Her project changed the lives of millions of people. Italian educator Sofia Corradi, the creator of the European student exchange program Erasmus, has died in Rome at the age of 91.
Her family described the academic as a woman of “great energy and immense intellectual and emotional generosity.”
A professor of pedagogy at Roma Tre University, Ms. Corradi – nicknamed “Mamma Erasmus” – received a prestigious American Fulbright scholarship during her studies, which took her to Columbia University in New York, where she earned a master’s degree in law.
When her American degree was not recognized by the Italian education system upon her return, she proposed an exchange program, which she eventually launched in the European Union (EU) in 1987. Some 16 million students have participated in the program since then. The EU-managed program promotes closer cooperation between universities and higher education institutions across Europe.
“Millions of students owe her a piece of their lives and a broader horizon”
Sofia Corradi stated in 2018 that the idea for the program, born during the Cold War, was her “personal pacifist mission.”
The academic, who was born and died in Rome, conducted research on the right to education for the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the London School of Economics (LSE).
She “inspired the lives of millions of young people who traveled, studied, and embraced different cultures.”
“She dreamed of a European youth meeting and enriching itself through its differences. Millions of students owe her a piece of their lives and a broader horizon.” “Generations of young Europeans thank her.”