effectiveness of erasmus programme in prejudice ......keywords: contact theory, prejudice, eras-mus...

47No 17, June 2016

edina Ajanović, Beykan ÇizelAkdenizUniversity,Antalya,Turkey,TourismFaculty,TourismManagementDepartmentRabia ÇizelAkdenizUniversity,Antalya,Turkey, FacultyofEconomicsandAdministrativesciences,DepartmentofLabourEconomicsUDC316.647.8-057.875:378(560)378:338.48(4)

eFFectIveness oF eRAsMus pRoGRAMMe In pReJuDIce ReDuctIon: contAct theoRy peRspectIve

Abstract: As an important contributor to higher education and tourism industry both in-side and outside of the European Union, Eras-mus programme provides the significant frame-work for many studies in academic literature. One of the important issues which Erasmus students encounter is the issue of prejudices and stereotypes between them and local students and residence. The aim of this research is to examine the successfulness of the Erasmus programme in reducing prejudice and stereotypes between Er-asmus and Turkish students/residents from the perspective of contemporary knowledge on con-tact theory. Accordingly, the qualitative research

on Erasmus students who took their course at Akdeniz University Tourism Faculty in Antalya Turkey was conducted. The three main catego-ries were derived after the content analysis of ob-tained data: Erasmus students’ initiative, posi-tive as well as the negative aspects of Erasmus process. The results of this study provide new perspective on how the prejudice reduction is be-ing examined and in which direction should in-dividual parties in Erasmus programme work in order to improve the overall success of the same.

Keywords: Contact Theory, prejudice, Eras-mus programme, tourism faculty

Introduction

The Erasmus programme is one of themost popular and most important pro-grammesinthefieldsofeducation,training,youthandsportwithanaimtosecuremajorcontributiontotheassistanceindealingwithsocio-economicchallengesthatEuropeandthe rest of the world are facing (Erasmus+ProgrammeGuide,2016p.7).Thegoalistobuildmorecohesiveand inclusivesocietiesthroughthisprogrammewhereviolentradi-calization will be prevented by promotingcommon European values, fostering socialintegration, enhancing intercultural under-standingandasenseofbelongingtoacom-munity.

Considering the importance Erasmusprogramme has as a contributor to bothhighereducationandtourismindustry,bothinsideandoutsideoftheEuropeanUnion,ithasbecomeanextensivelyresearchedtopicinacademicliterature.TheprocessofEras-mus programme and its participants wereinthefocusofmanystudiesintermsofex-amining the motives for Erasmus studentstoparticipateinthisexchangeprogramanddestination choice (García- Rodríguez andJiménez,2015;Lesjaketal.,2015),impactsofErasmus programme (Jacobone and Moro,2015),formationofsocialnetworksandin-teractionpatternsamongErasmusstudents(van Mol and Michielsen, 2015) and thesimilar, with the referred studies providing

48 The Business of Tourism

detailed insight into previous literature onErasmusprogrammeand its connection tothe related research field. When looking attheresearchwheretheErasmusprogrammewas in the scope, evaluations, in terms ofcredit mobility, competence developmentandpersonalgrowthwereemphasizedwhileErasmus students emphasized benefits ofculturalenrichment,personaldevelopmentand language proficiency (Jacobone andMoro,2015).

One of the important issues which Er-asmusstudentsencounterbeforeanduponarrival at a destination of exchange pro-grammeistheissueofprejudicesandstere-otypes between them and local studentsand residents. Prejudice may be defined asmainly negative attitude towards peoplein a distinguishable group based solely ontheir membership in that group (Aronsonet al.,2013). stereotypes are representingthecognitivesideofprejudicesandtheyarebasedonunfoldingofinformation.Inordertoreducetheprejudiceandstereotypesbe-tween members of different group we mayassume that by providing correct informa-tion about these groups we will automati-cally reduce the stereotypes and prejudicestowards representatives of the out-groups.However, throughhistorywemayencoun-ter various example of how different massmedia tools can be used to actually do theopposite.Nowadays,weknowthatmassme-dialikeTv,Internetwithsocialmediagiveusopportunitytoreachthousandsofinfor-mationand,whilesomeofthemmighthelpin reducing theprejudicesand stereotypes,theothersmaydotheoppositebyjustifyingthepresenceofnegativeattitudesinthefirstplace.Therefore,thequestionofhowtoef-fectivelyreducetheprejudicesinintergroupcontact was one of the most prominent inthe socialpsychologyresearch.TheanswermaybeinsuccessfuluseofContactTheoryfirst proposed by Gordon Allport in 1954.Accordingtothistheory,inordertoreducetheprejudicebetweenmembersofdifferent

groups, they need to establish contact andinteract in the same environment (Allport,1954).

The aim of this research is to examinehowsuccessfulistheErasmusprogrammeinreducingprejudiceandstereotypesbetweenErasmusstudentsandTurkishstudents/resi-dentsfromtheperspectiveofcontemporaryknowledgeontheContactTheory.Forthisresearch, Erasmus students who took theircourseatAkdenizUniversityTourismFac-ultyinAntalyaTurkeywerechosenasare-search group for two reasons: the TourismFaculty is one of the most popular choicesofErasmusstudentsand it is thenatureoftourismtoworkforthereductionofpreju-dice in intergroup relationships. since theresearchersdecidedtoinvestigateacontem-porary phenomenon in its real-life contextthe case study research design (Yin, 2003)andqualitativeresearchmethodwerefoundappropriatetotheaimoftheresearch.

In thefirstpartof thestudy,abrief lit-eraturereviewontheContactTheoryasthemaintoolinreducingtheprejudiceamongdifferent groups is provided. In the secondpart, research method and data collectionprocessweredescribedfollowedbytherep-resentationofresultsinthethirdpart.Inthesamesection,thediscussionabouttheresultandanalyticalgeneralizationwasperformed.ThispaperfinisheswiththeconclusionandrecommendationsregardingthepossibilitiesofimprovingcertainaspectsoftheErasmusprogrammebyfollowingthepropositionsoftheContactTheory.

Literature review

Prejudice is essentially an attitude andaccording to the three component model,every attitude has emotional, cognitiveandbehavioralcomponent(Aronsonetal.,2013). Prejudice may be used to describethe entire attitude structure, and perva-sively, the emotional element of it. In this

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context, aprejudice isahostileornegativeattitudetowardspeopleinadistinguishablegroup,basedsolelyontheirmembershipinthatgroup(Aronsonetal.,2013).similartoother attitudes, prejudices are also formedthrough socialization process and basedon beliefs, values and attitudes of friendsand peer groups (Jones, 1997). Prejudiceshaveacognitiveelementwhichisknownasstereotypeandcaninfluencebehaviorintheformofdiscrimination(behavioralcompo-nent).stereotypesshowremarkablesimilar-ityamongthemembersofacertainculture.Although a lot of things have changed inthelegalframeworkastorespectinghumanrights and the changes societies worldwideare facing intermsofacceptingdifferencesamongdifferentgroupmemberintermsofrace, nationality, gender or sexual orienta-tion, humankind is still facing stereotypesand prejudices as well as problems theybring inpeople’s lives (DovidioandGaert-ner,1998,1990).AccordingtoDovidioandGaertner (1999) thebasisof contemporaryprejudiceexpressedinnegativefeelingsandbeliefsmaybeanindividualprocess(cogni-tive, motivational and socialization biases)or intergroup processes (based on conflictbetweengroupsorcategorizationofpeopleintoin-groupsandout-groups).

some methods for reducing traditionalstereotypes and prejudices are enhancingknowledgeaboutmembersofothergroups,emphasizingthattheprejudicesarewrongaswellaschangingpeople’sattitudesdirectlybyusingdifferentpersuasionstrategiesthroughmassmediaorindirectly,byusingtechniqueswhere people will become aware of the in-consistency in their attitude and behaviour(stephanandstephan,1984).Ifweconsiderthat stereotypes are negative attitudes fromthecognitive sideandarebasedon theun-foldingofinformation,thenwemayassumethatbyprovidingcorrectinformation,stere-otypesandprejudicestowardsrepresentativesoftheoutergroupswillautomaticallybere-duced.Inadditiontoone’sbeinginformedin

acorrectway,researchersWebberandCrock-er(1983)proposedthatrepeatedcontactwiththememberofout-groupcanmodifystere-otypesandprejudice.

It is understandable that merely a con-tact would not be enough, but a certaintypeofcontactinordertoreducethestere-otypesandprejudicesshouldbeintroduced.Amongthefirststudiesonthenatureoftheintergroupcontactinordertoreducepreju-dicewasdonebyGordonAllportin1954.Inhiswork,heintroducedtheContacthypoth-esiswhichwillbeshapedinthefuturestud-iesintooneofthemostwidelyusedtheoriesforreductionofprejudicesamongdifferentgroups–ContactTheory.Allport’sfirstas-sumption forusing theContacthypothesiswasthatiftheprejudiceisnotdeeplyrootedinthecharacterofanindividual,thespecifictypeofcontactwhichincludescommongoalsaswellastheequalstatusbetweenmajorityandminoritygroupsanditisinstitutionallysupportedwithin the frameof socialnormthatwillleadthatcontact(Allport,1954,p.281), will be a powerful weapon in reduc-ing theprejudicebetweendifferentgroups.In the first period of framing the ContactHypothesis,inAllport’sresearchscopewereracialprejudices inUnitedstates.Butafterdecades of research through experimentsand surveys, ithasbeenproven that it canbeusedamongdifferenttypesofinandout-groups(Pettigrew,1998).PettigrewandTrop(2006) performed a meta-analytic test ofthe Contact Theory between groups whereresults showed that the intergroup contactreducedtheintergroupprejudiceanditcanbe reflected in a broad range of out-grouptargets and contact settings. By using thecross-wave analyses, Herek and Capitanio(1996) found a reciprocal relationship be-tweenintergroupcontactandheterosexuals’attitude towards groups of different sexualorientation.

Results of Pettigrew and Trop’s study(2006)areproving that theconditions thatwereregardedasoptimalcontactconditions

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intheAllportstudygivebetterresultswhenused together. However, according to thefindingsoftheirmeta-analysis(PettigrewandTrop’s,2006),theseconditionsarenotessen-tialforprejudicereductionandresearchersrecommendedafurtherresearchonnegativefactorsthatpreventintergroupcontactfromdiminishingprejudiceandtowardsdevelop-ment of a more comprehensive intergroupContactTheory.ThisnecessitytoenrichtheinitialAllport’sContactHypothesiswasno-ticed long before when sherif et al. (1961)showedthatsomeotherconditionsmustbebrought to the current situation, so it mayresult in prejudice decrease. As a result oftheirfamousexperimentsinsocialpsychol-ogy,therobber’scaveexperiment,sherifandhiscolleaguesshowedthatnegativefeelingsand hostile situation between two groupscanbedecreasedbyintroducingtwoimpor-tant factors:mutual interdependenceandacommongoal.The literatureondecreasingprejudice and stereotypes has also shownthatfriendlyandinformalatmospheremaycontributeinagreatsense(BrewerandMill-er, 1984; Wilder, 1986). Wilder (1984) hasalsocontributedtotheshapingoftheCon-tactHypothesisbystatingthatmeetingmul-tiplemembersoftheout-groupisnecessary,becauseotherwise,thereisathreatofkeep-ingtheprejudicebylabelingthewholeout-groupbasedonitsonemember.Inthesamestudy(1984),WildersupportedtheAllport’sstatement that prejudice will be reducedif the intergroup contact occurs in a situa-tion where social norms that promote andsupportequalityamonggroupsarepresent.Aronsonandhiscolleagues(Aronsonetal.,2013) summarized all these findings andproposed a framework of six conditions inwhichcontacttheorymayleadtoprejudicereduction: 1) Mutual Interdependence, 2)CommonGoal,3)Equalstatus,4)Friendly,Informal setting, 5) Contact with MultipleMembers of the Out-group Present and 6)social Norms that promote and supportequalityamonggroups.

Research method and data collection

Based on interviews with Erasmus stu-dents coming from different Europeancountries, focus group meeting and obser-vationmadebyteachersoftheErasmusstu-dents’courses,researchersofthisstudywereexamininghowsuccessfultheErasmusPro-grammeisinreducingprejudiceandstere-otypesbetweenErasmusstudentsontheonehandandTurkishstudentsandresidentsonthe other, from the perspective of contem-poraryknowledgeontheContactTheory.

InthescopeoftheresearchwereErasmusstudents who attended courses at AkdenizUniversityTourismFacultyinthefallsemester2015/2016.Accordingtothedataprovidedby International Relations Office of AkdenizUniversity in the period from 2003/2004until2015/2016,thetotalnumberofincom-ing Erasmus students reached the numberof 749 including both graduate and post-graduate studies. Out of this number, 228ErasmusstudentswerestudentsenrolledattheAkdenizUniversityTourismFacultyand194 out of them were at graduate, whereas34wereattendingpostgraduatestudies.Theselection of participants was performedbasedonthestudents’countryoforiginsothatdiversityofdatacanbereached.Therewereseveninterviewswithnineparticipantsin total, whereas one focus group meetingconsistedofthreeparticipants(Table1).Intwocases, insteadof theone-on-one inter-view,researchersdecidedtospeakwithtwoparticipantscomingfromthesamecountryat the same time. It should also be kept inmindthattheresearcherswereatthesametime teachers at some of the Erasmus stu-dents’ courses, so they had an opportunityto observe the students and interact withthem.During thewhole course, itwasno-ticedthatparticipantscodedasP4,5andP7,8werecomingfromthesamecountryandthesameuniversity,theywereclosefriendsintheirhomecountryandtheycontinuedto

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sharethesameexperienceduringtheirEras-mus Programme. Therefore, it was consid-ered suitable for them toparticipate in theinterviews inpairsas theywereexperienc-ingtheirErasmusProgrammemutuallyanditwasthoughtthatmorevaluableinforma-tionwillbeobtainedinthecaseofinterviewinpairs.Aftercompletionofdatacollection(interviews, focus group and observation),researchers transcribed every audio recordof the interviews and focus group meetingandcontinuedwiththecontentanalysisasasuitable method for systematically describ-ingthemeaningofthequalitativedata(sch-reier,2012).Inordertoincreasethereliabil-ityof theresults fromthecontentanalysis,itisrecommendedtopayaspecialattentiontoacoupleofissues(Punch,2005).Oneofthese is necessity to describe the analysisprocess in detail. At the beginning of thecontent analysis, coding categories weredefined and named. At this level, one ser-bian and two Turkish researchers read theprovidedtranscriptsacoupleof timesand,with the support of the related texts, cre-atedthecodingscheme.Withtheguidanceofthecreatedschemetranscriptswereagainanalyzed.Theseprocessesweredonebyeach

researcherindependentlyafterwhichthere-sults were compared and discussed. At theend of the conceptual abstraction processcategoriesandsub-categorieswerederived.The second indicator of reliability was thefact that the coding was done by each re-searcherandthatthederivedcategoriesandsub-categorieswereresultsofdiscussionandconsensusobtainedamongtheresearchers.Additionalmethodusedtoincreasethere-liabilityof the researchwasusageofdirectquotationsfromtheanalyzedtextsinorderto provide connection between data andresults. Direct quotations from the partici-pantsintheresearchwerepresentedintheresultsectionofthispaper.

Results & discussion

As a result of the content analysis, thethreemaincategoriesandensuingsub-cat-egorieswerederived.Thethreemaincatego-riesarethefollowing:theErasmusstudents’initiative,positiveaspectsofErasmusproc-essandnegativeaspectsofErasmusprocess.The detailed list of all categories and sub-categoriesispresentedinTable2.

Table 1. Characteristics of Participants

codes country Length of participa-tion erasmus + type of Data collection

P1 Portugal onesemester one-on-oneinterview

P2 France onesemester one-on-oneinterview

P3 Poland onesemester one-on-oneinterview

P4,5 Finland onesemester interviewwithtwoparticipants

P6 Estonia onesemester one-on-oneinterview

P7,8 Latvia oneyear interviewwithtwoparticipants

P9 Belarus onesemester one-on-oneinterview

FG Estonia,Poland,slovakia onesemester focusgroup


Table 2. Main Categories to Understanding how Contact Theory May Work in Reducing Prejudices with Erasmus StudentsTable 2. Main Categories to Understanding how Contact Theory May Work in Reducing

Prejudices with Erasmus Students

ERASMUS STUDENTS' INITIATIVE

Under this category the researchers collected all the codes that were summarizing the characteristics of Erasmus students, their actions before coming to Turkey and Antalya and how these characteristics and actions reflected during their stay. Although a certain level of stereotypes that were associated with Turkey could be noticed from the interview, these were not enough to stop Erasmus students from coming to Antalya and continue their academic education here. Under this theme, sub-categories such as personal preferences, characteristics of visiting country, their own information search, previous connections with Turkish people and discovery through travelling are going to be explained in more detail in the continuation of this paper.

Personal Preferences

As students expressed in their interviews, regardless of the bad image Turkey might have in their media and due to insufficient knowledge about Turkey and Turkish people, it may be concluded that personal preferences and willingness to meet a new country and culture as well as the interaction with the people one-on-one are prevailing among Erasmus students.

Well my opinion in the first place was bad because of the news that were in Portugal, always makes seem like Turkey is a dangerous country, but then I made my own research and then I decided to come here and experience life in another culture... P1

erasmus students’ initiative

Underthiscategorytheresearcherscol-lectedall thecodes thatweresummarizingthe characteristics of Erasmus students,their actions before coming to Turkey andAntalya and how these characteristics andactionsreflectedduringtheirstay.Althougha certain level of stereotypes that were as-sociatedwithTurkeycouldbenoticedfromtheinterview,thesewerenotenoughtostopErasmus students from coming to Antalyaandcontinuetheiracademiceducationhere.Under this theme, sub-categories such aspersonalpreferences,characteristicsofvisit-ing country, their own information search,previous connections with Turkish peopleand discovery through travelling are goingto be explained in more detail in the con-tinuationofthispaper.

Personal Preferences

As students expressed in their inter-views, regardless of the bad image Turkeymighthaveintheirmediaandduetoinsuf-

ficientknowledgeaboutTurkeyandTurkishpeople, it may be concluded that personalpreferences and willingness to meet a newcountry and culture as well as the interac-tionwiththepeopleone-on-oneareprevail-ingamongErasmusstudents.

Well my opinion in the first place was bad because of the news that were in Portugal, always makes seem like Turkey is a dangerous country, but then I made my own research and then I decided to come here and experience life in another culture... P1

When I decided to come here a lot of people told me why you go there, it can be difficult in terms of religion, situa-tion with Syria and everything…. And for me, I just want to know a new coun-try, new religion, new culture...P2

... for me everything that is differ-ent is interesting and not that ‘“Oh it’s different I don’t like it ”...If you go on an Erasmus you have already made a big step, you want to know the world, see the different countries, so it is this

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curiosity of Erasmus students, I like to think of them as open minded. FGAs it may be seen from the quotations

above Erasmus students are above all veryeager to use their studying period to goabroad and visit a new country, meet newpeople and culture and that this curiosityandeagernessmightbecomeavaluablelife-timeexperienceforthem.

Searching Information on Their Own

Goingabroadforahalforanentireyearperiodcanbeverystressfulandlife-chang-ing experience for both Erasmus studentsandtheirfamilies.Thatiswhytheyaretry-ing to minimize potential risks of encoun-tering theunexpected inanewcountrybydoingtheirownsearchforinformation.Thissearchisusuallydoneonlinebyusingsomeoftheworld’swellknownwebbrowsersandforumsrelatedtotheErasmusprogrammesandplacestheyarevisiting.

There are many forums and Eras-mus programmes, I saw it, Google it, and then I thought it’s a good place to be... P1

I did some research on Google, to see pictures because every time a person asks me ‘why are you going there?’ I was sending them pictures from Goog-le…P2After the initial phases of information

searchandnetworkingwiththepeoplethatwereorarestillrelatedtotheErasmusPro-gramme,theyarereadytocomewithmoreconfidence and knowing what to expect inthecountrytheyarevisiting.

Connecting with Turkish People

Due to the Erasmus Programme, a lotof students from different countries haveopportunity tospendacertainperioddur-

ing their graduate and postgraduate stud-ies in one of the EU and non-EU partner-ingcountries.AsTurkey isalso inthepartof theErasmusexchangeprogramme,a lotofTurkishstudentsaretakingpartinitandthey are spending the half-year course inoneofpartnercountries.ThisprogrammeisachanceforyoungmembersfromEuropeancountries tomeetandfindoutmoreaboutTurkeydirectly fromTurkishstudents.Theexamplesofthesemaybefoundinthefol-lowingquotes:

I met them because they were in my class in Portugal and then of course we started to talk and I told them I want-ed to go to Turkey and then they told me about it... PLY

I have met some Turkish people aboard in a voluntary project in China where we were teaching English. These Turkish people were very open, friend-ly, outgoing, had their own opinion… at least some of them. And they were not afraid to express it. UPInthisway,theTurkishstudentswhoare

participatingintheErasmusexchangepro-gramareinacertainwayinformalambassa-dorsoftheirowncountry,representingthebehavioralpatterns,knowledge,cultureandlanguageoftheirhomecountryinaforeigncountry.Inthisway,chancesofreducingthestereotypesareonasignificantlevel.

Discovering through Travelling

As there was a chance for these youngpeopletoparticipateinthisprogrammere-latedtothefactthattheparticipantsofthisresearch were tourism students, travellingwas one of the most prominent and mostexciting activities during their whole stay.These trips, whether they were organizedindependently or by the responsible Eras-mus coordination center, were one of thebestwaystointeractmorewiththelocals,toimmersemoreintothecultureandeveryday


lifeofTurkeyandfindoutmoreabout thedifferentpartsofthecountry.AgreatpartoftheinterviewmadewiththetwogirlsfromLatvia was emphasizing the aspect of trav-elling which may be best illustrated by thefollowingquotations:

We were travelling a lot in June. In more than 10 days we went to Alanya, Konya, Ankara and Istanbul by hitch hiking all the way. It was kind of inter-esting. We travelled a lot in the previ-ous semester. That is how we went to Marmaris and Fethiye as well. I think for ERAMSUS people, it is very popu-lar... P7,8Apart from the fact that they were stu-

dentsoftourism,theyhadtheopportunitytohearalotabouttravellingasapartoftheex-changeexperiencefromtheformerErasmusstudents, which is why they tried to spendthetimeduringtheexchangetodiscoverasmuchaspossiblethroughtravelling.

As the Erasmus students’ initiative cat-egory clearly shows, the source of prejudicethey had towards Turkey was not rooted intheirpersonalitycharacteristics(duetotheirwillingnesstosearchforinformationontheirown,travelaroundcountryandconnectwithTurkishpeople).ThisfactisinlinewiththeAllport’sassumptionthatunlesstheprejudiceisdeeplyrootedinthecharacterstructureofindividual,wemayusetheknowledgeoftheContactTheorytoreduceprejudiceandster-eotypesthatoccurbetweenErasmusstudentsand Turkish students/residents (which par-ticipantsreportedtoexist,duetothenegativeimageofTurkeyasacountryinforeignmediaand stereotypes regarding different cultureandreligion).

positive aspects of erasmus process

Inone-on-one/pairinterviewsandafterfocusgroupdatacollection,positiveaspectsof the Erasmus process both inside and

outsideof theUniversityweredescribedinseveraldirections.Accordingtothepartici-pants,theErasmusProgrammehelpedthemin experiencing a new culture and systemwhichmaybecollectedwithinthefollowingcategories: willingness to cooperate, teach-er’srole,positiveatmospherebetweenEras-musandTurkishstudentsandthechangeofperspectiveaswellasErasmusbenefits.

Willingness to Cooperate

Duringtheperiodofhalforawholeyearof the Erasmus Programme, students hadthe opportunity to find themselves in thesameenvironmentwithlocalstudentswhichraisedthedesiretolearnmoreaboutwork-ingsysteminTurkeyandreadinesstocoop-erate. Researchers found the proof for thisclassificationinthefollowingquotations:

It was interesting to compare how it’s happening here and see how Turkish students are representing themselves, how they are listening or not listening, compare it and so...P7,8

I like it as you may see a differ-ent way of work...We were also talk-ing about Turkey, their point of view, even discussing situation from differ-ent countries is very interesting. If you want to get used to culture, you have to speak with the locals and, to be in class with them, it is the best way to speak about that.P2Basedonthesequotationsitmaybecon-

cludedthatthestudentswereveryeagertolearnmoreabouttheworkingsysteminTur-key,thewaysTurkishstudentslearnandtocompareallthatwiththecorrespondingsys-temintheirowncountry.Theyhaverecog-nizedthattheinteractionwithTurkishstu-dentswillhelpthemtofindoutmoreabouttheunknowncountryandculture,comparedifferent opinions and immerse into life oflocalsforabetterunderstandingoftherealsituationinthecountrytheyhavevisited.

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Teacher’s Role

Itisimpossibletoimagineanyacademicprocess without teachers. However, duringtheErasmusProgramme, the teacher’s roleisevenmoreemphasizedasitmaybeseenfromthefollowingquotation:

…especially here when you don’t speak Turkish they (teachers) are like guides, you can ask them questions which you can’t ask other people be-cause they don’t understand…P2Here the roleof teachersasguidesem-

phasizestheirinfluenceinfacilitatingcom-munication and certain obstacles that maybefoundonthewayduringtheperiodoftheErasmus Programme. It should be kept inmindthatErasmusstudentsaremainlyen-teringthecountryprogramforthefirsttimeandthatthereasonforvisitingthecountryisnottourism,whichiswhytherearemanyquestion marks over their heads. Here, therole of teachers, as mediators and facilita-tors,inthewholeErasmusacademicprocessisofgreatimportance.

The teachers surprised me, because I thought the teachers-it would be like the level of students, like lower. Now, I know that teachers are so good or bet-ter than in Portugal… P1Itmaybenoticed thatTurkish teachers

werealsoanobjectofstereotypesinoneofthe interviews. However, at the same time,therewereoneofthesuccessfulneutralizerof the negative opinions and generators oftheopinionchangetowardsthemoreposi-tive attitudes. This was one of the positivesurprises which classifies and shapes thepositiveaspectsoftheErasmusprocess.

Positive Atmosphere between Erasmus and Turkish Students

Oneof thegreatestvaluesof thewholeErasmusProgrammeisthefactthatitpro-videsanenvironmentwherebothErasmus

andTurkishstudentsareabletointeractandlearn more about each other’s culture, lan-guage and habits. All this, created perfectprerequisites forbuildingapositiveatmos-pherebetweenthesetwogroupswhichmaybeillustratedbythefollowingquotations:

Of course they treated us differently as we are from different country but I think that they treated us better some-times because they always try to help us…P7,8Theabovewasanexampleofapositive

attitude of Turkish students and the localstowardstheErasmusstudents.However,the“positivewaves”weretwo-foldedwhichmaybeconcludedfromtheexpressedopinionsofErasmusstudentstowardsTurkishstudents:

Turkish students were like a family, very welcoming class…Some of them wasn’t so good in English, but they were trying to talk with us, to give us positive waves… P9Thedescriptionsunderthissub-catego-

ry are consistent with the findings in aca-demic literature that friendly and informalatmospheremaycontributeinagreatsenseto reductionofprejudice in the intergroupcontact (Brewer and Miller, 1984; Wilder,1986).

Change of Perspective

NotonlydidtheErasmusstudentschangetheiropiniontowardsthecountrytheywerevisiting,buttheyalsochangedtheirperspec-tivetowardstheErasmusstudents:

Now, when I am an Erasmus stu-dent, I want to interact more with the locals, but when I was in Poland, I was not thinking about Erasmus students. But now, this changed…P3

Erasmus program also changed my perspective. When I was in Estonia and trying to communicate with the Erasmus students, I was a bit afraid


if they would want to communicate with me or to be with Estonians, now it has changed my mind totally. I see here how much I want to know about the culture and people and get to know Turkish friends. Now I think that in Estonia Erasmus people may need me, so it has changed my perspective which is good. FGApartfromthefactthattheyareinformal

ambassadorsoftheirowncountry,theEras-musstudentsarealsopowerfuladvocatesofallthebenefitsthattheErasmusProgrammebrings.Experiencingthisexchangeprogramincreasestheawarenessoftheproblems,dif-ficultiesanddesireswhichanyErasmusstu-dentmighthave.Thiswillalsoshapethefu-turebehaviourofstudentsthatparticipatedintheProgramme,soastoencouragethemtointeractmorewithsomeofthefutureEr-asmusparticipantsthatdecidedtocometotheircountryandhelptheminreachingthefull benefits of their Erasmus Programme.Therefore,thebasisforcreatingapositiveat-mosphereforinteractioniswellestablishedbothinstitutionallyandamongstudentsthatparticipatedintheProgramme.

Erasmus+ Benefits

From the above mentioned quotationsresearchers derived positive aspects of theErasmus experience. However, during theinterviewsparticipantsputastrongempha-sis on the benefits that the Erasmus Pro-gramme had on them, which is illustratedin the best manner from direct quotationsprovidedbelow:

It is wonderful experience, one of the nicest in my life for sure. I hope to do it again. Maybe in Turkey again... P1

It was really great because Eras-mus is the chance to feel as a part of an international family. It was nice and I think nobody had any problems. Ok, we are really different, different

cultures, religions, governments and opinion about governments and poli-tics and everything...but, everything was totally OK. I also think it was use-ful because of English language. This is a really great opportunity to learn a language. P9

I really hope it (the Erasmus Pro-gramme) is going to grow, get bigger and develop because this is one of the important things. It is good for both sides: for a European to see a country with different religion and customs, so they can open their own mind. I really hope it expands. FGThis category shows how regardless of

differences, the intergroup contact showedall the positive aspects of both groups andremoved negative feelings and attitudesthatexistedpriortotheintergroupcontact.Positive results after interacting with moremembers of the out-groups in equal statusshowed the consistency with the previousresearchontheContactTheoryfoundintheliterature(Wilder,1984).

negative aspects of erasmus process

Category names as negative aspects ofErasmusprocesswerederivedasaresultofthis study are worth emphasizing. Withinthistheme,thefollowingcategoriesemerged:stereotypesaboutErasmusstudents,difficul-tiesincollaborationandinsufficientinterac-tion.Thesewillbe furtherdiscussed in thecontinuation.

Stereotypes about Erasmus Students

Whiledescribinghowtheyweretreatedbythepeoplethatsurroundedthemintheirnew environment, the Erasmus studentsmentionedalsoacertainstereotypesthatarebeing dedicated to them and they may berepresentedbythefollowingquotations:

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Everyone say “Oh my God you are Erasmus so it does not matter if you are in school or not”. So everyone says it is easy for us… “Why you are go-ing to classes, you don’t have to be in school” – students say.P4,5

As an Erasmus participant, I guess it’s always – this is also stereotype and I guess it’s a bit true- that Erasmus students for them it’s like a bit easier to study, not as hard as in the coun-try… language... if I were a Turkish student it would be harder to study. It is not only Turkey – I think it is the same in Estonia or wherever you go. P6Thisopiniongenerallyaccompaniesthe

reputationofErasmusstudentsamongotherTurkish students andotherswho surroundthem. It is probably because Erasmus stu-dentsare spendingsixmonths in thepart-nershipcountryonaverage.so,duringthissix-monthperiod,itisexpectedfromthemtogettoknowthecultureandlifehabitsofthelocalpeople,travelaroundtoknowbet-tertheotherpartsofthecountry,togetusedtotheeducationalsystemsaswellastogetincontactwithalltheprofessorsandstudentsthatareattending the samecourse.Due tothetimeconstraintandthefactthattheyareafterallthegueststudentsattheUniversity,acertainleveloftolerancetowardsErasmusstudentsmaybeexpectedtobeshown.

Difficulties in Collaboration

AmongthenegativesidesoftheErasmusprocessandthebiggestobstacletowardsob-taininga largercohesionandcollaborationwithlocalstudentswastheEnglishlanguagebarrier since, unfortunately, not so manyTurkishstudentsspeakEnglishatanappro-priatelevel.Thesedifficultieswereexplainedbelow:

I think it was the opposite, because I remember one example, in English,

the teacher always says to Erasmus people ‘Oh please don’t talk I want to teach Turkish students now. I think it was bad for us and Turkish students as well... but the problem is that the Turkish students do not have English, the grades are not that good and it is kind of difficult to communicate…P1

Of course, I learnt more and got to know some Turkish people, but not as much as I wished or hoped. Language barrier is one of the things...P6

Insufficient Interaction

Duetothelanguagebarrierandlackofcommunication among Erasmus studentsand Turkish students, it is understandablethat during their courses at the universitylevel,theinteractionbetweenthetwogroupsissometimesinsufficient.Therefore,theEr-asmusstudentstriedtokeepthecontactpri-marilywiththeotherstudentsfromtheEr-asmusgroupand,dependingonthecoursestheyhavechosen,hadalimitedinteractionwithTurkishstudents.

…once again, the language was the main difficulty… we kept together with Erasmus students... they tried to speak to us, but we see them (Turkish students) only once a week, so it is not enough...P2

I didn’t have any lessons with Turk-ish students, and this can be also one of the things that could have helped like interacting more with Turkish people and students, it would have been nice. P6The second quotation shows that there

are certain courses that are available solelytotheErasmusstudentswhereTurkishstu-dentsarenotparticipatingatall.Ifwecon-sidertheperspectiveofP6participantwhodidn’thave thechance toparticipate in thelessons, it isunderstandablewhytherewas


the need and desire for more interactionwiththelocalstudents.

sub-categories and the description un-derthiscategoryareactuallyshowingwheretheErasmusProgrammedidnotusealltheprerequisitesoftheContactTheoryinorderto reduce intergroup prejudices and stere-otypes.Especially,thesenseofmutualinter-dependenceandcommongoalsduring thecourses should be more emphasized. Thismay be done by increasing the interactionamongwidergroupsof students andallowthem to create their mutual working envi-ronment where solving problems togetherwillleadtothefulfillmentoftheirgoals.

conclusion

TheaimofthisresearchwastoexaminesuccessfulnessoftheErasmusprogrammeinreducingprejudiceandstereotypesbetweenErasmusstudentsandTurkishstudents/resi-dentsfromtheperspectiveofcontemporaryknowledge on the Contact Theory. After aqualitative analysis of data obtained fromthe Erasmus students who attended theircourseattheTourismFacultyoftheAkdenizUniversity,significantresultswereobtainedin the examination of effectiveness of theContactTheoryframeworkinreducingtheprejudices and stereotypes during the Er-asmusProgramme.Considering thenatureofprejudiceanddifferentfactorsthatinflu-encetheircreationaswellascharacteristicsof establishing contact between membersof different groups, the results cannot begeneralized.However, theymaygiveanewperspectiveinthemethodonhowprejudicereductioncanbeexaminedandinwhichdi-rectionshouldindividualpartiesinErasmusprogramme work in order to improve theoverallsuccessofthesame.Theresultsweresummarizedunderthreecategories:theEr-asmusstudents’initiative,positiveaswellasthenegativeaspectsofErasmusprocess.

Thefirstcategory,theErasmusstudents’initiativecategoryshowedthatthesourceofprejudiceisnotrootedinthecharacterstruc-ture of these students. Therefore, applyingknowledgeoftheContactTheorytoreduceprejudiceandstereotypesthatoccurbetweentheErasmusstudentsandTurkishstudentsisappropriate.Thesecondcategory,describ-ing thepositiveaspectsof theProgramme,showedthatfouroutofthesixpropositionsoftheContactTheory(Aronsonetal.,2013)such as the equal status, friendly informalsetting, contact with multiple members oftheout-grouppresentandsocialnormsthatpromoteandsupportequalityamonggroupsare being supported during the ErasmusProgrammeatAkdenizUniversityTourismFaculty. Taking into consideration that theErasmusProgrammeallowsstudentstoin-teractmorewitheachotherbothinsideandoutsidetheclassroom,itcreatesthesuitableenvironment for positive interaction be-tweenmembersofdifferentgroups.Ontheone hand, it is institutionally supported bytherulesandguidelineswrittenintheoffi-cial documents of European Commissionsand at the University Erasmus programmeistakingplace.But,ontheotherhand,bothErasmusandTurkishstudentsareabletoin-teractandcommunicateinamorefriendlyandinformalsettingswhichisproposedbytheContactTheory.

The third category actually shows theaspects in which the Erasmus ProgrammefailedtousealltheprerequisitesoftheCon-tact Theory in order to reduce intergroupprejudicesandstereotypes.Twooftheseun-usedsourcesforabetterintergroupcontactare mutual interdependence and commongoals and these two should be more em-phasizedduringthecoursesoftheErasmusProgramme.ThestereotypesaboutErasmusstudentswhoarecomingonholidaynottostudyshouldbedecreasedifthefullgoalsoftheErasmusprogramandprejudicereduc-tioneffortsaretotakeplace.Byincorporat-ingthemmoreintoregularstudents’courses

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and providing them the equal attention astoTurkishstudents,missingassumptionsoftheContactTheorywillbefulfilledandtheresults of the exchange programme will beevenbetter.

Actually,bothErasmusandTurkishstu-dentsalreadyhavethesamegoalanditistosuccessfullyfinishthecourse.Theresultsofthisstudyplaceaspecificemphasizeontherole of teachers as mediators and facilita-tors in theErasmusprocess. It is therefore,ourrecommendationtoincludeteachersascoordinators and creators of more interac-tion between students, encouraging inter-dependencebetweentheErasmusandlocalstudents as well as to show them the wayhow to reach the common goal. However,the teachers again should have the institu-tionalsupportofthefacultiesanduniversityintermsoforganizationofcourses,thesizeofclassrooms,newteachingmethodstocre-ate learning environment where studentswillhavetorelymoreoneachother’sexpe-riencesandknowledgetogainthisgoal.

The researchers believe that TourismFaculties and Colleges are great places tostartwith,due to the fact that tourism isaphenomenon that has been tearing downthewallsofprejudiceandstereotypessincethe beginning of the mankind. It is not inthe personality of students of tourism tobe‘overprejudiced’whichiswhytheinter-group contact can be of great influence inhelpingthemreducethebarrierthatpreju-dice and stereotype bring with themselves.During their studies, after completing theErasmus programme and later on in theirprofessional career, they will be one of themostefficientambassadorsofprejudice-freeandstereotype-freeworld,basedonpositiveexperiencestheyhadduringthestudentsex-changeprogrammesuchasErasmus.

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effectiveness of erasmus programme in prejudice ......keywords: contact theory, prejudice, eras-mus...

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