The scenic Royal Monastery of Yuste sees Sofia Corradi awarded for her life-long efforts to make her Erasmus vision for student exchanges in Europe a reality.

'Mamma Erasmus' crowned with Carlos V European Prize

Gathered together in the Royal Monastery  of Yuste in the Extremadura, Spain,

for the award ceremony  of the Carlos V European Prize.

This year,  alongside King Felipe VI of Spain,

stood President of the European Parliament  Martin Schulz

to pay tribute to the winner of the tenth  edition of the award, ‘Mamma Erasmus’.

It is an experience of full immersion  in a different culture.

Many people, with a smile,  tell me ‘Erasmus changed my life’.

This former University Professor  spent over 20 years

trying to convince chancellors of European  universities to accept student exchanges

before finally seeing the birth  of the Erasmus Programme in 1987.

Since then almost 4 million Young people  have travelled under Erasmus...

A success story for a Europe  today in crisis.

We must learn to live and work together,

this idea is the foundation of the EU project.

The prize,  whose laureates include personalities

such as Helmut Kohl, Jacques Delors  and Simone Veil,

will fund 15 doctorate scholarships carrying  the names Sofia Corradi and Erasmus.