Erasmus student exchange programme: a placement problem

Abstract

I analyze the placement mechanism used at Boğaziçi University in order to place students to positions offered by partner institutions according to the Erasmus Student Exchange Programme. First, I define the placement problem in this context and then I describe the mechanism used to place students to positions. I show that the mechanism satisfies individual rationality and strategy-proofness, whereas it fails to satisfy non-wastefulness, fairness and Pareto efficiency. I make three proposals to upgrade the mechanism so that the modified mechanism satisfies all of the desired properties mentioned above. Finally, using actual data of 2009-2010, I illustrate the improvement obtained by modifying the mechanism according to one of the proposals I make.