49 Nepalese students receive EU's Erasmus+ scholarships to study in Europe

ByLaxman Datt Pant

49 Nepalese students receive EU's Erasmus+ scholarships to study in Europe

A total of 49 Nepalese students have been awarded full scholarships for the period 2021-2023 under Erasmus+, the EU’s program that supports education, training, youth, and sport in Europe. These students will spend two years full-time at prestigious European universities to pursue their Master’s degrees in various disciplines.

With its Erasmus+ program (2021-2027) budgeted at €26.2 billion – approximately double the funding compared to its previous program (2014-2020), the EU is the largest global donor to education.

Speaking on the occasion and underscoring that people-to-people connectivity is one of the top priorities of the EU, Nona Deprez, EU Ambassador to Nepal, shared: “Erasmus is one of the most successful programs of the EU. We hope that the scholarships will help these students to further excel and that they will return to Nepal with enhanced skills and knowledge useful for the country and themselves.” This is one of the ways in which the EU wants to promote its values and share its knowledge and experiences with everyone abroad and for everyone to become richer from the experience, she added.

EU’s education sector support in Nepal

  • In addition to the Erasmus+, the EU Delegation in Nepal has been providing ongoing support to the Government of Nepal (GoN) through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on Quality Education and Technical and Vocational Training.
  • Education has been a key component of the EU’s financial assistance to Nepal since the late 1990s through the provision of sector budget support.
  • The EU along with other donors supported the GoN to complete the School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP-2009-2016).
  • Additionally, the EU has been supporting the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) which aims to guide the reform efforts of the government until 2023 in line with Nepal’s vision to graduate from least developed country status.
  • Education is one of the major pillars of development cooperation for the EU’s ongoing multi-annual indicative program (2021-2027) for Nepal.
  • The EU support in the reform of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) entails strengthening and more effectively implementing a TVET policy that is responsive to labor market needs including piloting and integrating the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach in agriculture, construction, and hospitality and tourism to offer opportunities for promoting the transition to a greener, climate-resilient, and low-emission economy.
  • The TVET-PP proposes to help to reduce youth unemployment by improving access to relevant and high-quality TVET.

So far, more than 700 Nepalese students have benefitted from the EU’s Erasmus+ scholarship program which also provide opportunities for Europeans to undertake short-term studies and teaching in various universities across Nepal. In addition to supporting the activities set out in the European education area, the digital education action plan, and the European Skills Agenda, the program also supports the European Pillar of Social Rights, implements the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027, and develops the European dimension in sport.

The opportunities offered under the Erasmus+ scholarships include higher education, vocational education, and training, school education, adult education, youth, and sport.