Three times as many people could benefit from the Erasmus + programme in the future. On Wednesday 30 May, the European Commission proposed providing this education, training, youth and sport programme with a total budget of €30 billion for the 2021-2027 period, which is twice the amount of the current programming period.
Jyrki Katainen, Vice-President of the Commission for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “We must strengthen Erasmus. For over 30 years it has been one of the most important programmes because it shows everyone what integration is all about. It is the very essence of a borderless Europe”.
The Erasmus programme, takes its name from the Dutch Philosopher and humanist, Erasmus, who travelled through Europe in the 15th century driven by a thirst for knowledge It is not a new programme and was set up in 1987 to support student mobility in higher education. Since 2014 it has also covered education, training, youth and sports programme under the banner of Erasmus +. It has also replaced the Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus Mundus programmes, as well as the Grundtvig programme.
Main novelties
According to one European source, the current structure of the Erasmus + programme has been maintained for the 2021-2027 period. It keeps its three main areas of action together with the specific objectives: education and training, youth and sport. What is new, however, is that each of these three areas will include three key actions: “mobility for education and training purposes” (key action No.1), “cooperation between organisations and institutions” (key action No. 2) and “support for drawing up policies and developing cooperation” (key action No. 3).
The Commission is proposing to increase the Erasmus budget to €30 billion for the 2021-2027 period (as opposed to €14.7 billion for the 2014-2020 period) in view of reaching 12 million beneficiaries. This amount is expected to be distributed in the following way: €25.9 billion for education and training (with, for example, a minimum of €1.1 billion for adult education); €3.1 billion for youth and €550 million for sport. The Commission is reserving €960 million as a contribution to the national agencies' operational costs.
The draft regulation of around 70 pages includes the “Investing in Human Resources” chapter on the long-term draft budget presented by the Commission on 2 May 2018 (see EUROPE 12013). Ideally, it should apply from 1 January 2021 in the EU 27, given that the United Kingdom is leaving the EU. Its aim is to create the foundations for a European education area by 2025 (see EUROPE 11904). The text of the proposal can be consulted at the following link: https://bit.ly/2IX7p2y . (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)