Erasmus, one of the most preferred student exchange programs in the world, was one of the few opportunities that students in Turkey could use to go abroad and enrich their academic life. The reason for this was that students with high scores were given some money to make a living in Europe. The new regulation has greatly reduced this possibility.
The European Union gives grants to some of the students who go to a different country for a half or full semester with the Erasmus program so that they can live in the country they go to. This grant amount was sufficient for rent, basic necessities and even travel and entertainment in many countries, which was one of the aims of Erasmus. With a regulation from the Turkish National Agency, most of the grants from Europe were cut.
A grant of 2.5 months will be awarded instead of a full or half term:
Many universities in Turkey have announced that there will be cuts in the grants to be given to students who will be sent to Europe for half or a semester. According to the announcements made on the websites of the schools and the e-mails sent to the students, those who are entitled to go to Erasmus with grant support are not half or full-term; will be able to receive only 2.5 months of grant support. While this decision will upset the plans of those who will go to Erasmus in the spring semester, it will create big problems for students who are already in Europe and have even signed their lease agreements, since they are going full-term.
The EU sends this money to the Turkish National Agency at the beginning of each term. The agency also gives the money to schools to be sent to students each month. However, the Turkish National Agency cut the money for Erasmus this year with its own decision. According to the decision, no matter how long the students go to which country; They will be able to receive a maximum of 2.5 months grant.
This year, the European Union would provide 300 to 500 euros per month to each student, depending on the country they will stay.
Is the decision EU or schools? or the Turkish National Agency?
One of the first universities where this decision was announced was Istanbul Technical University. When the school made this announcement, the students reacted, thinking that the decision came from the school. However, similar announcements by other schools and ITU’s response to students showed that the decision was up to the Turkish National Agency. Therefore, especially in the social media, discussions started about whether the grants were provided by the state or the EU. Taha Hüseyin Karagöz from Yeni Şafak newspaper claimed in a tweet that the grants belonged to the state. However, this is not the case.
Is the Erasmus grant provided by the state?
No. Grants given to students for Erasmus are fully covered by the European Union. According to the statement on the EU’s official Erasmus site, the budget, which is generally increased every year, has reached 26.2 billion euros this year. The purpose of this is to provide enough support to more students.
According to the statement shared by the universities, the Turkish National Agency said, “The signing process of the international agreements between the Republic of Turkey and the European Commission for participation in the 2021-2027 new Erasmus+ Program continues. As such, the announced grant amounts are of a temporary nature and may change after the completion of the official participation process. The results of the grant distribution showed that there was a serious decrease in the amount of grants of most universities.
The decision rained down on social media: “We were left without money in the heart of Europe”
Many citizens, especially students, reacted to the decision to cut the grant. The main reasons for the reaction were that the EU itself was the one who gave the money and many students had already gone to their temporary schools. Most students, whose only hope of going abroad due to the depreciation of the lira, was Erasmus, showed their disappointment and reactions via social media posts. Here are some of the responses:
Support message from ITU: “We will help when we can”
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