FROM PIŁA TO GÖTEBORG: EXPLORING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ERASMUS+ KNOWLEDGE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE A quantitative study on gender differences in Erasmus+ knowledge among young people in Poland and Sweden

Abstract

Erasmus+ is an EU program that supports education, training, sport, and youth in Europe, with the possibility of studying abroad being the most well-known aspect. While research exists on participation in exchange programs and Erasmus+ regarding, e.g., gender, socioeconomic factors, personality traits, and motivations, few studies take into consideration that to attend exchange programs, one must have knowledge of them. This study aims to investigate the differences in Erasmus+ knowledge between men and women, as research states there is an overrepresentation of women in exchange programs. The thesis focuses on Poland and Sweden, two countries similar to each other in many ways, but that differ in gender roles and gender equality. I argue that in Poland, young women have less knowledge of Erasmus+ than young men, and in Sweden, that there is no gender difference in Erasmus+ knowledge, due to the gender roles, gender equality, and gender differences in higher education. Logistic regression results, based on the dataset by the European Commission before the European elections 2024, show a positive and significant association between gender and knowledge of Erasmus+ in Poland, meaning that young women have more knowledge, and no relationship between gender and knowledge of Erasmus+ in Sweden.