As the 2008 NAFSA conference on international education opens, Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the European Commission Delegation to the United States, issued a statement encouraging American students to study in Europe through the Erasmus Mundus program.

Launched in 2004, Erasmus Mundus was inspired by the EU s highly successful Erasmus Program, which supports cooperation and mobility between European higher education institutions. The program provides EU-funded scholarships for non-EU nationals participating in Erasmus Mundus Masters Courses, as well as scholarships for EU nationals studying at partner universities throughout the world. In July 2007, the European Commission adopted a proposal to launch the next generation of Erasmus Mundus, which will run from 2009 to 2013.