Next Erasmus Semester? Save money!

November – December are for most students the months in which they get to hear whether they can participate in the upcoming Erasmus exchange semester. For all of you who already got informed, congrats! You’re awaiting one of the most beautiful experiences in your student life!

In preparation of your exchange period you’ll have to arrange a lot. We’d like to name a few important matters:

• Arrange your housing abroad for FREE!
• Sublet your apartment during your exchange for FREE!
• Make sure your housing arrangements are legally binding
• Get a travel insurance
• Get some insides on the local language with 10% discount!
• Book your flight

Housing arrangement is considered difficult by former Erasmus students. Local agencies charge a lot of money and local websites are based on the language often difficult to understand. Here at Erasmate.com you can post & search housing in all Erasmus countries in English.

ACTION! For all next semester Erasmus exchange students we have the following deal: upload your housing ad or search profile for FREE!, email the URL of your ad to info@erasmate.com, and receive a 50% DISCOUNT on your tenancy agreement!

The Erasmus Programme

Dear readers!

Do you know the history of the Erasmus programme? Which countries participate and how many students participated in the Programme over time? Here are your answers:

The Erasmus Programme is a European Union student exchange programme and gives you the possibility of doing an exchange period between 3 months and maximum 12 months to one of your University’s partner Universities.

The Programme, together with a number of other independent Programmes, was incorporated into the Socrates Programme established by the European Commission in 1994. After ending on 31 December 1999, Socrates Programme was replaced with the Socrates II Programme 24 January 2000, which in turn was replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013 on 1 Janauary 2007. An Erasmus exchange student receives a grant from the EU to help cover the additional expense of linving abroad. The hight of the grant is decided per academic year. Currently, the annual budget is in excess of 450 million euro and more than 2.2 million students have participated since it started in 1987. Lastly, over 4 000 higher education institutions participate and more to come!

For studies as well as internships the following countries offer the possibility of doing your Erasmus: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom.

UK students educationally disadvantaged during Erasmus?

A recent article in The Guardian discusses the political proposition of introducing a new two year degree in UK university education. On a site note, the paper mentions an interesting fact with regard to the Erasmus program.

As UK students “traditionally take fewer years to complete their studies [and] their courses are also often shorter and they average fewer hours of study per week” compared to students in other European cities, they consequently find courses taught during their Erasmus year more demanding than in the UK, while incoming students to the UK find the education on the island less demanding.

If this gap in educational quality is indeed existing, one possible disadvantage for UK students is a harder entry on to the European labour market, as employers see their European counterparts to be better educated, the article summarises the problem.

We are interested in your thoughts on this. Have you experienced something similar? How was the quality of education on your exchange period compared to your home university? Have you applied for a job but were rejected due to a UK education? Tell us your story!

Erasmus exchange to Turkey? Read more…

We would like to share a valuable tip with all Erasmus students going to Turkey upcoming academic year.

During your exchange period you’re most likely using a local SIM card, as roaming is way too expensive. Very important to know is that all mobile phones that operate through a Turkish SIM card need to be registered. Make sure you do this as failing to register and using a local SIM will end up in your mobile phone being blocked.

The first possibility of registering is at the customs desk in the airport. In case you forget to do so, visit one of the stores of Turkish GSM operators like Turkcell, Vodafone or Avea. Bring your passport, pay the costs of registration (around 10-15 TL) and you can use your new local SIM card without any problems.

In case you have any other tips for students leaving to Turkey, feel free to share them as comments!

PS: If you still need a place to stay, check out our current offers for student accommodation in Turkey.

Erasmus & Erasmus Mundus

Ever wondered why you sometimes come across the term “Erasmus Mundus” when you search for information about your Erasmus stay abroad? Well, the answer is not all that difficult.

While Erasmus is the European Commission’s (EC) exchange program that gives Bachelor students across Europe the chance to spend a term of their studies abroad, Erasmus Mundus can be seen as its big brother. Launched in 2004, Erasmus Mundus was set up by the EC to enable Master students and PhD candidates to go abroad during their study program. Unlike the normal Erasmus prorgam, Erasmus Mundus is not limited to Europe but open to universities across the globe. Generally, up to 3 institutions from different countries and continents partner up to offer their students this unique study possibility.

To read some more background information about Erasmus Mundus and an example of how it has been picked up by British students so far, we recommend this article from The Independent to you.

Erasmate in Wageningen?

Today a news article was written about the expected shortage of rooms for international students in Wageningen. Real Estage Agency Idealis expects to be able to provide all first year students in Wageningen with a room, Erasmus students most likely have to search for themselves. Who knows Idealis wants to recommend Erasmate to all incoming students in Wageningen?!

Can you read Dutch? Check out the article!

Erasmate and Erasmus are climbing the ladder!

Mates,

On this very first day of July, we would like to share some great news with you!

Over the last time we have been working on Search Engine Optimization to climb the Google ladder. As you probably recognize of your own search behaviour, you’ll barely check second search result pages. We are happy to inform you about the fact that all hard working helped Erasmate showing up at the fourth position once people search for Erasmus Housing.

Not only internally it is going well for Erasmate, also externally interesting things are happening. Some days ago, the EU Commission announced that more EU students than ever travelled abroad for studies and company placements. With a total of 198.600 exchange students in academic year 2008/2009 we can celebrate an 8.7% increase compared to the year before. For more detailed information we would like to recommend you to read this article .

Enjoy the great day!

Your Erasmates