As a follow-up on the release of the biggest research report on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on student exchanges in Europe, the Erasmus Student Network hosted a webinar on May 5th aimed at providing a deeper understanding of the research and giving space for a discussion with the stakeholders about the COVID-19 implications. For the webinar, ESN was joined by representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission‘s Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC).

The webinar, which was due to high interest also live-streamed on Facebook, attracted 200 participants, with staff members from more than 40 Higher Education Institutions across Europe and beyond, Erasmus+ National Agencies and National Erasmus+ Offices, representatives from university networks and other European stakeholders, as well as ESN members across 42 European countries. 

A full recording of the webinar, as well as the speakers’ presentations, can be found at the end of the article. 

The President of the Erasmus Student Network, Kostis Giannidis, opened the webinar with a short overview of all the activities and initiatives put in place by the organisation since the start of the pandemic to support both students and mobility in Europe in general.

Rasmus Benke-Åberg, ESN’s Director and Wim Gabriels, ESN’s Policy Officer, who were the authors of the research report on the impact of COVID-19, gave an in-depth overview of the results and conclusions of the research, highlighting the struggles students faced, from the uncertainty surrounding what will happen to their mobility, difficulties with adapting to the online learning environment, to the effect the pandemic has had on their overall well-being and the feelings of isolation and discrimination they experienced. 

Read the full article here.