His project changed the lives of millions of people. Italian Sofia Corradi, creator of the European student exchange program Erasmus, has died in Rome at the age of 91, Italian media reported on Saturday, October 18.
His family, who announced his death according to media reports, described the academic as a woman “of great energy and great intellectual and emotional generosity”.
Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Rome 3, Mme During her studies, Corradi – nicknamed “Mamma Erasmus” – received a prestigious American Fulbright scholarship that took her to Columbia University in New York, where she obtained a master’s degree in law.
When her American degree was not recognized by the Italian educational system upon her return, she proposed an exchange program, which she eventually launched in the European Union (EU) in 1987. Since then, some 16 million students have participated in the program, according to the Erasmus website. Managed by the EU, the program promotes closer cooperation between universities and higher education institutions across Europe.
“Millions of students owe him a slice of life and a horizon”
Sofia Corradi said in 2018 that the idea for the program, born during the Cold War, was hers “personal pacifist mission”.
The Rome-born academic has conducted research on the right to education for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, The Hague Academy of International Law and the London School of Economics (LSE).
For the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, who attributes “the birth of Generation Europe”elle “has inspired the lives of millions of young people who have traveled, studied and embraced different cultures”.
“She had dreamed of European youth meeting each other and being enriched by their differences. Millions of students owe him a slice of life and a horizon”French President Emmanuel Macron responded to X. “Generations of young Europeans say thank you”added the Minister of European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad.
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