Preparing Students for a Globalised Future

The European Union’s Experience in Support of Student Mobility

Whereas mobility of students has become a key driver of the internationalisation of higher education worldwide, the European Union has played an increasing role in promoting within Europe and beyond an open and inclusive concept of mobility embedded in broad socio-economic and diplomatic strategies. The purpose of this article is to draw lessons from more than 30 years of experience in implementing mobility programmes and tools and in supporting policies to make mobility an opportunity for millions of students worldwide. The objective is to show that mobility is a means to achieve broad policy objectives as part of institutionally organised processes and therefore goes beyond the mere individual dimension of the beneficiaries. Success factors and general guiding principles for policymakers/national authorities and higher education institutions worldwide are identified.