Italy
participants
The aim of the local dialogue was to gather qualitative information from participating youth about the barriers that young people face to accessing mobility and international opportunities and exercising their rights as mobile young people.
We had 18 participants including 16 local students and 2 international exchange students.
Through open discussion (facilitated by 1 ESN volunteer) we have gathered information from university students about these key topics:
• Main motivations to go abroad for learning purposes (study, traineeship,
volunteering)?
• Awareness about EU opportunities such as Erasmus, European Solidarity Corps and
others.
• Challenges and barriers to participating in these opportunities: why so many young
people do not access them? How can these barriers be overcome?
• Awareness about the rights of mobile and non-mobile young people as EU citizens.
• Impact of mobility and civic engagement: does mobility make more active citizens?
•Perception of the EU and European Democracy.
Outcomes
• The participants agreed that the desire to have an experience outside ordinary life, to grow personally and professionally, enrich one's cultural background and CV and to travel and discover new places and cultures other than one's own are the main motivations that drive them to do mobility.
• The participants became aware about mobility opportunities from friends who had already done Erasmus. Some discovered these opportunities within the university and a few at school during ESN events such as EiS (erasmus in schools).
• Regarding the mobility opportunities offered by the EU, most people mentioned
Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus.
•The rights known are: the right to study and to be treated equally with other students enrolled at the host university; the right to receive information and help from both the home and host universities; the right to have grades or any certificates recognized after the mobility period; the right to vote and health care.
• The first obstacle perceived by the majority of participants was the economic difficulty and the second was the fear of losing time by not being able to take many exams during the mobility period.
• Mobility improves the entire cultural and social landscape of the countries that benefit from it, from the university setting to the national context.
•Few participants had any idea about the EU before going on Erasmus. After the experience, however, they developed an interest in this institution and began to appreciate its work.
The first thing they think of when Europe is mentioned is Erasmus.
This activity is part of the project:
Erasmus Generation in Action (EGiA)