The last month has been a hectic introduction to the New Year; new projects, campaigns, conferences, and an increased focus on our lobbying and advocacy efforts has seen the representatives of The European Students’ Union (ESU) return from a well deserved holiday period in earnest.

The issue of mobility is one of the biggest a concerns facing students and teachers across the continent. In partnership with the Global Union Federation of teachers and education workers - Education International (EI), ESU has embarked on one of our largest projects to-date - “Let’s Go!” – an official Bologna Process campaign – which aims to promote student and staff mobility across Europe.

There are currently less than five percent of students mobile – this is too low by far. Our long-term goal is to see at least 20% of students spend one semester abroad by the year 2020 and to see increased movement of teachers across the continent. Critics will undoubtedly call this is an overly ambitious goal – what is certain is that this target can only be met if all actors, be they the European Commission, other stakeholders, Higher Education Institutions and national governments come together and make a real commitment, both in financial and political terms to furthering this issue – which is fast becoming the number one concern facing both students and teachers in Europe.

The early signs have so far been encouraging - mobility is one of the main priorities agreed to by Education Ministers at the last Ministerial summit in London and is an integral part of the Bologna Process – but words have yet to be transformed into concrete results.

Of course, setting goals is the easy part. Apart from the financial investment needed, reaching it would also involve the systematic dismantling of the huge amount of barriers facing students who want to study abroad and teachers who want to move country. Be they the need for visas, lack of degree recognition, lack of financing, lack of suitable portable pension arrangements, problems with work-permits, lack of institutional support, language barriers, lack of the portability of loans and grants, a lack of information – the list goes on and on - they all need a sustained effort from every state and other actors over the coming years if we are to see the culmination of a true European Higher Education Area.

The goal of building a European identity cannot be achieved if only a small elite is benefiting from multicultural learning and development. For these reasons, it is all the more surprising to see that while European initiatives to increase mobility have been plentiful, the obstacles to student and staff mobility have still not been removed. One of main the reasons is that while the higher education community is aware of different problems, action is required from governmental institutions dealing with immigration, employability and social security. From our part we are confident that “Let’s Go!” will be a concrete step in ensuring that student and staff mobility remains a priority and that tangible results will finally be visible.