Study Abroad Programmes and Student Academic Performance : Evidence From Erasmus

Exploiting admission thresholds for participating in Erasmus, the most popular study abroad programme in Europe, we show implementing a regression discontinuity design that students' mobility does not delay graduation and, in addition, has a positive and significant impact on the final graduation marks of undergraduate students. We find that Erasmus mobility improves graduation results for undergraduate students enrolled in scientific and technical fields and for those who apply in the first year of their studies. Finally, the positive impact on performance at graduation is stronger for students who visit foreign universities of relatively lower quality compared to their home university