In the 2018 Strategic Plan, the University of Turin set itself an objective of social responsibility towards students belonging to the most vulnerable groups, ensuring the removal of barriers to the right to education. In particular, the goal to preserve international mobility programmes was made clear, first of all the Erasmus programme.

The University is required to encourage the encounter among cultures and guarantee all students – including the most fragile – the opportunity to carry out a mobility period abroad, by strengthening support for outgoing international mobility.

Among the various benefits of international mobility, the experience of studying abroad offers greater opportunities to students: data underlined that having studied abroad through European programmes increased the chances of finding a job by 12%, already one year after graduation (Almalaurea, 2017).

The entry barriers to the Erasmus programme can be various – while they may be of an economic nature, it is possible that social, relational or psychological difficulties discourage students from applying.

The project “Evaluation of the Erasmus + Experience” (2019-2021) therefore aims, through research and needs analysis, to provide some elements of reflection for the implementation of the accessibility to the Erasmus programme in order to promote inclusivity to this crucial project that today guarantees the fundamental internationalization of skills.

The outcome of the project is to share some guidelines with the university community and programme managers so as to improve the support to Erasmus students regarding the organizational, administrative, relational and psychological side.

Based on 2017-2018 data (Unito) – which showed that about 40% of Erasmus applications accepted from students did not materialize in actual departures – the research project aims to investigate the reasons for the high dropout rate. Through interviews, questionnaires and focus groups, the research group explored the experiences of students returning from mobility, of outgoing students and of those who had decided not to leave and thus gave up the scholarship.

By doing so, the main cross-cultural criticalities and difficulties encountered were analysed, both from a psychological and emotional point of view and related to organizational elements, focusing attention on the obstacles that limited access to the mobility programme and could have been discouraging for students belonging to the most vulnerable groups.

To date, the emergency, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has imposed severe limitations on the conduct of international mobility programmes.Erasmus students saw their study project dissolve while others found themselves facing a health emergency in a foreign country or carrying out their studies remotely and without the chance to enjoy fully the mobility experience.

The future of internationalization programmes is now uncertain and the University is managing the situation by seeking recovery solutions – for those who had to postpone the mobility – and departure for students in the 2020/2021 academic year.

The research goes hand in hand with the sequence of events, therefore the investigation into the reasons for the high dropout rate in the Erasmus + Programme cannot fail to consider new critical issues: What was the experience of Erasmus students during the lockdown? What expectations can a departing student have today? How will the Erasmus experience change in post-Covid society? Will the University be able to pursue the goal of social responsibility towards the most vulnerable students, ensuring access to the Erasmus programme for everyone?

The research project is divided into different phases, which correspond to the use of various methods. In general, qualitative analysis methods and tools are mainly used. In the first phase (July-September 2019) – through the reference channels of the University for the Erasmus + Project (the administrative offices) – the Erasmus students were contacted who had already concluded their mobility experience, as well as the outgoing students and the students who had dropped out of the mobility project. In the second phase (October 2019-February 2020), these students were interviewed through semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups. In addition, an online questionnaire with open questions was administered to students who had already completed the mobility period and currently live abroad. At the same time, questionnaires were administered and clinical interviews carried out to outgoing students, with the aim of monitoring their mental condition. However, this phase of the research did not end due to the lack of feedback and participation from students. For this reason, it was not possible to collect a sufficient amount of data to allow the research team to continue with the monitoring of the psychological condition of outgoing students. Then (March-May 2020), the research team worked on the analysis and processing of the data collected through interviews and focus groups, with the help of the Atlas-ti software. Subsequently (June-December 2020), the research work continued through a further investigation of the experiences of Erasmus students that, however, due to the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic was held online. In order to collect the largest amount of information and investigate the new critical issues of the Erasmus experience brought about by the health emergency, the survey was carried out through the administration of an online questionnaire. The questionnaire is divided into sections: a first section aimed at collecting personal information about the subjects – gender, age, citizenship, degree programme attended, Erasmus destination. A second section aimed at framing the situation of the subject – if he/she concluded the Erasmus programme before, after or during the pandemic; if he/she would be an outgoing student in 2021; if he/she dropped out of the programme before the advent of the pandemic or because of it. Lastly, a third section in which the reasons were investigated relative to departure, expectations, concerns, difficulties encountered, the return to Italy and support received (psychological and/or organizational).

In the first phase of interviews and focus groups, 53 students were interviewed – 8 outgoings, 30 who had already completed their Erasmus experience, 6 who had dropped out of the programme and 9 who had already completed the programme mobility and currently lived abroad. The data collected was divided into 3 sections: concerns identified at the time prior to departure; the main difficulties faced during the experience abroad; and the reasons for dropping out of the mobility programme. The main concerns identified before departure were not only related to the fear of facing difficulties regarding social integration, speaking a foreign language, being resilient in spite of living far from home, and finding accommodation, but also about economic livelihood, failing in educational goals, bureaucratic obstacles to the formal recognition of the mobility programme, the independent management of daily duties and the fear that the period abroad could slow down the academic career. The main difficulties encountered during mobility were economic, organizational, administrative, relational and a lack of support from teaching staff and Erasmus offices. Finally, the reasons for dropping out of the Erasmus programme were due mainly to a reassessment caused by the selection for a destination other than the preferred one, the complications in managing administrative procedures and, lastly, to the relational difficulties that caused an early return. In the second phase of data collection – which took place following the advent of the pandemic – 399 students completed the online questionnaire with open questions. The data collected is still being processed. However, it is possible to state – with respect to socio-personal data – that about 70% of respondents are female, the average age is between 21 and 24 years old and the majority of respondents are outgoing students for Erasmus in 2021 (32.4%).

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