The ‘Erasmus Generation’ and Turkey: The Effect of the Erasmus Programme on Perceptions about Turkey and its EU Membership Bid

Abstract

The main research question of this study is how participation to Erasmus programme influences European students’ perceptions of Turkey and its EU membership bid. The study evaluates the Erasmus programme’s influence on student identities, particularly their European identity, and their perceptions about the compatibility of European and Turkish identity by analysing the responses of incoming Erasmus students at Bahçeşehir University (İstanbul) in Turkey to open-ended questionnaire surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the semesters between 2009 and 2011 to investigate the extent that the Erasmus programme can influence the perceptions of these students about Turkey. In addition, semi-structured in-depth interviews, conducted by the author with incoming Erasmus students at Bahçeşehir University at the end of the semesters between 2012 and 2014, were analysed qualitatively to evaluate the Erasmus programme’s influence on the perceptions of these students about Turkey, Turkey’s EU membership bid, their perceptions of the compatibility of European identity and Turkish identity and the role of the Erasmus experience in constructing a European identity in the young generation.