Background and goals of the EU Socrates/Erasmus educational programme and their implementation in Poland’s higher education institutions

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to present the history, background and goals of the European Union Socrates/Erasmus programme and to accentuate the immense importance of this programme for the unifying Europe in the past and at present. Moreover, the author devotes considerable attention to the degree of participation of European HE schools and Poland’s academic centres. Notably, the author attempts to review the progress of Polish HE institutions in implementing the Erasmus/Socrates goals the most commonly undertaken types of activities. The number of students going to partner universities in other countries within the Socrates/Erasmus programme has been increasing each year. On the other hand, young Europeans show little interest in studying in Poland, which is one of the greatest weaknesses of the educational programme implemented by Polish academic centres. The author concludes her discussion by presenting possible reasons behind the relatively low popularity of Polish academic centres abroad and suggests some possible steps to promote Poland and Poland’s academic community in other countries.