Androulla Vassiliou, the European commissioner for education, said Monday that the EU “estimates that around 1 million babies are likely to have been born to Erasmus couples since 1987”, reports German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Erasmus, a 27-yea-old inter-EU study exchange program, is the subject of a new study which surveyed more than 75,000 students and organisations in 34 countries.

Statistics show one in three Erasmus students ended up dating a partner from another country, three times the rate of those who stayed in their home country for university, the study shows.

Touching figure

The result is more dual-nationality babies are being born within the EU.

European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen added that the statistic is a “touching little figure” that showed how the Erasmus scheme “creates a lot of positive things.”

According to the study, 3 million students and 350,000 teachers have taken part in the program. Forty per cent of Erasmus students moved to other countries after graduating, compared to 23 per cent of students who remained at home.

Deutsche Welle article here.

See Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth’s press release here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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