Erasmus+

The Erasmus+ Programme is a European funding programme established in 1987. It started by offering college students the opportunity to study abroad (or doing an internship) in another european country. Its outstanding and increasing success makes it one of the most real efforts the EU has made to promote our schools’ internationalization and modernization.

Which is why this programme has also evolved beyond the exchange of (solely) students or european borders. The mobility regarding professionals involved in education, training and youth can also be funded by the Erasmus+ programme (e.g. teachers, school staff, youth workers, VET trainers). Education professionals can benefit from this opportunity to take training courses abroad and learn new teaching best pratices, grasp innovative teaching tools, trade knowledge derived from different nationalities and cultures, and practice a foreign language. Since the dawn of Eramus, is also observable the development of school exchange programs, they grown in size, funding, reach and even more challeging.

Within the Erasmus+ Programme, the networking of schools has also greatly contributed to organize and carry out projects of international scale to promote innovation and share best practices at all levels of school organization.

Although participating in the Programme provided some educators with the opportunity to visit other European countries for the first time, it also naturally incited schools to adapt, form and implement medium and long-term strategies and accreditation.

Essentially, the Erasmus Plus programme was developed by the European Union and provides teachers the opportunity to take training courses abroad and learn new teaching techniques.

The program is divided into 4 actions:

• Key Action 1 (KA1) – Individual Mobility
• Key Action 2 (KA2) – Strategic Partnerships
• Key Action 3 – Support for policy reform
• Jean Monnet Actions

In 7 years (from 2014 to 2021), the Erasmus+ Programme has funded the experience of over 4 million educators and school professionals on their travels across Europe to meet new colleagues from different homes, and take part in international activities in the selfless search of innovative ways to improve the education of current young generetions.

In this world of opportunity, there is no excuse not to start planning your next mobility project right away! We provide courses related to Key Action 1: mobility of individuals abroad such as teachers, invited experts, VET trainers, etc.

The Key Action 1 (Learning Mobility of Individuals) provides a fantastic opportunity for individuals, allowing you to take international training abroad, in many European countries.

It’s also the most funded Action in the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 program, revealing the importance of mobility in today’s EU.

As stated by the EU Commission, “The Actions supported under this Key Action are expected to bring positive and long-lasting effects on the participants and participating organisations involved, as well as on the policy systems in which such activities are framed (…) In the long run, the combined effect of the several thousands of projects supported under this Key Action is expected to have an impact on the systems of education, training and youth in the participating countries, thus stimulating policy reforms and attracting new resources for mobility opportunities in Europe and beyond.”

Who can apply?

• Individual schools or organizations;
• A consortium of schools or organizations – sharing the effort of project management and boost synergies.

The calls for actions in this category will allow professionals (namely teachers) to travel abroad for different purposes:

• Training for Education professionals – will allow teachers and other school staff members to take face-to-face courses abroad in the interest of professional growth. Courses abroad embody the motivation of developing professional skills whilst having a break from the routine of everyday work, with colleagues across the EU and beyond.
• Sharing of best practices – KA1 projects also create the opportunity for teachers to learn from different realities: to teach in a different country, in a different classroom, and to different students; or to assist a local teacher on their daily tasks and challenges. These are a better fit for language teachers, who more easily adapt to teaching a classroom of non-native speakers of the language being taught, or to teachers at the beginning of their career, who may benefit more from job shadowing opportunities.

The Key Action 2: Cooperation among organisations and institutions focuses on fostering collaboration and innovation to improve education, training, and youth work across Europe and beyond. It supports partnerships among organizations, institutions, and other stakeholders in the education, training, youth, and sport sectors. These partnerships aim to develop, share, and transfer best practices and innovative approaches in the aforementioned fields. 

Key Action 2 projects can vary widely, encompassing strategic partnerships aimed at promoting the development of initiatives addressing educational quality, inclusion, digital transformation, and the creation and implementation of joint initiatives to foster cooperation, peer learning, and exchanges of experiences at international levels.

This Key Action supports, specifically:

• Partnerships for Cooperation, including Cooperation Partnerships and Small-scale Partnerships;
• Partnerships for Excellence, including Centres for Vocational Excellence and Erasmus Mundus Action;
• Partnerships for Innovation, including Alliances and Forward-looking projects;
• Capacity Building projects in the fields of higher education, vocational education and training, youth and sport;
• Not-for-profit European sport events.

Interested in a joint partnership with Learning Together? Talk to us!

>> New Erasmus+ Guide 

The new Programme is dedicated to strengthening the actions of the previous successful Programme (2014-2020) and expanding its horizons.

According to the new Erasmus+ Guide, this programme “(…) strengthens its efforts to increase the opportunities offered to more participants and to a wider range of organisations, focusing on its qualitative impact and contributing to more inclusive and cohesive, greener and digitally fit societies”.  

This is mainly possible due to the significant increase in available resources. It has seen its budget almost double, from 14.7 to 26 billion euros, and it aims to fund 10 million mobility projects until 2027.

+Ambitious

It seeks to empower the strategic European dimension of institutions and organizations engaged. Most funding will be allocated to institutions that show a clear intention to develop their international dimension and to participate in European projects on a regular and unceasing basis.

+Open

It will dedicate special calls for applications for organizations unfamiliar with the Programme and/or with less resources and/or logistic capacities, assist them on the familiarization process, and break down into simpler projects easier to implement.

The openness scope also tackles the extension to new participants. The possibilities of professional skillset improvement will now reach and be available to pre-schools and kindergartens.

+Inclusive

The involment of special needs students it is on the Erasmus+ agenda for 2021-2027, this means the newly reformed budget now allocates funding and strongly didicates it to students with special needs (e.g., mobility funding for an accompanying person, or for the rent of special means for transportation).

Erasmus+ 2021-2027 Guide:

>> New Erasmus+ Guide

By section:
>> Part A: General information about the Erasmus+ Programme

>> Part B: Information about the actions covered by this guide

>> Part C: Information for applicants

>> Part D: Glossary of terms

The new Erasmus+ programme follows the general framework and guidelines of the three Key Actions (KA) for the education sectors (formal, non-formal and informal), which were already established in the previous Programme.

In particular, Key Actions 1 and 2 (KA1 and KA2) will remain central to the school sector. Don’t forget, while Key Action 1 projects are promoted by single schools or a national consortium of schools, Key Action 2 are accessible only to international networks of schools and organizations, who prepare a project proposal together.

What are the main differences between the old and the new Erasmus+ programme?

Erasmus accreditation for Key Action 1 is an appealing new addition for schools involved in the new Erasmus programme.

The old Programme already provided accreditation tools for vocational education and training and higher education, but the new Erasmus Programme implements the same access for the school sector.

The Erasmus Accreditation is valid for 7 years, signals trust and commitment to help the Programme to fulfil its target objectives, and is recognized by the National Agency as a school or organization that handles international mobility continuously.

Obtaining the Erasmus accreditation allows candidate schools to benefit from a stable stream of funding for the entire frame period of the Programme, streamlined application steps in response to Erasmus calls, together with a faster review of respective applications.
Schools that obtain the Erasmus Accreditation will not be required to repeatedly apply for it within the 2021-2027 Programme.
In order to apply, schools and organizations have to plan out a medium- to long-term strategy foreseeing key topics of internationalization and modernization by presenting a European Development Plan and an Erasmus Plan. Is also required to meet Erasmus quality standards, which stipulate how the international mobility defined in the project will be organized to ensure the quality level of mobilities.

Participation in the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ Programme 

Participating in the Erasmus+ programme has never been this easy.

Please have a quick read of the following suggestions to maximize the outcome.

1. Develop an application

Developing an application is not an instantaneous action, and it requires planning.

It is advised to assemble a small group of interested participants, and, also, get cooperation from the institution’s governing bodies and school community, and assign some tasks to better manage the more technical elements.

2. Establish links funding requests to real needs

Before taking the first step in preparing the application, understand that every funding requests must be justified and, therefore, tied to real expectable expenses required for the duration of the mobility and other related needs.

Such needs must also be detailed in the European Development Plan (EDP).

The European Development Plan has a larger spectrum than the project for which you are applying; rather, it pertains to the school’s overall internationalization plan.

It illustrates how the many calls in which a school wants to take part are linked in a coherent picture of its European strategy.

Following the school’s goals and criteria in the European Development Plan, creating an application necessitates the development of a design concept, which you will expand on later.

3. Create collaborative relations with partner organizations.

With a sketch of the project concept in place, you’ll be able to discover an open Erasmus+ call that aligns with your goals and partner organizations (which are frequently other schools) with whom you may form a relationship.

4. Create the project and upload it.

You’ll be in the ideal position to draw up an mobility project now that you’ve formed your taskforce and the partner organization.
This section is not tough, but it will become simpler if you learn the specialized language as well as the basic project management and euro-planning ideas.
After the project has been authorized by the various involved parties, you will be able to post it to the European digital platform.
To accomplish this, you must first accredit and register your institution on the platform by getting its OID code (the old PIC).
This final section will become easier as more thoroughly you prepared your tasks in the previous steps.

If you’ve already planned ahead of time about the finer details of the project’s execution (such as the budget, management elements, and identification and communication outcomes), all you really have to do now is copy and paste the components of the project that you’ve already prepared!