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The European Commission offers support to university students for the first time.
For the first time, the EU, by way of the Commission, begins a trial scheme offering third level students financial support with study abroad schemes. The trial lasts six years before the finalised plans for Erasmus are unveiled. -
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The evolution of the Erasmus Programme
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The original plans for ERASMUS are unveiled, but all is not well.
The original plans for Erasmus are laid out by the European Commission in early 1986. The programe takes its name from the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, but the name is actually a backronym - EuRopean community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. The programme meets a frosty reception from the three member states that already have a well established study abroad programme, the UK, France and Germany. The three pull out, but eventually a final agreement made. -
Eramus finally gets going
After Francois Mitterand is convinced to lend funding support to the fledgling programme, Erasmus officially starts running. In its first year, 3244 students take part. -
Erasmus becomes part of Socrates
The Erasmus Programme, together with a number of other education and training programmes, was incorporated into the Socrates Programme which was established in 1995. -
We are the 1%
As of September 2006, the number of students taking part in Erasmus has increased dramatically to 150,000. But this represents only 1% of the number of students in Europe, and politicians across the union want to boost things. -
Lifelong Learning Programme of 2007 to 2013
The budget is agreed to support the programme, and Socrates becomes the Lifelong Learning Progamme. But Europe fails to predict and react to the impending credit crisis and massive youth unemployment across the EU brings Erasmus to the brink of desctruction. -
Erasmus turns 25, but the programme is in serious trouble
As Erasmus celebrates its 25th anniversary, the programme is in serious trouble. It has been running on a budget deficit for a number of years. Europeans, including Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and rugby-player Mick Galwey, campaign to the EU to save the project. -
Spanish government almost has to cut Erasmus grants
In Madrid, the Spanish government is forced to consider withdrawing the Erasmus grant from a number of students already abroad. Education Minister José Ignacio Wert eventually backs down, but it is a damning blow in the country that sends and receives the most Erasmus students every year. -
Erasmus+ gets the European seal of approval
During budget debats in front of the parliament in Strasbourg, Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou's presents her proposal for the expansion of Erasmus into the next decade, with the programme hoped to evolve into Erasmus+ and to receive a massive 40% increase in its finances. -
Eramus+ gets the full stamp of bureaucratic approval in Brussels
After the plans were unveiled in a plenary session in Strasbourg amid budget negociations, the deal for Eramus+ is signed on December 5th in Brussels. It is one of the only programmes in the EU to receive an increase in its budget, and its main aim is to upskill Europe's massive population of youth who are unemployed.
