For 30 years now, ERASMUS has been changing the face of Europe: 30 years of exchanges, knowledge, and shared European destinies to which the Université Catholique de Lille has been contributing since the launch of the program in 1987.
A plaque celebrating its commitment to European mobility was unveiled on Tuesday 10 October, by Pierre Giorgini, President-Rector of the Université Catholique de Lille. Joined by numerous French and international students, he stressed how crucial the program is for the training of informed students and the construction of Europe.
Greta Jachimovičiūtė, a Lithuanian student in Lille for her third exchange abroad, and Brieuc Falisse, an ISTC student back from the Czech Republic, enthusiastically shared their experiences as ERASMUS students. They have learned new languages and discovered other cultures, but both underlined that “it was much more than this”. “ERASMUS makes people more tolerant”. They hope that the program “will lead to the open mindedness that Europe needs to thrive”. “Around one million babies are born from parents who met during their ERASMUS exchange. One million ERASMUS babies… It’s one million proofs that European integration works and is a true opportunity for the future!”
ERASMUS+ has been open to trainees and teaching staff since 2014 and more than 9 million persons have seized the opportunity to study, volunteer, or work abroad.
Since its inception, the Université Catholique de Lille has been training informed and responsible citizens with a holistic approach. It encourages its students to go and live abroad, and welcomes international students; it’s a whole campus living the “internationalization at home” at the heart of Lille and Europe.
The Université Catholique de Lille has been involved in ERASMUS since its launching thanks to the initiative of Michel Falise, then President-Rector, and to the dedication of university staff. With key evolutions such as the creation of English tracks, it has gained visibility and recognition on the international stage over the years.
Internationalization is a core value of the University Catholique de Lille which now counts 440 partner universities worldwide (90 inter-university agreements and 350 ERASMUS partnerships). In 2016, 6000 international students from 120 countries studied at the Université Catholique de Lille; while more than 5000 of its students went abroad.