Erasmus Program

Not many articles or papers are published about the Erasmus program or the expectations and satisfaction level of the students in Turkey. Below are the reviews of some of the studies conducted by the rest of the countries in Europe.

According to a study conducted by two PhD students in Jagiellonian University, which is in Poland, exchange students can be differentiated into two groups as career-oriented and experience-oriented . To generalize, career-oriented students are mostly older females from Eastern Europe who tend to come from lower income families which are looking to improve their academic knowledge and practice foreign language mainly. On the other hand, experience-oriented students are younger males from Western and Northern Europe who are looking to meet people and have new experiences while being independent. For them, Erasmus is more about self-discovery and self-development.

Another research is conducted in Lodz, Poland in the year 2005 to be presented in an annual forum in Riga, Latvia [2]. This time, satisfaction of Erasmus students was the main target. According to the findings of the survey, the most satisfied students over time were females aged 25 or older and the least satisfied students were males under the age of 25. Anyhow, it was found out that Erasmus students tend to be particularly concerned with aspects relating to their studies and regard them as particularly important. The educational element is also significant as well as the social value of the experience. Another outcome was that there were little noticeable differences between the satisfaction ratings given by different ethnic groups