We are delighted to announce the names of this year’s Erasmus group!!!
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Calvino on the RAI broadcast Kilimanjaro
Calvino Institute remembers the Italian teacher who invented Erasmus: Sofia Corradi
Not many people know that the Erasmus project was invented by an Italian teacher: Sofia Corradi, an university professor who laid the foundation for the most important study abroad program in the European Union. She died in Rome on October 17th at the age of 91. Our Institute also remembers her for having enabled our students and teachers to study abroad with the contribute of the European Union.
For more than 35 years, millions of students have been able to choose to study at other European universities and schools, thanks in large part to Corradi’s determination. For years, she championed the importance of studying abroad and the need for recognition of the period of study and the exams taken.
Corradi was born in Rome in 1934 and studied law at La Sapienza University, choosing to continue her studies in the United States in the late 1950s thanks to a scholarship. She earned a master’s degree in comparative university law from Columbia University in New York, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but to her surprise, upon returning to Italy, her studies abroad were denied recognition. In 1976, the principles developed by Corradi became part of a resolution of the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the European Union), which called on member states to promote university exchanges between different countries. In the following years, the first experiments were launched based on the model for recognizing exams, and therefore university credits, envisioned by Corradi.
Finally, in 1987, the Erasmus Program was born, with rules shared by European countries to allow students to study abroad. The Erasmus program, now called Erasmus+, was named in memory of the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, who traveled across Europe between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with the aim of learning, comparing, and enriching the diverse cultures within. Over the years, Erasmus has become one of the most successful European programs, reaching not only universities but also schools (from elementary to secondary schools), with over 15 million students of all levels spending part of their studies abroad.
In 2016, Sofia Corradi was awarded the Charles V European Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for her commitment to promoting culture and European unification. She has received numerous honors around the world, noting that “we owe her tenacity to a program that has completely revolutionized the lives of our children,” contributing to the concrete construction of Europe.
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