Sofia Corradi

Sofia Corradi (5 September 1934 to 17 October 2025) was an Italian pedagogist, nicknamed Mamma Erasmus, or Mother Erasmus, for her role in promoting the Erasmus Programme, the exchange programme of students between European universities. Born in Rome, she studied law at the Sapienza University of Rome and became a researcher in the right to education as a human right. In 1957 a Fulbright scholarship took her to Columbia University for a master's course in comparative university legislation, but on her return in 1958 her degree was not recognised by the Italian educational system, an experience that led her to dedicate much of her life to creating a system for recognising courses taken abroad and to promoting university exchanges. She researched the right to education at the United Nations and, at the age of 30, became a scientific consultant for the Association of Rectors of Italian Universities, using the post to lobby intensively for student exchange and mutual recognition.