Download Articles


Home arrow Authors arrow A 3.5-2 Erasmus and the improved understanding of other Europeans: Expectations and Reality
Document Details
A 3.5-2 Erasmus and the improved understanding of other Europeans: Expectations and Reality
   
Name A 3.5-2 Erasmus and the improved understanding of other Europeans: Expectations and Reality
Description Author: Emmanuel Sigalas

ERASMUS, one of the most successful and visible EU programmes, allows more than 200,000 European students annually to study or work in another European country. The study abroad sojourn aims to promote intra-European communication and understanding and, consequently, European integration from below. I show that ERASMUS is widely perceived as a fruitful and eyeopening experience that enriches students’ intercultural skills, but that empirical data is scarce. Based on evidence from a longitudinal survey, I test the premise that while abroad Erasmus students improve their intercultural skills and communicate effectively with other Europeans. The results offer a mixed picture. On the one hand, the sojourn helps students to improve their foreign language skills, they learn more about their host country and they find it easier to understand other Europeans following their placement. On the other, the improvement of understanding is not necessarily universal, and the majority of students still find it difficult to understand other Europeans.

No download button available below? Then, you are either not logged in or the article was published before you joined the subscription. You can buy the article here: RAABE shop

Filesize 281.6 kB
Filetype pdf (Mime Type: application/pdf)
Created On: 12/03/2010 10:12
Viewers Supplement No. 18
Back

Social Bookmarks

Twitter Google Bookmarks Misterwong Facebook MySpace Del.icio.us Technorati studiVZ Oneview Linkarena Yigg Diigo Yahoo! My Web Blinklist Windows_live Digg Stumbleupon Newsvine Reddit Spurl About Social Bookmarking