationales, whereas internationalisation at the school level aims to strengthen European institutions and ‘European citizenry’ mentioning also ideological rationales. Based on these findings, we conclude that research into the internationalisation of schools and higher education institutions will benefit from a unified outlook at these levels of education within a joint field of study.