Aktorzy i wpływ programu Erasmus Mundus: Studium przypadku programu Euroculture na Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim w Polsce i na Uniwesytecie Strasburskim we Francii

Erasmus Mundus (EM) is a European Union programme concerning the higher education. This exploratory work aims to show how the EM programme functions, what the impacts of the programme are for specific actors engaged, what the particular changes in specific universities are, and how these actors contribute to creating the programme from their side. For this purpose, the approach of social constructivism and political sociology are used. This thesis concentrates on the “Action 1” of the EM – on joint master’s degrees, the case study being “Euroculture” joint degree. Two out of 12 Euroculture consortium universities are examined: the Jagiellonian University in Poland and the Strasbourg University in France. First, the EU higher education policies and the Bologna process are presented, subsequently the two universities’ contexts and the conditions for international programmes are explored. Finally, the views of Euroculture actors - directors, coordinators, teachers and students - are confronted. The study suggests that the position and the situation of each Euroculture, and probably the EM joint degrees in general, is connected to the department they are linked to and to the individual actors taking actions, in line with the social constructivism theory. The programme is triggered in a bottom-up direction. The consortium cooperation results into a certain harmonization of the programme on various levels and into some subtle changes in the universities. The multidisciplinary and multinational background of the actors fuels the motivations for the programme and shapes the programme. It seems to be an efficient way of creating links between universities. The model that the EM joint degrees promote and the opportunities they offer seem to be more attractive than the fact that it is backed by the EU.