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Basically, the question in the title. I have heard that Erasmus Mundus is quite selective, but for some reason it seems impossible to me to find any data at all on the number of applicants to Erasmus+ projects (while it is very easy to see how many people actually took part in the program). For the sake of precision, let me restrict to graduate (i.e. Master & PhD) students. Does anybody know where I could find such data?

Most of the academics I have spoken to seem to agree that, at the Master level, the Erasmus project is (from a strictly academic viewpoint) not worthy in the majority of cases and that it tends to be seen as a "way out" of harder exams etc, hence my question.

Note: I am aware that the selectivity probably varies enormously between different programmes, different host universities and the like but given how hard it is to find general data I suspect finding data on this to be impossible. I would be very interested in being proven wrong though!

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  • "Most of the academics I have spoken to" You have found a subset of extremely narrow-minded academics. From a strictly academic viewpoint, harder exams are absolute bullshit: they favor selective mnemonic learning (of topics and possibly of past exams) to pass the "hard" exams, rather than promoting deep thinking (which was achieved with exams having one year of lecture, which is impossible in the current scheme of things).
    – EarlGrey
    Commented Apr 10 at 15:52
  • it tends to be seen as a "way out" of harder exams etc: I don't understand this, my experience with Erasmus+ students is that they undergo the same evaluation as their colleagues that didn't enrol in the program: deliver a master thesis and a public defense, as these are university requirements for graduation.
    – The Doctor
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:21
  • @EarlGrey I would say "harder exams" are the ones that promote deep thinking. I have seen the difference between "deep thinking" and "fast regurgitation" exams in different universities in Europe... the ones that promote deep thinking are harder.
    – wimi
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:44
  • @TheDoctor I believe the people that hold this view have an issue not with doing the thesis abroad but with doing coursework abroad (i.e., taking exams in a different university with a different grading system, perhaps with a higher rate of grade inflation). At any rate, that was not the focus of my question.
    – user186606
    Commented Apr 10 at 18:06
  • @wimi see, we cannot even agree on the definition of "harder exams", and there are people judging the attitude of people to particiapte in an exchange program based on that :D
    – EarlGrey
    Commented Apr 12 at 10:08

2 Answers 2

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Ignoring for a moment the useless remarks from the "academics" you enquired, statistics are published in some forms.

See for example:

https://www.erasmusplus.lv/sites/default/files/media_document/erasmus%20mundus%20analysis%20of%20the%20results%20of%20the%20second-EC0423407ENN.cleaned.pdf

where a success rate of 100% is achieved (I did not dig the document, I just mention it, feel free to explore further).

If you consider that tertiary education occupies 18.5 million people in Europe, the Erasmus+ has a budget to cover mobility of 1.2 million applicants, if everyone was applying to the success rate would have been ~ 6% . Your mileage may vary, but I suspect 1 in 5 students apply to such a program, so the success rate is around 30%.

So it is not that selective, in terms of academic scholarships (in fact it is a program in place to boost the feeling of belonging to the abstract entity European Union, so the aim is not to be an excellence thing).

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  • Just to be clear, in my OP I did not mean to endorse the statements; I just did so to explain my interest in the data
    – user186606
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:04
  • Concerning the statistics you found: I had found them already, but they have the same issue as any other statistic I have found on the issue that is they lack the number of applicants. I am beginning to suspect such a number may simply not be available
    – user186606
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:05
  • Applicants are at the university level and each university has a lot of discretionality in ranking them. This does not prevent you to look for data from some big university and extrapolate them to the global student population.
    – EarlGrey
    Commented Apr 10 at 16:11
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All of this depends on your program. E.g. our BSc program allows for 30 ECTS (one semester) of free electives. And we are very supportive for students pursuing an Erasmus exchange program as in our program we consider the value of international experience as part of the (global interdisciplinary) learning path. But I can imagine that in some programs the focus is much more on focussed contents, in which cases programs may be very reluctant to accept courses outside their control that may not fit seamlessly to the program targets. Your student dean / advisor may be the person to talk with to sound out how your program is positioned in these. (Chances of getting the grant are answered already before).

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