Topology of the Erasmus student mobility network

The collaboration network generated by the Erasmus student mobilities in the year 2003 is analyzed and modeled. Nodes of this bipartite network are European universities and links are the Erasmus mobilities between these universities. This network is a complex directed and weighted graph. The non-directed and non-weighted projection of this network does not exhibit a scale-free nature, but proves to be a small-word type random network with a giant component. The connectivity data indicates an exponential degree distribution, a relatively high clustering coefficient and a small radius. It can be easily modeled by using a simple configuration model and arguing the exponential degree distribution. The weighted and directed version of the network can also be described by means of simple random network models.