The past year was a very challenging one for the world, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increasing prices, inflation, the housing crisis, and the impact of the pandemic starting to show. Nevertheless, we persisted and grew, continuing our work in improving international mobility and living up to our motto of students helping students, with the tireless efforts of our volunteers and the support from our partners and stakeholders.
As we near the end of 2022, we encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of each other, but also to take a moment and be grateful for all the accomplishments a network of motivated young people can achieve.
Get a full overview in our Annual Report 2021/2022!
Advocacy and external relations
Every year, ESN International works on identifying points of improvement of mobility, ensuring more equitable access for all students regardless of background, and safeguarding the voice of international students.
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First and biggest meeting of the Erasmus Generation!
Porto in April saw a gathering of 800 young people from across the globe for the first-ever Erasmus Generation Meeting. The conference, supported by President Metsola, Vice-Presidet Schinas, and Commissioner Gabriel, was rich with sessions, Mobility and Career Fairs, workshops and discussions on a wide range of topics this generation is passionate about, from employability to sustainability.
You can get a glimpse of the atmosphere here and join us for the next edition of EGM, taking place in Bucharest at the beginning of April 2023. -
Supporting Ukraine and students in the country
The unjustifiable invasion of the Russian military in Ukraine came as a surprise to everyone, but the network and our members in Ukraine especially reacted quickly. We advocated with the EU institutions to ensure students are supported in these difficult times, asking for more flexibility with the Erasmus+ funds, better support for international students in Ukraine, and fresh funds as the war went on.
Meanwhile, despite the open war and danger to themselves, ESN Ukraine showed everyone the true meaning of students helping students, by organising a successful refugee matching system, language crash course, first aid training, and launching a survey to find out what the struggles and needs of Ukrainian students were. -
For mobility that is always inclusive
In October, we closed our biggest project in the field of inclusion in mobility with a conference in Brussels, attended by 200 representatives from student organisations, HEIs, National Agencies, ministries, and the European Commission. Following the success of the event, we published the SIEM technical recommendations aimed at reviewing the documentation involved in Erasmus+ mobilities to make Erasmus+ Higher Education exchanges more inclusive.
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ESN for environmental sustainability
During the year, the topic of sustainability gained more prominence, thanks to the interest of our members and our work on projects such as Green Erasmus and Erasmus Goes Green. Under the first, we launched the results of the survey on the green habits of Erasmus students, followed by a petition to raise the top-up grants for green mobility, and a portal aimed at educating young people on how to live a more sustainable life.
In the summer, we teamed up with Erasmus by Train to launch a joint call asking for a ticket adapted to the need of Erasmus students, which would allow them to travel sustainably and in an accessible way to their Erasmus destinations.
Finally, at the start of the new semester, we held the closing conference of the Erasmus Goes Green project where we presented, among other things, Policy Recommendations and Guidelines to reduce the transport-related carbon footprint of Erasmus+, including a student handbook on sustainable travelling. -
Launch of the 14th edition of the ESNsurvey
Europe’s largest student-led research project in the field of Erasmus+ mobilities and international student exchange was published in December, sharing the voice of more than 10,000 international students, and highlighting the issues and obstacles they continue to face before and during mobility. -
ESN Contributes to the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 Interim Evaluation
Our contribution touches upon aspects for improvement in the core areas of action in the EU Youth Strategy: engage, connect and empower, and is based on a combination of our research and policy initiatives, and our experience working with young people on the ground.
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Final & Mid-term evaluation of the Erasmus+ Programme
We also contributed to the final evaluation of the Erasmus+, through the combination of ESN’s research and policy initiatives carried out since 2014, and from the experience of working with students, Higher Education Institutions, National Agencies, and the European Commission for almost a decade now.
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Students representing students at key events
We were present at the biggest and most important conferences on education, World Higher Education Conference and EAIE Barcelona, bringing the voice of the Erasmus Generation to the table and advocating for increased and improved mobility. -
First-ever Erasmus+ destination of the year named
In the run-up to the EGM 2022, we opened a competition within the Erasmus+ App, where students could share tips about life in their cities and the students of Thessaloniki took home the crown with over 700 tips submitted!
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How are international students handling the housing crisis?
Housing has always been a stumbling block for international students and the housing crisis this year only amplified it. To better understand what the students are facing, we launched a flash survey together with ESU which has so far gathered more than 800 answers.
Read more
Services and activities
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All about mobility, now in one place
The Erasmus Generation Portal, launched during the EGM in Porto, aims to be the place where anyone wishing to study abroad can easily access all relevant information, from funding, locations, mobility opportunities, to inspiring testimonials and stories written by and for the Erasmus Generation and events and activities they can join from all over Europe and beyond. -
Supporting the employability of the Erasmus Generation
ErasmusIntern and ErasmusJobs, which was launched last year, have been helping young people look for internship and work opportunities abroad. The latter also features a competence centre to help young job seekers identify their skills -
Engaging the Erasmus Generation locally and nationally
Through the EGPE project, the National Organisations have organised dozens of Erasmus in Schools activities, local dialogues to foster active citizenship and awareness of EU policies and programmes, and national policy dialogues that have brought together national stakeholders with students to discuss the future of Europe and the role of young people.
Two editions of the Social Impact Days encouraged the active engagement of exchange students within their local communities in all kinds of initiatives that can make a positive impact on society, and over the course of the year, our local and national branches have organised over 10000 events and activities, showing the true value of enrichment of society through international student mobility. -
Mobility is my lifestyle competition is back!
We sent 5 amazing Erasmus+ alumni on an interrail around Europe, raising awareness about EU’s values such as the benefits of free movement, the European cultural heritage and the feeling of European belonging, while at the same time fostering active citizenship, engagement in local communities, and slow travelling. In return, they shared their experiences with the Erasmus Generation.
Read their stories on our blog.
See some of our most impactful activities which were awarded at EGM 2022.
Trainings and events
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The biggest strength of ESN has always been the ability to mobilise the Erasmus Generation, usually through our numerous events: and these are now fully back, and this time - breaking world records.
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National Boards' Trainings happened twice this year, in Appenzell and Burgas, to strengthen the skills and improve leadership of national organisations.
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International Erasmus Games took place again for the first time since 2019 in Coimbra, with more than 200 international students showing the importance of a healthy lifestyle and integration of students into the local community.
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Our annual regional training events all took place in person again, in all corners of the continent, from Drogheda, Toulouse, and Aarhus, to Budapest and Tbilisi.
Digitalisation
Throughout the year, we stayed dedicated to ensuring that the needs of students are properly addressed in the digitalisation processes that surround mobility. We have closed OLA 3.0, EDSSI, and OpenU projects, saw the launch of the Compass platform and helped co-organise the final Erasmus+ App conference in Budapest, all the while promoting the app to our students and members.
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