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ERASMUS

‘Improve your English or forget Erasmus grant’

Spain's Education Minister José Ignacio Wert is to demand higher academic performance and English-language proficiency equivalent to European level B2 from the 10,000 applicants who wish to benefit from government funding for the Erasmus Plus programme.

'Improve your English or forget Erasmus grant'
The new plans have been approved by controversial Education and Culture minister Jose Ignacio Wert. Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

Montserrat Gomendio, the Secretary of State for Education, Vocational Training and Universities, announced the new measures on Thursday.

As well as passing the stringent academic and English-language tests, students who want Spanish funding in order to take part in the European university exchange scheme will need to have a minimum of 60 credits but will in return qualify for €100 ($136) more than the 30,000 Spanish students who are funded by the EU.

The government department led by controversial minister José Ignacio Wert finances the Erasmus programme in Spain to the tune of €18 million each year, which pays for 10,000 exchange placements. The EU funds the remaining 30,000 placements with a budget of €53.4 million.

Wert recently had to back-track on plans to restrict Erasmus grants to students already studying abroad.

He was also reprimanded by EU officials who described his claims that next year's budgets would be halved by 50% as "rubbish" and "totally false".

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STUDY

Spanish grandpa, 80, heading to Italy as Erasmus student

One of the world's oldest Erasmus students has picked Italy for his study-abroad semester, thanks to his memories of seeing opera here 40 years ago.

Spanish grandpa, 80, heading to Italy as Erasmus student
Miguel Castillo being interviewed for Antena 3 Noticias.

Miguel Castillo, 80, will leave his native Spain on Monday to head to the University of Verona, where he won an Erasmus grant to pursue his studies in modern history.

“I opted for Verona in Italy because I was there 42 years ago to see Maria Callas perform,” the grandfather of six told Spanish newspaper Las Provincias.

Castillo returned to academia a few years ago after a career as a notary. He was a few years into a more typical retirement when he suffered a heart attack at the age of 75, prompting him to rethink how he wanted to spend the remainder of his days.

“On the road to recovery I told myself, 'I would like to do something beyond the classic napping’,” he explained.

So he enrolled for a degree in modern history at Valencia University and each day attends classes with students who are a quarter of his age.

Determined to make the most of his university years, Castillo applied for the EU's student exchange programme, which each year sends hundreds of thousands of students to other universities across Europe for anywhere between three months to a year at a time. 

He hasn't signed up for the full student experience in Verona, though: he won't be staying in a college dorm. 

“My wife is coming with me and we will stay in a hotel for a while and then move into an apartment,” he explained. “My wife says that she doesn’t see us at a pyjama party.”

With one of the world's oldest populations, Italy is becoming accustomed to seeing older faces in all walks of life, even those once reserved for youngsters. 

In 2016, it sent one of its own senior citizens – Laura Peccara, 61 years old at the time – to Spain, for a six-month Erasmus exchange in Madrid. 

“I was talking to my son about university and Erasmus when I had a lightbulb moment: wouldn't it be great to have an experience that didn't exist in my day,” Peccara told Italian magazine Donna Moderna upon her return. 

As Peccara learned, there is no age limit to the Erasmus programme – so any mature students who are interested should apply. As Castillo says to others his age: “Don’t lock yourself up at home, open up to the world, because we can contribute so much and can also receive a lot from society.”