The number of students traveling abroad on the European scholarship program, that was introduced 27 years ago, has been increasing every year. 2012/2013 saw six percent more Erasmus students than the year before. In the Netherlands, there were eight percent more participants.

TU/e does not experience that same pattern: numbers have been stable for years, says Marjo van der Valk, coordinator of external cooperation at General Affairs. In 2012/2013, 39 students left TU/e on an Erasmus scholarship, and this academic year has seen 36 students go abroad for an internship so far. Van der Valk: "I don't know about new internships at TU/e, but it won't be more than a handful."

For the numbers of students who went abroad to study, we turn to Anneroos Dijkhuis, policy officer at the International Office. "In 2012/2013, 98 TU/e students - including two PhD students - went abroad through Erasmus. We expect the number of students leaving on an Erasmus Scholarship for 2013/2014 to be pretty much the same." There's no central registration of students by scholarship or exchange program. In the 2012/2013 academic year, TU/e welcomed a total of 447 foreign exchange students.

Politicians stress the importance of Erasmus program: over the next few years, they'll be increasing the budget by forty percent.