On the 1st of May 2022, Institute of Technology Carlow and Waterford Institute of Technology amalgamated to establish the new South East Technological University (SETU). SETU is the first technological university in south east Ireland. This gives us an exciting platform to establish our community as a centre for innovation, opportunity, and growth. Through exceptional learning and collaboration, we aim to transform the ambitions of learners, researchers, and businesses across the south east and beyond. We are a community of 18,000 students and over 1,600 staff with campuses in Carlow, Waterford and Wexford, as well as a presence in Kilkenny and Wicklow. Our ambition is to be a leading European Technological University and to be the anchor institution of the south east of Ireland, creating impact for the region through supporting social mobility, providing a skilled workforce, engaging in research, supporting innovation, and attracting and retaining talent. SETU’s courses span apprenticeships to PhDs and we offer a dynamic learning experience with over 140 courses that incorporate work-based learning, student mobility, study abroad opportunities and research-led curricula. Although rooted in our region, we have many global links including membership of the European Universities Initiative, EU CONEXUS. Our people are our greatest asset – our staff, students and partners. SETU has been an active participant in the Erasmus mobility programme since 1990, and currently has in excess of 180 active Erasmus+ partnerships from which we receive large numbers of inbound students every year. Unfortunately, for this year the outgoing student and staff numbers decreased. SETU’s Carlow Erasmus+ team is made up of one International Mobilities Coordinator and one Erasmus+ coordinator, based in the Office for International Relations. SETU Waterford campus has two Erasmus+ mobility coordinators, one dedicated to inbound students, and the other dedicated to outbound students and staff mobility, both based in the Office for International Relations, providing guidance to students and staff. The Erasmus+ programme attracts a wide variety of students across varying fields of study and across all departments within SETU. Our participation in Erasmus allows for the development of social capital amongst our students. It allows for the empowerment of our students and enhances their ability to participate actively in society, in line with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty to "encourage the participation of young people in democratic life in Europe". Engagement in the Erasmus programme allows for non-formal learning activities, which aims to enhance skills and competences as well as their active citizenship. Our students who complete an Erasmus mobility experience return home more culturally aware, able to find solutions in difficult or challenging contexts and with the ability to plan and carry out learning independently. We are acutely conscious that students now enter a more global, internationally-orientated workplace. The economy of the city of Waterford and the South East of Ireland has shifted in recent decades and is now the home for many international companies as well as indigenous SMEs. With this in mind, participation in Erasmus has increased the employability of our students upon graduation. Staff mobility is an important part of our staff development strategy. Mobility allows our staff the opportunity to teach and train abroad, to exchange experience and practices with colleagues, and to build relations and learn from best practices within other EU member countries, and vice versa. It also allows for monitoring visits to our students and scoping visits to potential partners. SETU’s vision for education and training is to create graduates with the skills required by the labour market and the economy, while allowing them to play an active role in society and achieve personal fulfilment. The Erasmus+ Programme allows SETU to enhance the potential of its students in a cross border learning perspective, by creating these international study and traineeship opportunities. Moreover, the flow of talent and exchange of ideas across European universities that is facilitated by Erasmus will continue to have transformative impact on the organisation in exposing us to new thinking, a range of new ideas and practices, systems, and strategies.