Tackling Mobility Bottlenecks: EMA Joins the ESAA Delegation at EGM 2026 in Split

Split, Croatia | 16-19 April 2026

In the vibrant coastal city of Split, Croatia, the future of European mobility recently took centre stage. The Erasmus Mundus Students & Alumni Association (EMA) was proud to be on the ground, represented by Folco Perego, EMA Programme Representative Meta4.0, and Aldiansyah Rudy Adiwinoto, EMA member and EMJM STRAINS alumni.

Our team joined the Erasmus Student Alumni Alliance (ESAA) delegation, along with garagErasmus, OCEANS, ASAF and WBAA, to participate in the fifth edition of the Erasmus Generation Meeting (EGM).

Organised by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN), the EGM stands as the largest student-led conference in Europe focused on the internationalisation of higher education. This year’s event transformed Split into a dynamic hub of dialogue, bringing together local, national, and European institutions, Erasmus+ alumni, and student representatives from across the globe.

Shaping Skills Through Student Mobility

As the flagship project of ESN, the Erasmus Generation Meeting embodies the organisation's core values, serving as a powerful platform to amplify youth voices and showcase the impact of student engagement.

The central theme for EGM Split 2026 was "Shaping Skills through Student Mobility." The comprehensive program was designed to highlight how competencies are built through volunteering and student-led mobility. It aimed to advance recognition of these skills among key stakeholders, demonstrating that international exchange is not just about academic credits but about building resilient, adaptable, and highly skilled global citizens.

However, a recurring question reoccurred throughout many conversations: How can students shape their skills if they are barred from entering the classroom in the first place?

To address this barrier, the conference featured a focused panel titled “The Visa Challenge: Unlocking Global Student Exchange.”

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Moderated by Dominika Guzik (Education and Youth Policy Coordinator, ESN), the session brought together key voices from across the higher education spectrum. Alongside Roberta Sandri from the International Mobility Office of Università degli Studi di Trieste and Efe Berke Akkaya, President of ESN Türkiye, EMA’s own Folco Perego (PR of META4.0) took the stage to bring the student and alumni perspective to the forefront.

The panel tackled a complex reality: while the desire for internationalisation grows, uneven administrative requirements across countries continue to create major obstacles for students participating in exchanges, joint programmes, and European degree pathways.

The Human Impact: The EMA Perspective

Addressing the session, Folco highlighted how these bureaucratic bottlenecks uniquely impact Erasmus Mundus students. Drawing on the lived experiences of our alumni and current students, he outlined the critical moments where mobility journeys stall:

• Academic Setbacks: Highly unpredictable processing delays frequently cause students to miss orientation weeks and introductory modules. This forces academic consortia to make emergency adjustments and requires some students to defer their start dates or give up on their mobility entirely.

• Hidden Financial Burdens: Even with generous scholarships, the peripheral costs of mobility are immense. Students drain their resources travelling to distant embassies, securing expensive document legalisations, and paying high application fees.

• The Intra-EU Mobility Trap: Erasmus Mundus joint degrees mandate moving between multiple countries. Because of this, students face the exhausting challenge of applying for new residence permits mid-program while navigating a fragmented patchwork of national immigration systems and trying to focus on their studies.

Institutional and On-the-Ground Realities

The dynamic format of the EGM breakout session enabled a rich exchange of insights, underscoring that students are not the only ones struggling. Roberta Sandri detailed the administrative hurdles that host institutions face when welcoming international learners. She emphasised that institutional best practices, such as improved coordination between university admissions and national and local immigration agencies, are essential for reducing processing times.

Similarly, Efe Berke Akkaya shed light on the on-the-ground reality. He highlighted the vital role of student support actors, noting that dedicated services, such as clear, jargon-free guidance and dedicated university liaisons, make the biggest difference in alleviating student anxiety and navigating local bureaucracies.

Looking Ahead: Solutions for the Post-2027 Framework

The conversation ultimately shifted from identifying problems to driving positive change. Engaging with a passionate, like-minded audience, the panel considered how future European mobility frameworks, specifically the next Erasmus+ programme beyond 2027, can hardwire solutions into their core structures.

The panel advocated several concrete, scalable policy shifts:

• A Unified "Erasmus Visa": Creating a standardised, pan-European student mobility visa or a mutually recognised residence permit to allow seamless intra-EU movement for joint-degree students.

• Fast-Track Processing Lanes: Establishing priority appointment slots and expedited processing specifically for verified EU-funded students at embassies worldwide.

• Standardised Documentation: Implementing a single, EU-wide document checklist where the official Erasmus+ scholarship letter is universally accepted as complete proof of financial sustainability.

• Digitalisation & Fee Waivers: Shifting to fully online visa applications and automatically waiving application fees to remove the geographic and financial barriers that disproportionately affect third-country nationals.

Empowering the Erasmus Generation

The message from EGM Split 2026 was loud and clear: visa and residence permit procedures must transform from bureaucratic roadblocks into enablers of global exchange. After all, the vision of "Shaping Skills through Student Mobility" cannot be fully realised while our most ambitious international learners remain stuck in administrative limbo.

By bringing the EMA perspective to the ESAA delegation at Europe's largest student-led conference, we continue to fight for European mobility frameworks that act as genuine gateways rather than gatekeepers. And our advocacy does not stop here. With ESN President Simone Lepore announcing that Warsaw will host the 2027 edition, we are already looking forward to bringing this momentum to Poland. We will keep pushing for smoother, more inclusive mobility, ensuring that the voices of the students and alumni are not just heard, but acted upon.

By:

Folco Perego

Program Representative meta4.0 

Student & Alumni Unit - Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA)