News | European Parliament
Find out more about Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship programme that supports education, training, sport and young people.
Launched in 1987, Erasmus+ has funded millions of learning opportunities. While it started as a student exchange programme, it now also offers opportunities to teachers, trainees and volunteers of all ages, paying special attention to ensuring accessibility and inclusiveness.
Erasmus+ helps to boost knowledge and skills, create employment opportunities and build a sense of European belonging.
Find out more
MEPs negotiated an additional €1.7 billion for the programme, helping to almost double the budget from the 2014-2020 period. This should enable about 10 million people to participate in activities abroad over the next seven years, including students, professors, teachers and trainers in all sectors.
The centres of vocational excellence, which were proposed by MEPs, are now part of the new Erasmus+. These international centres provide quality vocational training so that people can develop useful skills in key sectors.
A priority of the Parliament, the programme is now more accessible and more inclusive. This means more people who are disadvantaged can participate and benefit from language training, administrative support, mobility or e-learning opportunities.
In line with EU priorities, Erasmus+ will focus on the digital and green transitions and promote a healthy lifestyle as well as lifelong learning for adults.
What is Erasmus+?
Erasmus+ is an EU programme supporting opportunities for education, training, young people and sport in Europe. It started as a student exchange programme in 1987, but since 2014 it also offers opportunities for teachers, trainees and volunteers of all ages.
More than nine million people have taken part in the Erasmus+ programme over the last 30 years and nearly 940,000 people benefited from the programme in 2019 alone. The programme currently covers 33 countries (all 27 EU countries as well as Turkey, North Macedonia, Serbia, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and is open to partner countries across the world.
According to the European Commission, a third of Erasmus+ trainees are offered a position by the company they trained in. In addition, the unemployment rate of young people who studied or trained abroad is 23% lower than that of their non-mobile peers five years after graduation.
How to apply
Erasmus+ has opportunities for people as well as organisations from all over the world.
The application procedure and the preparation can differ depending on what part of the programme you apply for. Discover more information about it here.
