Researching social inclusion in student mobility: methodological strategies in studying the Erasmus programme

ABSTRACT

This article explores different methodological approaches to the study of social inclusion in the European Commission’s Erasmus undergraduate exchange programme, elaborating upon the approach taken in a study of Erasmus conducted in Portugal. The opening section of the discussion acknowledges the prior tradition of quantitative research on student mobility in Europe as a means of providing indicators of programmatic success to policymakers and stakeholders, and the existence of micro level studies that examine specific aspects of the Erasmus experience such as the emergence of shared European identities and building work competencies. What these approaches share is an emphasis on student perspectives: learning about the impact of exchange visits from past participants. As an alternative approach, I have focused on the institutional level of the programme, using qualitative interviews with individuals involved in managing Erasmus mobility at a diverse range of universities, an approach that I argue unlocks valuable knowledge about issues such as social inclusion within the programme.

KEYWORDS:

• Erasmus
• students
• social inclusion
• qualitative research
• Europe
• Portugal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Older studies by Russell King and colleagues look at the more general area of student mobility specifically within an Anglophone context, exploring practices that antedate Erasmus such as taking ‘gap years’ (King and Ruiz-Gelices 2003). Additional mention should also be made of evaluation studies conducted by agencies such as the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) looking at experiences of studying abroad (see Krzaklewska and Krupnik 2006).

2 At the time of writing (May 2017), monthly grants were pegged at 280€ in countries deemed to have a low cost of living and 330€ in more expensive regions, with an additional payment of 100€ to those from families in receipt of social security. What this means is that families are required to co-fund Erasmus exchanges at a time when they are under considerable financial pressure. This calls into question the wisdom of the current system of financial governance within the programme, specifically the low level of support offered to students by universities, effectively excluding the less well-off from participating.

Additional information

Funding

The research conducted for this article was financially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), as part of the project ‘International Student Mobility: A Socio-Demographic Perspective’ under Grant number SFRH/BPD/103320/2014, supervised by Prof. Maria das Dores Guerreiro.