This initiative fully embraces the core value of ESN: students helping students.
The aim is therefore to support students as much as possible in the most delicate moment of their mobility period. Working alongside a volunteer allows the student to get in tune with the other and create a friendly relationship compared to the one that could be created with another figure.
Furthermore, it is a great way to strengthen the relationship with the university's international relations office and help them support outgoing students.
AskErasmus is a project of ESN Italy which allows outgoing students attending Italian universities who are winners of an Erasmus+ grant (or other mobility programmes in Europe) to get in touch with a volunteer who has already had their experience in the same country.
A national team of four volunteers works to create matches, as can be done with the buddy system or tutors, to assign a volunteer to an outgoing student. Where possible they try to make the perfect match by also combining city, university and interests while no matches are a very low percentage. From a practical point of view, outgoing students can apply by filling in a form on the AskErasmus page on the ESN Italy website, while volunteers fill in another form spread through national mailing lists. Once the databases containing the information given by the compilation of both forms have been created, the team proceeds to create student-volunteer pairs on an approximately monthly basis and in full respect of the preferences indicated.
The match is communicated by email, and then, finally, the volunteer gets in touch with the outgoing student who is then supported throughout the Erasmus, but especially in the pre-departure period, which is often full of doubts and questions.
