#ErasmusAlumni: “Erasmus ambassadors for a day” in Florence from all over Europe

Valentina Riboldi Festival d'Europa

Once Erasmus… always Erasmus!
Those who lived an Erasmus experience are “Erasmus people” for the rest of their lives and bring its values with them: this is the Erasmus alumni’s spirit.

But who are the Erasmus alumni? They are university teachers, school teachers, headmasters, eTwinning ambassadors, school students, experts of adult education, youths who took part in mobility for professional training, and representatives of the main European student networks (ESN, ESAA, OCEANS). Their common threat is having had a successful, in some cases multiannual, Erasmus+ experience for mobility in Europe (and beyond) or having taken part in cooperation projects and their enthusiasm to contaminate people and institutions with Erasmus, starting from local communities.

The Indire’s Erasmus+ Agency chose the Festival of Europe in Florence to start the creation of a European network of Erasmus Alumni, in line with the strategies of the European commission for the future of the programme. The occasion for this will be the transnational cooperation seminar, organised in collaboration with the Agency Erasmus+ France Education & Formation that will take place from 7 to 9 May in the Tuscan capital.
There will be 130 international guests of the Agency coming from 15 different European countries, including Italy, who are going to work together to share the values of the Erasmus community and reflect on shared actions to promote, as much as possible, the opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ and give a wider scope of social inclusion to the Programme 2021 – 2027.

On May 7th the ErasmusAlumni will work in cross-sectorial groups to  reflect on the role of a cross-sectoral Alumni network and on next common steps.
On  May 8th  morning, the alumni will be “Erasmus ambassadors for a day” in 15 parallel events taking place in Florence. The initiative was welcomed with great enthusiasm by the schools of Florence, Florence university and Impact Hub, the co-working space gathering many associations of the Florence territory and will be adapted according to the reference sector of the programme and the spaces available.

“I really feel that time I spent abroad moved me forward, move up my limits and change my point of view in different areas”

“Erasmus gave me a lot of confidence and improved my ability to get out of my comfort zone”

Erasmus Ambassador for a day: 

#ERASMUS ALUMNI AMBASSADORS FOR A DAY AT SCHOOL
There are eleven schools that joined the event and will host the international delegations of Erasmus Alumni. The event will be a not-to-be-missed opportunity to make known the Erasmus experiences carried out to promote direct confrontation with teachers and students.

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY – # ERASMUSALUMNI ARE AMBASSADORS FOR A DAY
The event organised by Florence university and Indire in collaboration with the European University Institute (EUI) will be dedicated to the 30 years of the Jean Monnet activities for European cooperation policies, with conference interventions compiled by EUI researchers.

ERASMUS4CURIOUS – IMPACT HUB
A morning event organised in collaboration with Impact Hub Firenze that is entirely dedicated to adult learning. Thanks to a series of thematic dialogue tables, “Erasmus4Curious” will be a workshop addressed to all those who wish to develop new ideas and relationships to build innovative projects for adult education and who want to know about the funding opportunities of the Erasmus+ programme.
(location: via Panciatichi, 16Enrolment is open!)

FLORENCE UNIVERSITY – EDUCATION SCIENCES
To conclude, the speeches of the Erasmus ambassadors will be integral part of two lessons on European opportunities for adult learning at the department for Education sciences and psychology, that encompasses among its Master’s degrees adult education sciences and lifelong learning.

Follow and share the event with the official hashtags:  #ErasmusAlumni and #festivaldeuropa


A special thanks for the collaboration in this Erasmus+ initiative goes to:

  • Zeffirelli Museum Foundation
  • Florence University, the pro-rector for international relations, Giorgia Giovannetti and prof. Vanna Boffo
  • European University Institute (EUI)
  • Tuscany Regional school office
  • All headmasters and Erasmus+ teachers of the schools involved
  • Cultural centre Impact hub Florence
  • The National Agencies of all the countries involved: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom