Erasmus Student Network

The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a Europe-wide student organisation. It is the largest student organisation in Europe, focusing on student mobility and internationalisation of higher education.

The organisation supports and develops student exchanges, both inside the Erasmus+ programme and outside of it. The local ESN sections offer help, guidance and information to both exchange students and students doing a full degree abroad – by informing them, but also providing them with different trips or events. National and international level support the local level by providing necessary tools, as well as communicating with national Erasmus+ organisations or the European Commission in general.

The goal of the organisation is to support and develop student exchange on the local, national and international levels. It is composed of around 15,000 members distributed across 519 local sections in 45 countries in higher education Institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and university colleges.

History

In 1987, the European Community approved a plan to create a mobility scheme for higher education. Part of it was the Erasmus programme – an exchange programme for students to provide students with the opportunity to spend part of their studies abroad.

In 1989, the Erasmus Bureau invited 32 former Erasmus Students for an evaluation meeting in Ghent, Belgium. This meeting was the starting point for the Erasmus Student Network. The lack of peer-to-peer support was singled out as a major issue and the driving force behind the creation of the Erasmus Student Network, named for the Dutch Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam.

By 1994, ESN had 60 sections in 14 countries. In 2004, it consisted of 170 sections in and outside Europe, reaching as far as Scandinavia, the Caucasus and Morocco. In 2005, ESN established its headquarters in Brussels and legally registered as a Belgian non-profit organisation.

As of June 2024, ESN consists of 519 local associations ("sections") in 45 countries.

The organisation supports students from the Erasmus programme and other bilateral agreements. It cooperates with national agencies in order to help international students – it does not, however, send people on exchanges itself.

Structure

ESN works on three levels – local, national and international. Although it is composed near-exclusively of European student associations, no rule currently prevents associations outside of Europe from applying for membership.

Originally, no conditions existed regarding the geographic limits of ESN. In 2007, membership was restricted to the borders defined by the Council of Europe with the addition of Mediterranean countries. In 2015, this rule was modified to follow the borders of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) instead, before being relaxed in 2020 to UN member states and UN observer states, which is the current rule in place.

Local level

ESN on the local level consists of "sections" that work with international students. They organise activities like introduction programmes, get-togethers and cultural events and represent the exchange students and their needs towards academic institutions and local authorities. Every year, representatives of the local sections meet at the Erasmus Generation Meeting (EGM).

National level

The national level represents the needs of international students towards governments and national authorities. Local sections in the same countries form a National Assembly (NA) and, each year, they elect a National Board which represents the local sections on the international level.

List of National Organisations (NOs)

Below is a list of all ESN National Organisations, past and present.

Key

*	Country with a single local section, which is spelled out if its name differs. Lacks the authority to admit new local sections.

**	Candidate section

†	Section does not exist anymore

Country	Name	Admission	Local sections	Regional Platform	Notes
Albania	ESN Albania (ESN Tirana) *	2019	1	SEEP
Armenia	ESN Armenia (ESN Yerevan) *	2022	1	SEEP
Austria	ESN Austria	1992	14	CEP
Azerbaijan	ESN Azerbaijan (ESN ADA Baku) *	2007-2012, 2016	1	SEEP	Expelled in 2012 due to not being able to fulfill their duties. Rejoined in 2016.
Belarus	ESN Belarus †	2016-2022	-	CEP (formerly)	Expelled in 2022.
Belgium	ESN Belgium	1989	18	WEP	Founding section of ESN.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	ESN Bosnia and Herzegovina	2006	2	SEEP
Bulgaria	ESN Bulgaria	2008	12	SEEP
Croatia	ESN Croatia	2011	7	CEP
Cyprus	ESN Cyprus (ESN Nicosia) *	2004-2008, 2010	1	SEEP	Expelled in 2008 due to not being able to fulfill their duties. Rejoined in 2010.
Czech Republic	ESN Czech Republic	2002	19	CEP
Denmark	ESN Denmark	1990	6	NEP
Estonia	ESN Estonia	2001	5	NEP
Finland	ESN Finland	1993	15	NEP
France	ESN France	1998	33	SWEP
Template:Country data Georgia	ESN Georgia (ESN Tbilisi ISU) *	2011	1	SEEP
Germany	ESN Germany	1990	46	WEP
Greece	ESN Greece	1991	20	SEEP
Hungary	ESN Hungary	1999	13	CEP
Iceland	ESN Iceland *	2007-2022, 2025	1	NEP	Expelled in 2022 due to not being able to fulfill their duties. Rejoined in 2025.
Ireland	ESN Ireland	2000	10	WEP
Italy	ESN Italy	1991	53	SWEP
Jordan	ESN Jordan (ESN Irbid) *	2023	1	SEEP
Kazakhstan	ESN Kazakhstan (ESN Almaty) *	2023	1	SEEP
Latvia	ESN Latvia	2003	3	NEP
Liechtenstein	ESN Liechtenstein (ESN University of Liechtenstein) *	2016	1	WEP
Lithuania	ESN Lithuania	2003	10	NEP
Luxembourg	ESN Luxembourg *	2013	1	WEP
Malta	ESN Malta *	2012	1	SWEP
Moldova	ESN Moldova (ESN Chisinau) *	2020	1	SEEP
Montenegro	ESN Montenegro (ESN Podgorica) *	2023	1	SEEP
Morocco	ESN Morocco †	2004-2008	-	SWEP (formerly)	First non-European section. Expelled in 2008 due to not being able to fulfill their duties, unrelated to the newly-enacted rule to limit the borders of ESN, which did not affect it, being a Mediterranean country.
Netherlands	ESN the Netherlands	1989	16	WEP	A lowercase "the" is included as part the section name.
Template:Country data North Macedonia	ESN North Macedonia (ESN Skopje) *	2007-2019, 2023	1	SEEP	Expelled in 2019. It was changed from "ESN Macedonia" after the 2018 resolution of the dispute over the country's name. Rejoined in 2023.
Norway	ESN Norway	1993	7	NEP
Poland	ESN Poland	2000	28	CEP
Portugal	ESN Portugal	1992	13	SWEP
Romania	ESN Romania	2004	14	SEEP
Russia	ESN Russia (ESN SPbSU) *	2002-2004, 2014	1	NEP	Expelled in 2004 due to not being able to fulfill their duties. Rejoined in 2014.
Serbia	ESN Serbia	2006	3	SEEP
Slovakia	ESN Slovakia	2004	10	CEP
Slovenia	ESN Slovenia	1999	4	CEP
Spain	ESN Spain	1998	38	SWEP
Sweden	ESN Sweden	1994	12	NEP
Switzerland	ESN Switzerland	1994	14	WEP
Turkey	ESN Türkiye	2005	39	SEEP	Known as "ESN Turkey" until 2023.
Ukraine	ESN Ukraine	2002-2011, 2019	2	CEP	Expelled in 2011 due to not being able to fulfill their duties. Rejoined in 2019.
United Kingdom	ESN United Kingdom	1997	14	WEP
Country	Name	Admission	Local sections	Regional Platform	Notes

International level

The International Board is the executive body of ESN International and consists of six Board Members (President, Vice President for Governance, Vice President for Development, Treasurer, Communication Manager and Web Project Administrator). Since 2005, the members of the International Board are full-time volunteers living and working in Brussels. The International Board is supported by the Secretariat composed of employed staff and trainees.

International events

Between its foundation in 1989 and 2020, ESN held Annual General Meetings (AGM), alternating in major cities throughout Europe. Since 2021, this has been replaced by Erasmus Generation Meetings (EGM) - largest student-led conference in Europe. Other activities include annual training events of the organisation's five Regional Platforms, General Assembly Meetings (GA), Community Meetings, National Boards' Training, Social Impact and Youth Engagement training, International Erasmus Games, and others.

International Erasmus Games

The International Erasmus Games are a multi-sport event held annually for members of the Erasmus Student Network since 2015. Initiated by a coordinated effort of ESN Poland and ESN Italy, the games bring together hundreds of participants from multiple countries worldwide. The first International Erasmus Games were hosted in Kraków, Poland in 2015.

Regional Platforms

In 1997, the ESN Nordic Network Meeting (NNM) was established and took place for the first time in Arhus, Denmark. Starting from 2008, it would become known as the Northern European Platform (NEP). The Southern European Platform (SEP) became the second regional platform in the network in 2001, followed by the Central European Platform (CEP) in 2004. In 2007, SEP was separated into the South-Eastern European Platform (SEEP) and the South-Western European Platform (SWEP), while the westernmost countries in CEP split into the Western European Platform (WEP), creating the distribution that exists today.

The current Regional Platforms and their member sections are the following:

• Central European Platform (CEP) – Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
• Northern European Platform (NEP) – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
• South-Eastern European Platform (SEEP) – Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.
• South-Western European Platform (SWEP) – France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.
• Western European Platform (WEP) – Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.