On November 5th, 2019, the European Commission published the 2020 call for proposals for the Erasmus+ programme. Since 2020 is the last year of the seven-year plan for the Erasmus+ financial framework, the budget appears to be increasing.
It is estimated that the budget will surpass 3 billion euros. That is a 12% increase compared to 2019. That budget will provide young people all around Europe with more opportunities regarding their education. The budget will enable them to visit more European Countries to study, train and gain professional experience.
Apart from a line of proposals that will be launched for a second pilot on European Universities, the EU aims at creating 35,000 opportunities for African Students and staff to participate in the programme as part of the African-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs.
“I am very pleased that in 2020 the European Union is set to invest more than €3 billion in Erasmus+. It will allow us to open up more opportunities for young Europeans to study or train abroad, enabling them to learn and develop a European identity. And it will help us to take the European Universities initiative forward, showing our continued investment in the European Education Area. I am proud to see higher education institutions form strong new alliances, paving the way for the universities of the future, for the benefit of students, staff and society across Europe.”
Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport
“The new Erasmus funding opportunities for the vocational education and training sector will strengthen the Vocational Education and Training community; bridging sectors, regions and countries. Reinforcing ErasmusPro will make those bonds still tighter while giving more Vocational Education and Training learners more opportunities.”
Marianne Thyssen, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility
As always, public bodies that are active in the field of education, training, youth, and sport have the opportunity to apply for funding under the Erasmus+ calls for proposals. Groups of young people who are active in youth work but are not formally established as youth organizations also may apply under the Erasmus+ calls.
On the fifth of November and along with the calls for proposals, the EU published the Erasmus+ Programme Guide, translated in all official EU languages.
European Universities
In June 2019 the first 17 European Universities were selected and are now in the process of starting their own activities. This initiative was the focus on the event that took place on November 7th 2019, where the European Universities selected so far came together to exchange important information and discuss the new activities with students rectors and ministries, all responsible for higher education.
Regarding education, vocational training and adult learning, this will be year number three of the School Exchange Partnerships. This partnership is offering major opportunities to European Schools for student and teacher exchange. According to statistics, over the past two years, more than 15.000 schools have participated in the partnership.
In 2020, 9.000 students will have the opportunity to take part and travel to Europe in an effort to enhance their education.
Vocation Education: ErasmusPro
ErasmusPro is an initiative that focuses on opportunities for learners and apprentices to spend from three months all the way up to a year abroad, aiming at enhancing their professional and linguistic skills and competences.
ErasmusPro was first launched in 2018 and it has succeeded in its purpose to increase the interest for long-term placements in vocational education and training by having supported over 12.000 learners per year.
Adult learning
The financial support aimed at adult learning will help strengthen up all regional and national networks of adult learning providers in an effort to increase the number of quality projects for the next Erasmus Programme
Additional opportunities in the Africa-Europe Alliance
As in 2019, this year’s call will offer additional opportunities to support exchanges for African students and staff to participate in Erasmus+. While 26,247 exchanges have already taken place, the aim is to support 35,000 people by 2020, as announced in the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs. Universities can also apply for capacity building in higher education projects, which contribute directly to the recommendations made at the recent Africa-Europe high-level Conference on Higher Education collaboration.
Being part of the Erasmus+ ecosystem requires a strong consortium with expert partners. Here at IED we develop project proposals that meet the needs of the programme calls. We can be the right partner for you and we are always on the lookout for great partners to add to our consortia.
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