Why the post-1992 Welsh universities students aren’t engaging with ERASMUS (Study Abroad): A case study on UWIC’s Department of Humanities

Russell Deacon

Abstract

As universities in Wales seek to demonstrate the extent of their internationalisation both to themselves and the wider academic community the subject of student mobility or study abroad programmes has become an increasingly relevant area of higher education development. In this context, a programme known as the ERASMUS is the largest provider and for most institutions the only provider of student mobility for another European study destination. Engagement in the ERASMUS programme, however, is not evenly spread across all institutions. In Wales there is a stark divide between the pre and post 1992 institutions participating in the ERASMUS programme. Post 1992 institutions, are those former polytechnics and institutes of higher education that gained their university status after 1992, pre-1992 institutions gained their university status beforehand. This article indicates the disparity between Welsh universities and notes that although the Welsh post and pre-1992 institutions represent around 50 per cent of the students each, this same ratio does not project itself into student mobility. The post 1992 institutions send less than three percent of the Welsh ERASMUS student total, whereas the pre 1992 institutions provide a massive 97 per cent of this total. This article therefore, through the use of primary research, and a case study on the Humanities Department of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, seeks to find some of the reasons as to why post 1992 students and institutions do not engage fully with ERASMUS to the same extent of the pre-1992 universities.

Deacon, R. (2011) Why the post-1992 Welsh universities students aren’t engaging with ERASMUS (Study Abroad): A case study on UWIC’s Department of Humanities. Educationalfutures, [online] Vol. 3(1). Available at: https://educationstudies.org.uk/?p=522 [Accessed 19 Apr, 2024].

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