Erasmus programme: experience in an Italian university

Abstract

The study investigates the success of one of the most successful European students’ exchange programme the ‘Erasmus’. Starting with general historical view of the programme, we will analyse the changes that this experience has brought within the European evaluation system and recognition of university degrees in the European Union. The study investigates a group of Erasmus students visiting a Italian university during the academic year 2013/2014. The research was done by submitting a questionnaire which was divided into different question sections: the first group of questions enquired about the students’ nationality and their language knowledge of one or more foreign languages. Then we asked them why they had chosen Italy for their Erasmus programme, and why in particular Sicily and Catania, and if they had already had a study or holiday experience in our country, and if they were happy about their choice, and their appreciation of Catania university’s services and the city in general. The last part of the questionnaire investigates their knowledge of the Italian language, if they had already attended an Italian course before coming to Italy and what their opinion about the Italian language course they attended in Catania. At the end of the study, having analysed the question results, we suggest some innovation regarding the general organization of the programme and in particular the language problems the students had, considering the fact that starting from the academic year 2014/2015 with the launch of the new programme Erasmus Plus, the European Commission has decided that they will launch an Online Linguistic Support (OLS) instead of fac-to-face language courses.