What does it mean for students if Canada joins the Erasmus+ exchange program?
Going on exchange to Europe could be the bridge to deepen transatlantic relations
In the United States-Canada trade war, it is tricky to define a “winning” side. However, Canada is developing a unique relationship with Europe, one that could help Canada gain inclusion in the Erasmus+ exchange program.
Canadian universities currently manage their exchange programs directly through bilateral agreements between institutions. This limits not only student mobility but also the funding available for them.
Full association with Erasmus+ would allow Canadian students to go on exchange anywhere in the European Union while providing them access to the funding pool, which often covers travel grants and monthly allowances.
Concordia University student Eliane Laframboise is curious to learn more about what this could mean for future study-abroad possibilities.
“I had heard of Erasmus before, mainly through social media. I didn't understand it much then, and I also knew that I wasn’t eligible,” Laframboise said.
After doing research, Laframboise welcomes the idea of Erasmus+ and a closer relationship with Europe.
The EU launched Erasmus+ in 1987 to strengthen academic cooperation among European universities. Currently, over 16 million people have benefited from the program, including students, teachers and trainees.
“It opens a whole new range of opportunities we never even considered before,” Laframboise said.
“The U.S. will remain an important destination for Canadian students, but I think in the next [few] years, possibly, we will see more Canadians who want to study abroad choosing Europe over the United States,” — Simon Langlois-Bertrand, Concordia political science lecturer
Simon Langlois-Bertrand, a part-time lecturer with Concordia’s political science faculty, sees Erasmus+ as a great opportunity for Canadians seeking to study abroad.
Langlois-Bertrand described it as an exchange program which allows students to go abroad, usually for 12 months. Although Canadian universities already have partnerships with European institutions, they do not compare to those among current Erasmus+ members.
The U.S. has long been recognized as the most popular destination for Canadian students to study abroad. However, Langlois-Bertrand argued that because Canada-U.S. relations are straining, Canada is aiming to diversify not only its economy but also its foreign relations, and that this will likely show in Canadian students who decide to go abroad.
“The U.S. will remain an important destination for Canadian students, but I think in the next [few] years, possibly, we will see more Canadians who want to study abroad choosing Europe over the United States,” Langlois-Bertrand said.
Concordia political science professor Michael Lipson described free movement of people as an EU principle that applies only to its member states. He emphasized that these freedoms would not apply to Canadians in any of the scenarios that are being discussed.
Other potential challenges could also be at play.
“Within the EU there is a system where universities have defined which courses count for which credits and that are transferable between EU institutions, but Canada does not have such a system,” Lipson said.
Lipson also emphasized that financial implications are currently unclear, since the complete association of Canada into Erasmus+ would require a contribution from the federal government to the program’s budget.
Despite the EU's frequent bureaucratic backlog, Lipson thinks Canada's process in joining Erasmus+ could be somewhat smoother than previous trade agreements.
“There are already some non-EU members that participate in Erasmus […] so there is a kind of a template already for this,” Lipson said.
As of today, there is no official date for when Canada's participation in Erasmus+ could start. However, the EU and Canada are targeting the conclusion of negotiations on Canada’s associate membership in the EU by June 2027, with Erasmus+ expected to be one of the building blocks of this relationship.
This article originally appeared in Volume 47, Issue 5, published November 10, 2026.
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