Sofia Corradi, the professor behind the Erasmus programme, assures students that Erasmus will continue and recounts the battle to create the programme in the 1960s.

Interview: Will Erasmus live on forever?

Professor Sofia Corradi, hello.  -Hello.

You were a tenured professor  at the Roma Tre University

teaching education for many years,  your entire career,

but you're primarily  the mother of Erasmus.

You're the person,  or the woman, if you like,

who for many years bombarded  the offices of university chancellors

to try and get people to understand  the need for university exchanges.

Is that right? For how many years?  -Yes, that's right.

From 1969, sixty-nine,  in the last century,

We'll talk about all this but first  there's some very worrying news.

The Erasmus programme,  which everybody knows about,

celebrated its 25th anniversary  this year,

three million students  who have already travelled...

From 3,000 universities.  -From 3,000 universities.

It's in danger.  Apparently there are no funds left.

Saying that people want to stop Erasmus  is a joke, it's nothing to worry about.

There appears to be more money  for agriculture than for education.

Who will fight  for the Erasmus programme?

For a start, everybody  who's been an Erasmus student.

After they've come back  from their Erasmus exchanges,

They respect themselves,  they respect their own national culture,

they know how to interact with people  that are not from their own culture.

They're different people.  They've got that extra something.

but you know that would-be employees  submit their CVs online.

Well, this massive business  has programmed its computers

and if the word 'Erasmus' doesn't appear  on a CV, it is automatically rejected.

So is changing its name a good idea?  YES Europe?

No, look,  let's talk about interesting stuff

It came from your own experience  as a student. Tell us in 30 seconds.

and studied at Columbia University  for a year.

When I came back, not only did they not  recognise the degree I'd got in the US,

When I had established  the right position to take action,

a high-ranking civil servant  explained to me,

because I kept asking,  I wouldn't let it go...

He explained, 'Students  shouldn't go and study abroad

because if Italian students  go abroad to study,

they will pollute the culture we live in.'

One of the criticisms  levelled against Erasmus

is that it's a grant for rich students  because it's less than 200 euros per month.

It's the only shortcoming  that Erasmus has.

you have the right  to subsidised student accommodation

and subsidised meals  in the university canteen.

So you're part of the system.  -You're part of the system.

that Erasmus is more than  an academic exchange programme,

because you fall in love, get married,  have children and become European.

But Erasmus has created  a kind of European citizenship.

Much more than all the EU laws.  -Absolutely.

The idea of using love, falling in love,  as an instrument of peace,

Alexander the Great knew all about that.

When he occupied  faraway lands near India,

of 500 of his soldiers  with 500 local women.

So love really is an instrument  for making peace between peoples.

So Erasmus will live forever?  -I think so.