Teacher candidates’ opinions on Erasmus student exchange program

This study contains teacher candidates’ opinions who spent a portion of their educational career abroad as participants in the Erasmus Program regarding the academic, cultural, and personal gains of the program. Using the Quantitative Research Method, this study focuses on phenomena that researchers are aware of, but on which they do not have detailed information. As such, it has been designed as a phenomenological study. The work group of the study consists of students from Erzincan University’s Faculty of Education who participated in the Erasmus Program during the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years. As the data collection tool, a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher was used. The data collected for the study were analyzed using the Content Analysis Method. Upon the analysis of the data, it was concluded that the teacher candidates who participated in the Erasmus Program obtained different academic, cultural, and personal gains. It may be suggested that these acquisitions will be beneficial for the teacher candidates both in their professional and daily lives. When the aims of the Erasmus Program are considered, it is observed that the expected effects of the program (for the participants in this study) have been achieved. More detailed studies may be conducted in the future to reveal the Erasmus Program level of success in terms of participants’ changes experienced and observed in issues related to academic, cultural and personal improvement. © 2015 EDAM.