15 million Erasmians

“Since the Erasmus programme began, 15 million Europeans have participated in it,” Michael Teutsch tells me in his office in Brussels. With his unit, Teutsch is responsible for coordinating Erasmus+, i.e. directing the national Erasmus agencies in implementing this exchange programme for students and teachers within European higher education. In doing so, he explains how,…

Erasmian Christmas wishes

“Why do you cycle such distances, even through cold and rain, only to address people at schools where the name ‘Erasmus’ is on the door?” Well, the idea behind cycling was mainly to keep the body limber, but gradually it taught me to appreciate not only the destination, but also the journey itself. And the…

Cambridge

Erasmus lived in Cambridge from 1510 to 1515 in the so-called Queens college, in a room on the first floor to the left of the Hall. Today, this room is available as a meeting room under the name Erasmus Room, where I did not meet. As you can see on the map, there is also…

Erasmian values?

In 1973, Rotterdam got a university, which named itself after the city’s most famous child of all time, Desiderius Erasmus. To give substance to that naming, there has been an Erasmian values chair for several years, occupied by former SP MP Ronald van Raak. Van Raak himself studied philosophy at EUR and on 15 May…

Erasmus in Parijs and Serris

“Here stood the Collège de Montaigu, founded in 1314. Erasmus of Rotterdam lived there in 1495-1496” (Ici s’élevait le Collège de Montaigu, fondé en 1314. Erasme de Rotterdam y fut pensionnaire en 1495-1496) states the plaque opposite the Panthéon in Paris. It does not say that Erasmus and the other residents spoke of the vinegar…