Sofia Corradi, professor and creator of the Erasmus program, who dedicated her life to the right to education.

Sofia Corradi, a full professor of educational sciences at Roma Tre University, known as “Erasmus Mom,” for having created the program that has brought and continues to bring millions of young students around Europe, died last night in Rome at the age of 91.

Born in Rome in 1934, Corradi became known as ‘Mamma Erasmus’ for her ground-breaking idea of promoting cultural, social and academic exchanges between European students.  A recipient of Fulbright and Columbia University scholarships, Corradi studied at Columbia Graduate School of Law, earning a Master’s in Comparative Law. She graduated with honors in law from the University of Rome La Sapienza and conducted research on the right to education as a fundamental human right at the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the London School of Economics. The intuition that led to the creation of the Erasmus program arose from a personal “defeat”: in 1957, upon returning from studies in the United States, she discovered that the exams she had taken abroad would not be recognized in Italy. She conceived the Erasmus idea on her return to Rome, in 1969, after her Master’s degree from abroad was not recognised in Italy.

Subsequently, in her role as scientific consultant for the permanent conference of Italian university rectors, Corradi promoted her idea within the academic and institutional spheres. After a long battle, the Erasmus programme was inaugurated within the EU in 1987 and is now considered the most important educational community experience in the world. In addition to promoting learning in all its many forms, the programme promotes “cooperation, quality, inclusion and equity, excellence, creativity and innovation.”

Since its creation, more than 16 million students have availed of the Erasmus programme, named after the 15th-century Dutch philosopher and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. The scheme has also had a profound cultural impact, representing for many European students their first time living and studying in another country.

In 2016, Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella appointed Corradi a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in recognition of her “outstanding” contribution to education in creating the Erasmus programme.