Digital technology in managing Erasmus+ mobilities: efficiency gains and impact analysis from Spanish, Italian, and Turkish universities

The European Union is investing in the areas of digital skills, digital infrastructures, digitisation of businesses, and public services to speed up numerous administrative processes and to facilitate access to citizens from member countries and neighbouring ones as well. This study provides a quantitative assessment of the efficiency gains that can be attained by the ongoing digital transformation in the realm of Erasmus+, the European Commission’s programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the period 2021–2027. This programme manages a sizable budget allocated to education and training opportunities abroad for millions of students, teachers, and other staff of Higher Education Institutions within the EU and beyond. The management of such experiences has significantly grown in complexity over the last decades, entailing notable expenses that the EC aims to reduce through the end-to-end digitalisation of administrative procedures. Our analysis of the savings attained by the so-called Erasmus Without Paper project (EWP) was conducted by taking a close look at the workload, resources, and money invested in Erasmus+ proceedings by four universities from Spain, Italy, and Turkey. The analysis revealed significant savings in terms of paper wastage (a reduction of more than 13.5 million prints every year for the whole Erasmus+ programme) and administrative time, which may translate into lower staff effort and increased productivity, to the point of managing up to 80% more mobilities with the same resources and staff currently available.European University Foundation | Ref. 2020-1-TR-KA203-09384