Erasmus+: an expected budget of €3 billion to be invested in young Europeans and to help create European Universities in 2019

Today, the Commission published its 2019 call for proposals for the Erasmus+ programme. From an expected budget of €3 billion for next year, €30 million has been set aside for dedicated European Universities. This is a new initiative that was endorsed by European Union leaders at the Gothenburg Social Summit last November, and part of the push towards establishing a European Education Area by 2025.

Tibor Navracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, said: “One year on, the European Commission is delivering on the commitment made to Member States to build a European Education Area by 2025. We are working towards a Europe where learning, studying and carrying out research are not blocked by borders. No walls hampering excellence, innovation and inclusiveness in education. European Universities have a real potential to transform the higher education landscape in Europe, and I am proud that we are giving them a strong push through the Erasmus+ programme.“

The 2019 call for proposals under the Erasmus+ programme

Any public or private body active in the fields of education, training, youth and sport may apply for funding under the 2019 call for proposals for the Erasmus+ Programme. In addition, groups of young people who are active in youth work, but who do not form a youth organisation, may apply for funding.

Together with the call for proposals, today the Commission also published the Erasmus+ Programme Guide in all official EU languages, which provides applicants with details on all opportunities for students, staff, trainees, teachers and more available in Erasmus+ for 2019.

€30 million for European Universities

As part of the creation of a European Education Area by 2025, the Commission proposed the set-up European Universities in the European Union.

As part of the 2019 call for proposals, the Commission will launch a pilot programme which will support six European University alliances, each consisting of a minimum of 3 higher education institutions from 3 countries to promote a strengthened European identity, while also boosting excellence and helping to make European higher education institutions more competitive. Applicants have to submit their grant applications to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency by 28 February 2019 for alliances starting between 1 September and 1 December in the same year.

A second pilot call should follow next year with a full roll out of the initiative envisaged under the next long-term EU budget as from 2021. The aim is to build some twenty European Universities by 2024.
Background

At the Gothenburg Social Summit in November 2017, European Union leaders outlined a vision for Europe to harness the full potential of education and culture to create a resilient workforce, social fairness, active citizenship and an experience of European identity in all its diversity.

Supporting the creation of of European Universities will contribute to this objective, by bringing together a new generation of Europeans, who are able to cooperate and work within different European and global cultures, in different languages, and across borders, sectors and academic disciplines.