Erasmus for all – but our youth are staying away

Statistics published by the EU Commission last Wednesday show that in 2010, young people from Malta were the least to benefit from EU grants for study, training and volunteering under the Lifelong Learning Programme and Youth in Action. In 2010, there were only 250 Maltese youths in the Lifelong Learning Programme and 100 in the Youth in Action programme. Luxembourg - which is the same size as Malta - sent 1,000 youths for the Lifelong Learning programme and 900 for the Youth in Action programme. 560,000 young people from all EU countries participated in this programme. Out of these, only 350 were Maltese.

In 2010, the EU Commission suspended these programmes because of poor leadership and mismanagement by Education Minister Dolores Cristina, who allowed the structures responsible for these programmes to be very disorganised and inefficient.

A report by the Malta National Team of Bologna Experts (2011) shows that the number of Maltese students participating in ERASMUS is still very low when compared to the total number of students at the University of Malta. Since Malta joined the EU, the number of students taking part in this programme has varied from 105 to 149 students each year.

On Wednesday morning in Brussels, the EU Commission proposed a new EU programme in education for the budget 2014-2020. Up to 5 million people - almost twice as many as now - could get the chance to study or train abroad with a grant from Erasmus for All, the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport proposed by the European Commission. Among them would be nearly 3 million higher education and vocational students. Master's degree students would also benefit from a new loan guarantee scheme set up with the European Investment Bank Group. The seven-year Erasmus for All programme, which would have a total budget of €19 billion, is due to start in 2014.

We should try to understand why so few young people and university students are participating in the EU programmes and see what steps we need to take to ensure their participation. It is crucial for much more than 1.5% of our students to be exposed to a wider educational experience in other countries than they are getting at present.

Fighting poverty

52% of Maltese think that we should increase aid to developing countries, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa to help the poor. Another 18% think we should not increase aid (even though it has been promised) and 20% think we should reduce it as we can no longer afford it.
The results of a Eurobarometer survey published last Wednesday in Brussels show that the Maltese, alongside other Europeans (even if with less enthusiasm) regard helping the poor as a priority. 84% of respondents to a new Eurobarometer support development aid to help people across the world out of poverty. The majority of EU citizens (84%) also support the strong focus of EU aid on good governance and human rights in developing countries.

Asked which parts of the world do they think are the most in need of aid to help them fight poverty, only 3% of the Maltese said 'None'. 67% want to help Sub-Saharan Africa, 32% the Middle East and North Africa and 31% India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 16% want to help the poor in Latin America, while 15% feel they should help the poor of South East Asia in countries like Cambodia and Vietnam.

87% of Maltese think that aid should be given on condition that the receiving countries should follow certain rules regarding democracy, human rights and governance. 40% of Maltese believe that aid should be given on condition that countries should manage migration flows out of them. Another 37% agree that to some extent, aid should be given on that condition.

The survey shows that "respondents from Mediterranean member States in which issues of migration are regularly in the public debate, tend to believe that migration policy has the biggest impact. These member states include Italy (28%), Malta (26%), Cyprus (24%), Greece (23%) and Spain (21%).

The survey also shows that Europeans are ready to actively participate in helping the poor - half of EU citizens are willing to pay more for their daily shopping (e.g. for fair trade products), if they know that this would benefit developing countries, according to the same survey.

EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs said: "Europeans are sending a clear message to politicians in the EU and beyond: even in times of economic hardship, they remain firmly committed to helping others out of poverty. This generosity has to be matched by political responsibility. We have to be more efficient and transparent to show the results of our aid and prove that the funds make a real difference. Next week's high level forum on aid effectiveness in Busan, South Korea will be a key opportunity to look at how we can make our aid even more effective and I am pleased to see that citizens support us in this aim."

The Eurobarometer survey shows that young Europeans (aged 15-24) voiced their strong support for development policy. 9 out of 10 think that it is important to help poor people and 41% think it is "very important" in comparison to 35% of people above 40 years of age. They show also the strongest personal commitment to the cause, as 53% of the young and 60% of students would be ready to pay more for products (e.g. fair trade) if this would benefit poor people in the world. The young also express the biggest support for keeping the promise to increase the aid levels (69% where the average for all the respondents is 62%).

Evarist Bartolo is shadow minister for education.