Exchange students '40% go on to live and work abroad'

An analysis of the Erasmus overseas study programme in Europe indicates 40% of participants go on to live abroad during their working lives. The research suggests that more than a quarter of students meet a long-term partner on study exchanges. It estimates that a million babies have been born to these Erasmus couples. The European Commission study of 88,000 people suggests that an experience of studying abroad has a far-reaching influence and creates a much more international outlook. It looked at students in more than 30 countries who have taken part in the Erasmus university exchange programme, launched in the late 1980s. An estimated three million students have taken part in an Erasmus scheme.