Erasmus is a European Union student exchange program established in 1987. Erasmus + is the new program combining all the current European Union education, training, youth and sport programs, launched in January 2014. More than 10 million people have participated in it in the last 30 years.

More opportunities to participate

The program clearly provides more opportunities to participate. The new Erasmus+ will provide more tools and resources to support social inclusion. The European Commission and the Member States should draw up action plans to improve access to learning and mobility for people who traditionally have fewer opportunities to participate in the program. For example, people with disabilities, living in poverty, in remote areas, people from immigrant families, and other vulnerable groups.

Mobility for adult learners

Compared to the previous Erasmus+, the new program will now also cover students participating in adult education programs in another EU country for periods of up to six months. It will help people of all ages and backgrounds to acquire new life and work skills, so that they are better prepared to deal with the changes brought about by the impending green and digital transition, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

Simpler access to a greener Erasmus+

The new Erasmus+ will be simpler and easier to manage for those who apply, with more user-friendly information systems and less bureaucracy. The program will provide a special funding system for "small-scale partnerships", which will target smaller organizations, such as youth associations and sports clubs

Innovative training models

The DiscoverEU initiative is now part of Erasmus+. Thanks to this initiative, young people can apply for a free pass that allows them to travel across Europe for educational purposes (eg intensive foreign language courses, participation in museum workshops) and thus discover the cultural and linguistic diversity of Europe. The "European Universities" initiative will allow students to obtain a degree combining study in different EU countries. A third initiative is the "Vocational Excellence Centres", which will create local skills development ecosystems with international connections.

MEPs spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of young people and stressed the importance of Erasmus+, which has been hailed by citizens as the most successful of the EU programs. The program has proven to play a special role in promoting European identity.