The impact of EU-funded student exchange programmes on the EU information deficit

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2018

Öğrenci: BURCU AKPINAR

Danışman: SEVİLAY KAHRAMAN

Özet:

In addition to often-mentioned democratic deficit, the information deficit- an absence of knowledge about EU policies symbolizes one of the other significant complications of the Union. Despite the fact that EU laws and policies have effect on the national schemes of member states, the researches show that most of the European citizens are unable to understand the name and functions of the EU institutions as well as the policy areas planned at the Union level. The researches also show that the communication policies of the EU institutions are hardly influential about bringing Europe closer to its citizens. In that respect, this study argues that European exchange programs can be considered as another means to increase the awareness and knowledge of the young Europeans about the EU and an end to deal with information deficit as well as to increase support for European integration. So as to analyze the influence of exchange programs on the knowledge of the EU, a questionnaire was organized within the framework of this study on a sample group composed of students participating in Erasmus mobility programs. The questionnaire was distributed electronically in four of the most well-known universities in Ankara; Ankara University, Bilkent University, Hacettepe University and Middle East Technical University (METU) before and after the mobility periods. The results of the paired sample t-test which compares the pre-test and post-test results suggest that participating in the Erasmus program can be effective in terms of the knowledge of the participants about the EU to a large extent.