JGU is awarded the European Quality Label for the third time for its outstanding implementation of the Erasmus student mobility program
14.07.2011
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of the leading German universities participating in the Erasmus program, which facilitates student and lecturer mobility throughout Europe. JGU has now received the European Quality Label E-Quality 2011 for its excellence in implementing the European Union's Erasmus program. This is the third time that Mainz University has received the award, having scooped the prize in 2004 and 2007 as well. "We are delighted with this award as it confirms our special services and achievements in the area of international student exchange," states the President of JGU, Professor Dr. Georg Krausch. "Over the past five years, JGU has always been among the top three institutions in the Erasmus ranking of the European Union." The DAAD Erasmus Quality Label E-Quality is awarded once a year by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for particular achievements in facilitating the Erasmus exchange of German and overseas students and teaching staff.
Internationality is a distinguishing mark of Mainz University: Compared with other German universities, JGU has an above-average proportion of foreign students (12% in the 2009/2010 academic year). At the same time, JGU arranges study periods abroad for a relatively high number of its own students. In the 2009/2010 academic year for instance, JGU placed 552 of its students and 66 of its teaching staff with European Erasmus partner universities. This makes JGU currently third in Germany in terms of overall mobility and fourth for lecturer mobility. "We are once again the only German university among the top five in both categories," says University President Georg Krausch.
Erasmus Individual Prize for Mainz academic
This year, for the first time, a member of JGU has been awarded the Erasmus Individual Prize: The 2011 award goes to Professor Franz Hamburger of the Institute for Educational Science for his special achievements in implementing the Erasmus program in Germany.
The Erasmus program has been one of the big success stories of the EU for more than 20 years now. Ever since the 2007/2008 academic year, it has been part of the new EU Education Program for Lifelong Learning (2007 to 2013), enjoying a significantly increased budget as a result. Erasmus is the strongest driving force when it comes to encouraging German students to study abroad and to the provision of short-term teaching contracts for German lecturers at European guest universities. In addition, the Erasmus program promotes international internships for students, the mobility of academic staff, and so-called intensive programs such as summer schools. Erasmus also facilitates teaching contracts for foreign industry personnel at German universities.
To date, about 2.5 million students and almost 250,000 lecturers from 31 European countries have benefited from the Erasmus program. In the 2009/2010 academic year alone, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which acts on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as the national agency for Erasmus, was able to sponsor around 29,000 German Erasmus students as well as over 3,000 academic and university administrative staff. In the same year, some 26,000 Erasmus-sponsored students and staff came to Germany from abroad.