Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 114: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his role in administrating and monitoring the Erasmus programme for third level Irish students who attend accredited courses in European universities; the number of participating students coming from Ireland; the number of Erasmus participating students across the European Union for 2007/08; the number of universities within the European Union that provide the Erasmus programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19709/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Erasmus Programme, which emphasises student and staff mobility and European co-operation involving higher education institutions and other key players in the knowledge-based economy, is a key part of the European Commission-funded Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013. The Commission's regulations for the Erasmus Programme specify that a Government Ministry must act as the National Authority, which is responsible for the monitoring, supervision and funding of the operations of the National Agency, which administers the programme. My Department acts as the National Authority for the Erasmus Programme in Ireland and programme is administered by the Higher Education Authority, as the National Agency.

The provisional number of outgoing participating students from Ireland in 2007/2008 is 1,525 for Erasmus study, which involved study in a partner institution in Europe, and 344 for Erasmus placements, which is a work placement programme for higher education students, making a total of 1,869. The number of participating students across the European Union for 2007/208 will not be available until the spring of 2009. The latest figures supplied by the European Commission are for the year 2006/2007 and show the number of students to be 159,324.

While there are no available statistics for the number of participating universities or higher education institutions, a good indicator is the number of Erasmus University Charters awarded. The Charter is granted by the European Commission and it enables a higher education institution to participate in the programme. In 2006/2007 the number of charters held by European higher education institutions was 3,156.