‘’Erasmus+ is more than a student mobility programme. It plays a key role in contributing to a better cooperation between universities, curricula development for both academic staff and students, and is integrated into a wider system of the EU academic family, which, finally, leads to a closer Union’’, said Mr Khaldoun Sinno, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, reflecting on his life-changing Erasmus experience on the occasion of marking the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus+ programme at the EU Info Centre in Sarajevo on 10th February 2017.
Deputy Head Sinno also reminded that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which together with the Erasmus+ 30th anniversary demonstrates what the EU is all about. Both anniversaries celebrate a common goal, that of uniting people from different nationalities.
The event featured a video presentation on Erasmus+ and “My Travel through Europe’’ competition award ceremony, gathering around 60 participants, representatives of higher education institutions and former and future beneficiaries of the Programme. The participants had the opportunity to meet inspiring beneficiaries of the Programme.
Suad Muhibic, Head of the National Erasmus + Office in BiH, whose mission is facilitating the national authorities, higher education institutions and other relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the Erasmus+ activities, expressed his satisfaction with the increased interest of BiH higher education institutions for the Programme.
‘’In the past two years, BiH had the second highest number of applications for international credit mobility programmes in the Western Balkans region, and in total some 2.521 incoming and outgoing mobilities were implemented. I am very pleased to note that BiH higher education institutions have shown increased interest in participation in Erasmus+ programmes. In terms of higher education capacity building, there have been 17 successful applications, out of which 2 were submitted within the Jean Monnet component, aimed at supporting academic research in European integration”, Muhibic concluded.
Highlighting the importance of investment in the higher education sector, Jadranka Mihic, Programme Manager for Health and Education in the Operations Section at the EU Delegation to BiH, noted that this year also marks the 20th anniversary of BiH’s participation in this Programme.
The Erasmus+ presentations were followed by the hand-over of the EUIC’s “My Travel through Europe” competition awards. The competition invited all young people in BiH, who have travelled to EU countries in recent years, to take part by submitting a short travel essay and several photos about/from their travels.
One of the winners, Samir Beharic, a journalism student from Jajce depicted his valuable Erasmus experience in the awarded travel essay.
“Erasmus+ is not only about studying and getting good grades, but broadening one’s horizons and opening minds. While studying in Berlin as an Erasmus student, I have made friends with international students and started thinking outside the box. I am very happy to be an Erasmus+ ambassador in my country, as well as to be able to share my experience in order to encourage BiH students to get actively involved in the Programme. Finally, once an Erasmus, always an Erasmus”, Beharic stated.
The Erasmus+ 30th anniversary will be celebrated with a year-long programme of events at European, national and local levels with the support of – and inspiration from – people who have taken part in Erasmus. Through these events and online communication with citizens, the European Commission wants to foster an open dialogue on how to strengthen the programme to enable it to contribute to European society in the future. To date, 33 countries across Europe, including BiH, have taken part in the year-long campaign, hosting 208 events and gathering 272.556 participants.
For more information on the Erasmus+ 30th anniversary campaign, visit From Erasmus to Erasmus+ website.