The Bridge INTELLECTUAL RESULT IO 16 (8) | Page 32

This could give a new life to the Country, and put an end to the so called “life without
politics”.
3.8
Student exchanges and their role in global education
Mauro Concetta , Ermelinda Martino and Roberto Rianna – Italy
“The best education you will ever get is by travelling. Nothing teaches you more than
exploring the world and accumulating experiences” says Mark Patterson.
The educational mobilities export national identities and contribute to the cultural
enrichment of its participants. It also represents an opportunity of growth and a tool for
school internationalization.
One of the most important projects that allow to do this experience is the Erasmus
project. Erasmus is the most important mobility program of the UE in the field of
education, as much for the number of participants involved, as for the benefits
generated by those who have joined the program.
“In addition to the academic and formative experience it offers, what makes the
Erasmus a successful program is its European soul, that is, its contribution to the
development of the consciousness of belonging to a wider community of national
borders only” Androulla and Martin Schulz affirm.
Substantially, the aim of this kind of project is not only to encourage the study,
employment and income prospects of young people and to allow the creation of a
single European labor market through increased mobility, but they also aim to create
an identity in the new generations, an identity to be EU citizens, and at the same time
greater openness to social and cultural diversity.
It is said that the world is a book, and that those who do not travel read only one page.
There are many pages that students who decide to take part are allowed to read,
thanks to these projects; at the same time, each student leaves a part of himself in
every place he discovers, receiving in exchange unexpected and intense emotions.
32