According to the mid-term evaluation of the Erasmus+ Programme, participation of Estonian citizens in the EU youth and education programmes has increased from 2007 to 2013 by 61%. Participants value highly their experience and 97% of them consider the impact of the programme to be important. European Commission evaluates Erasmus+ as one of the top three programmes in European Union.
„Erasmus+ has created heaps of new opportunities for Estonian citizens,“ said the Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps. „It has brought a lot of knowledge and experience to our education and helped to make it more international. The quality of Estonia’s education system has, without a doubt, increased thanks to Erasmus+,“ explained Reps.
In the eyes of the chairman of the board of Foundation Archimedes, Rait Toompere, Erasmus+ has grown to be an incredible platform for cooperation. „More than 85,000 people have taken part in different education and youth programmes of the EU. These people bring additional value to the Estonia,“ said Toompere.
The overall results of the evaluation of Erasmus+ and previous programmes in Estonia are positive. The grants allocated from the programme play a significant role in the field of education and youth in Estonia, including internationalization and quality growth. Those have been an important supplement to other financial resources of Estonia.
European Union’s youth and education programmes have helped international cooperation to boom, especially in the youth area. This has helped the field to develop significantly. Additionally, new contact networks have been created that have helped to create a lot of new opportunities and forms of cooperation.
European Commission has adopted the mid-term report of Erasmus+ and its predecessors, according to which Erasmus+ is one of the most efficient programmes in the European Union. The report found that Erasmus+ motivates people to work or study abroad and learn new languages, which also impacts people’s perspective on studying.
Background information:
- During the last 20 years 85,000 people from Estonia have participated in the youth and education programmes of the EU via Archimedes. That is around 15,500 students; 7,000 students in vocational education; 26,000 participants in youth projects; 34,200 employees of the youth and education field and 1,600 volunteers.
- Last year Erasmus programme celebrated its 30th anniversary. During these years more than 9 million people have participated in the programme.
- What was once a student mobility programme has grown into a platform for European and international study exchange and cooperation which unites people with very different backgrounds. Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sports in 2014-2020.
- The national applicator of the programme in Estonia is the Archimedes Foundation.
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