With the ‘free movement of people’ being one of the four freedoms of the European Union – alongside the free movement of goods, capital and services – academic mobility is fundamental to the EU’s education policy. And when the Bologna Process began in 1999, promotion of mobility was one of the initial actions lines.

Mobility can be of two types:

• Degree mobility – refers to a stay abroad which is intended to lead to a formal qualification
• Credit mobility – refers to shorter-term mobility within the framework of a programme of study, and which usually lasts a semester or one academic year, often as part of an exchange programme

The EU currently administers and funds a series of mobility programmes to encourage students and scholars from all over Europe to spend time in higher education institutions in other countries. These include:

• Erasmus (part of the Lifelong Learning Programme) – the European exchange programme for higher education students, teachers, staff, and institutions
• Erasmus Mundus – the European higher education cooperation and mobility programme with third countries
• Marie Curie – part of the FP7 People Programme to provide funding opportunities for mobility and training at all stages of a researcher's career

At the Bologna Process summit in Leuven/Louvain-La-Neuve in April 2009, European HE Ministers set the challenging aspirational target that at least 20% of students graduating in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) should have had a study or training period abroad by 2020. This presents a significant challenge not just in terms of encouraging students to go abroad, but also in terms of curriculum design, and data collection. It is important to note, however, that countries are free to set their own national targets for increasing outward student mobility.

In order to increase student mobility, a number of tools have been developed to facilitate recognition of academic credit, including the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), the Diploma Supplement and Europass.