In its project presented on 15 March and entitled Erasmus Plus Virtual, the European Commission proposes participation in cross-border partnerships, as provided for in Erasmus+, but without leaving one’s home country.
Last December, on the strength of the Erasmus+ university exchange programme, the European Commission launched a pilot project encouraging cooperation between young people from different countries. This cooperation may take four different forms: - open and substantial online courses on various and varied themes ranging from geology to citizenship; advocacy training in the form of a small Parliament; groups of transnational projects; and framed discussion that could, among other things, tackle religion.
Unlike Erasmus+, which is focused on university exchanges, the Erasmus Plus Virtual project targets young people aged 18 to 35 from the 33 countries taking part in Erasmus+, and those of the southern region of the Mediterranean (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia).
The pilot project was launched in December 2017 and has already given rise to the training of 40 moderators. It should continue during the whole of 2018 thanks to a €2 million budget. The Commission sets itself the objective of reaching 8,000 people. It has now announced that, if successful, it may renew the exercise in 2019 with an additional €2 million (in order to reach an additional 17,000 young people, i.e. a total of 25,000 beneficiaries). In a press release, the European Commission states: “in the future, Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange could become a regular action and be expanded to reach even more young people in other regions”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)