Individual, Socio-economic and Political Levels of Student Mobility: A Case Study of the Erasmus Programme

Abstract

As a classic case of international student mobility, the Erasmus programme has made great achievements so far, and it will be used as an object of case study in this article. This article will explore the related theory of individualization, and explain Individual accounts of student mobility are stories of ‘individualisation’ and ‘do-it yourself’ biographies from 3 aspects, such as academic benefits, career benefits and self-cognition and social adaptability. It also proposes and explains the other two different dimensions of student mobility, which is socio-economic level and political level, in order to prove the experiences of international student mobility have the potential to be more than 'stories' of individual gains. It illustrates socio-economic level from 3 aspects: labour market, economic mobility and the social conflict and integration, and explains political level in 2 ways European citizen and European consciousness and neo-liberalism and socio-democratic traditions.