Tempus fugit, time flies and our pupils are more and more aware of this fact. 21st century presents new challenges but also new possibilities. Contemporary students need to find new ways to gain experience and learn new skills in order to keep up with their peers and be able to get to the universities of their choice. At the end of this long and daunting race there is the job market where they hope to find a career that will be a dream that came true. These learners increasingly often decide to participate in student mobility programmes such as Erasmus.

The idea of students’ exchange is not new. Knowledge has always been of high importance to people. Kings, emperors and other rulers knew that understanding the surrounding world and people who inhabit it gives advantage in politics and warfare. They sought the best teachers for themselves and their heirs who they often sent abroad for further studies. Nowadays, the idea behind mobility is to equip students with skills so much required in the modern world. Exchanges give them an opportunity to learn how to work with different cultures, understand their customs and behaviours. They provide a new perspective to students’ views and teach how to orient themselves in various situations.

Student mobility programmes aim into teaching the participant key skills without which it may be difficult to find a satisfactory job in the future. During the exchange, pupils prepare a group project where they have to co-operate with their peers from the hosting school. They learn how to manage themselves and their time and resources. They have space to express themselves and their opinions. This is a safe space where they can also be heard and where their opinion really matters. Very often they learn things that would otherwise remain unknown, they can break stereotypes regarding nationalities, religions, ethnicities, etc. They gain a lifelong experience, life and social skills. Equipped with them they can show their potential to their employers when looking for their first work.

Yet the mobility is so much more. Students form friendships, they create bonds that very often last for years that follow the exchange. One can argue that a fortnight is too short of a period to create a lifelong friendship but teenagers prove them wrong. There is a boy who is still in touch with his Italian colleagues. He is only sixteen but thanks to them he has already started his career as a copy writer and cooperates with an Italian company in this regard. Second student was a study buddy of her German guest. They spent all two weeks together, sight-seeing and just hanging around. She was next invited to Germany for holidays and returned the favour in winter. It is now their new tradition.

School mobility may be seen as an adventure, travel opportunity or a way to study in a different environment but it is certain that it is an invaluable experience that stays with the students for life. It is also becoming recognised by employers allowing students to enter the job market with more ease, giving them more confidence and equipping them in key skills. It also shows that regardless of origin or place of residence, friendship knows no boundaries. So does knowledge.