Erasmus Plus
About Erasmus+
Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport. It runs for seven years, from 2014 to 2020, with organisations invited to apply for funding each year for life-changing activities.
Erasmus+ aims to modernise education, training and youth work across Europe. It is open to education, training, youth and sport organisations across all sectors of lifelong learning, including school education, further and higher education, adult education and the youth sector. Through Erasmus+:
- Young people can study, volunteer and gain work experience abroad, to develop new skills, gain vital international experience and boost their employability
- Staff can teach or train abroad, to develop their professional practice, build relationships with international peers, and gain fresh idees
- The organisations can collaborate with international partners, to drive innovation, share best practice, and offer new opportunities to young people.
The Erasmus+ Programme shall contribute to the achievement of:
– the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, including the headline education target
– the objectives of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020), including
the corresponding benchmarks;
– the sustainable development of Partner Countries in the field of higher education;
– the overall objectives of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018);
– the objective of developing the European dimension in sport, in particular grassroots sport, in line with the EU work plan for sport;
– the promotion of European values in accordance with Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union.
About Strategic partnership
Strategic Partnerships aim to support the development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices as well as the implementation of joint initiatives promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experience at European level.
Depending on the objectives and the composition of the Strategic Partnership, projects may be of two types:
- Strategic Partnerships supporting innovation;
Projects are expected to develop innovative outputs, and/or engage into intensive dissemination and exploitation activities of existing and newly produced products or innovative ideas. Applicants have the possibility to request a dedicated budget for Intellectual Outputs and Multiplier Events in order to directly answer to the innovation aspect of the Action. These types of projects are open to all fields of education, training and youth.
- Strategic Partnerships supporting exchange of good practices:
The primary goal is to allow organisations to develop and reinforce networks, increase their capacity to operate at transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methods. Selected projects may also produce tangible outputs and are expected to disseminate the results of their activities, although in a way that is proportional to the aim and scope of the project. These results and activities will be co-financed through the standard budget for project management and implementation.
Strategic Partnerships relevant to the field of higher education will not support these types of projects. Irrespective from the type of project chosen by the applicant and the field impacted by the project, Strategic Partnerships are open to any type of organisation active in any field of education, training and youth or other socio-economic sectors as well as to organisations carrying out activities that are transversal to different fields (e.g. local and regional authorities, recognition and validation centres, chambers of commerce, trade organisations, guidance centres, cultural organisations).
Depending on the priority and the objectives addressed by the project, Strategic Partnerships should involve the most appropriate and diverse range of partners in order to benefit from their different experiences, profiles and specific expertise and to produce relevant and high quality project results.
To be funded, Strategic Partnerships must address either a) at least one horizontal priority or b) at least one specific priority relevant to the field of education, training and youth that is mostly impacted, as described below. Among these priorities, National Agencies may give more consideration to those that are particularly relevant in their national context (“European priorities in the national context”). National Agencies must duly inform potential applicants through their official websites.
