Valentin Schinnerl and John Roman, U-Multirank
May 10, 2021 16:48 (CET)
In Europe, most people have heard of, participated in or at least know someone who has participated in the Erasmus+ programme. The programme aims to create mobility and cooperation opportunities in higher education, vocational education and training, adult education and school education (including early childhood care, education and care), youth and sport. A strong focus will be placed on Inclusion and Diversity, the green and digital transformation, as well as on promoting young people's participation in democratic life. In short, the programme aims to connect people, introduce them to new cultures and create a sense of community in Europe. The Erasmus programme is considered the third greatest achievement of the EU in Europe - just behind freedom and peace. The Erasmus+ programme will provide over €28 billion through the years 2021 through 2027 to support mobility and learning for all, across the European Union and beyond.
'I welcome the launch of the new Erasmus+ programme, which has affirmed itself as one of the great achievements of the European Union. It will continue to offer learning opportunities to hundreds of thousands of Europeans and beneficiaries from associated countries. While providing a life-changing experience of mobility and common understanding amongst fellow Europeans, the programme will also help us to deliver on our ambitions for a more fair and greener Europe.’ said Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas
The Erasmus+ programme has three main objectives:
Of the three objectives, the best known is the area of mobility opportunities, which offers students and teachers the possibility to gain experience abroad. This includes classic semesters abroad but also internships. The aim behind this measure is that participants' self-confidence and soft skills are improved, that participants discover other cultures and build interpersonal relationships with people from other countries. Through these steps, a stronger social inclusion and a strengthened European identity should be built.
The Erasmus+ cooperation projects aim to focus on exchange, cooperation and collaboration. This involves making better use of new technologies, developing innovative teaching, training and learning methods, promoting non-formal learning and developing common tools and activities that pursue the goal of a European identity.
Support to policy development and cooperation aims at reform and modernisation at EU level in the fields of education and training, and at doing much for youth and sport. Attention will also be paid to cooperation with international organisations pursuing the same goal.
More flexibility will be made available to students so that they have more opportunities for internships and semesters abroad within and outside the EU.
These are the innovations in mobility opportunities:
These are the innovations in the cooperation projects:
These are the innovations in supporting policy development and policy cooperation:
On the whole, it can be summarised that the update has not resulted in any deterioration for students, pupils and teachers. It is clear that the number of opportunities has increased and that there are more individual measures for those interested.
The Erasmus+ programme is mainly aimed at Europeans or people from the European Union. However, there are also many opportunities to participate in the Erasmus+ programme if you are not European - but then you should do some more research.
A total of 10 million people are expected to participate in the Erasmus+ programme in the years 2021 - 2027. In order for this to happen, the programme's budget will be increased to 26.2 billion euros.
The update of the Erasmus+ programme is valid for the period 2021 - 2027 and will therefore come into force next year.
For the official announcement and additional information on the Erasmus+ Programme, follow the link from the European Commission.
Student exchange is a major factor in the internationalisation of universities. Students looking for an international study programme are able to use U-Multirank to compare universities and study programmes across a broad range of international performance measures. U-Multirank’s International Orientation Rankings are a good start to help you on your way to finding the best international Erasmus exchange for you. This ranking takes into account four aspects of internationalisation:
To find the best international university for you, compare more than 1,000 universities in our latest International Orientation Rankings. This ranking can also be personalised by countries, study level, study subjects and even other performance measures in the areas of teaching & learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation and regional engagement.