The Erasmus+ Programme

Erasmus+ is the EU's funding programme for education, training, youth and sport. Its core aim is to support people's personal, educational and professional development through learning mobility and cooperation between organisations — with the bigger goal of building stronger, more inclusive societies across Europe.

The programme has three areas of focus:

• Education & training — mobility, cooperation, quality, and innovation for learners, staff and institutions
• Youth — non-formal learning, active participation, and cooperation for young people and youth organisations
• Sport — mobility and cooperation for sport staff and organisations

Every Erasmus+ project also has to connect to at least one of four horizontal priorities, which apply across every field:

1. Inclusion & diversity — reaching people with fewer opportunities (disability, migrant background, rural/remote areas, socio-economic barriers, etc.)
2. Environment & climate action — building green skills and sustainable practices into project design
3. Digital transformation — digital skills, digital readiness, and responsible use of technology (including AI)
4. Common values & civic engagement — active citizenship, critical thinking, media literacy, democratic participation

This isn't just framing — applicants select which priority (or priorities) their project addresses at application stage, and it directly feeds into how the proposal is scored. A proposal that only pays lip service to a priority, rather than genuinely designing activities around it, is an easy way to lose points.

Erasmus+ organises everything it funds into three Key Actions, plus a separate strand for Jean Monnet Actions:

• Key Action 1 — Learning Mobility of Individuals — funds people going abroad to learn: mobility for students, staff, trainees and young people in higher education, VET, school education, adult education and youth work, plus Erasmus accreditation, DiscoverEU, and virtual exchanges.
• Key Action 2 — Cooperation Among Organisations & Institutions — funds organisations working together: Partnerships for Cooperation (Cooperation Partnerships, Small-Scale Partnerships, European Partnerships for School Development), Partnerships for Excellence (Centres of Vocational Excellence, Erasmus Mundus), Partnerships for Innovation (Alliances for Innovation), Capacity Building projects, and sport events. This is where KA210 and KA220 live.
• Key Action 3 — Support to Policy Development & Cooperation — funds larger-scale policy work, mainly through European Youth Together.
• Jean Monnet Actions — a separate strand supporting the teaching of EU studies, in higher education and other education/training settings.

Each Key Action is run slightly differently — some parts are managed by your National Agency, others directly by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) in Brussels. Which one applies to you depends on the specific action, not just the Key Action it sits under.

Erasmus+ funds organisations, not individuals — natural persons can't apply directly (the one exception is self-employed sole traders with no separate legal entity). Age limits for participants themselves vary by action type and are covered case-by-case in each action's own section below.

Full participants — these countries can take part in every action of the Programme:

EU Member States (27): Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden

Third countries associated to the Programme (6): Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye

Third countries not associated to the Programme — many other countries can join specific actions under specific conditions, usually grouped by region, e.g.:

• Western Balkans (Region 1): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro
• Neighbourhood East (Region 2): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine (Belarus is currently excluded from most actions due to EU sanctions)

...plus several other regions (South Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, Pacific) that apply to a narrower set of actions — mainly Capacity Building and some KA1 mobility strands. These countries can usually only participate as partners, not as project coordinator, and exact eligibility depends entirely on the specific action.

In general, any organisation active in education, training, youth or sport can participate — schools, universities, VET providers, NGOs, youth organisations, public authorities, and in some actions, private companies and other labour-market players.

*Kosovo is referenced per UNSCR 1244 / ICJ opinion, without prejudice to status.

Erasmus+ has an overall financial envelope of roughly €26 billion for the 2021–2027 period, set by the EU Budgetary Authority and split out annually across all the Key Actions. Exactly how much is available for each action in a given year is published in the Annual Work Programme — this changes yearly, so the numbers in the Compare table further down are the current best reference point.

At the individual project level, grants take one of three simplified forms rather than reimbursing exact receipts:

• Lump sum — a fixed amount, set in advance based on your proposed budget, the evaluation score, and a funding rate (commonly 80–95% depending on the action). You report on what you achieved, not on itemised spending. This is the model used for KA210 and KA220 — the amount is fixed once your proposal is evaluated, based on the detailed budget table you submit at application stage.
• Unit costs — certain cost categories (like individual mobility support under KA1) are reimbursed at a fixed rate per unit — per participant, per day, per volunteer — set centrally rather than negotiated per project.
• Budget-based mixed actual cost — a blend of the two, broken down by budget category and beneficiary; less common in the actions covered here.

The practical upshot for applicants: your proposal needs a credible budget broken into clear work packages (e.g. project management, training, events, dissemination), because that breakdown is what the lump sum gets fixed against — not a literal receipts-based expense sheet. A couple of rules worth knowing upfront: subcontracting is generally capped at 10% of the awarded grant, and if the budget table includes ineligible costs, the grant can be reduced later, even after the project has started.

This action funds higher education institutions to send students and staff abroad — student mobility for studies or traineeships (or a combination), and staff mobility for teaching or training. It also covers Blended Intensive Programmes, where groups of institutions jointly run short mobility activities combined with an online component.

Who can apply? Only HEIs holding a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) — this is a gatekeeping requirement, not something added at proposal stage.

Duration: Student mobility runs 2–12 months (or 5–30 days for blended/short formats, with a compulsory virtual component and minimum 3 ECTS). Staff mobility is typically shorter. Students can accumulate up to 12 months of mobility per study cycle (bachelor, master, doctoral) across multiple activities.

Worth knowing: unlike KA210/KA220, this action isn't competitively scored on quality — an HEI's project quality was already vetted when it obtained its ECHE. Any eligible application that passes the checks gets funded, with the grant amount driven mainly by how many mobilities are requested and the institution's track record. This is a fundamentally different game from writing a competitive KA2 proposal.

Accreditation is a route for organisations that want to send people abroad regularly, rather than applying project-by-project. Instead of writing a fresh proposal every time, an accredited organisation submits an Erasmus Plan once — a medium-term strategy for how mobility fits their development — and then gets simplified, ongoing access to mobility funding for as long as the accreditation lasts.

Key points:

• No prior Erasmus+ experience is required to apply.
• Available separately for VET, school education, and adult education — an organisation can hold accreditation in more than one field, but needs a separate application for each.
• You can apply as an individual organisation, or as the coordinator of a mobility consortium (a group of organisations in the same country running mobility together under one Erasmus Plan) — not both, in the same field.
• Accredited organisations must commit to the official Erasmus quality standards, and performance is monitored — poor implementation can lead to observation, suspension, or termination of the accreditation.
• Strong performers can be recognised with an excellence label.
• Deadline: 29 September, applications go to your National Agency.

Why it matters for prospective clients: accreditation is a different product from a one-off KA210/KA220 proposal — it's a strategic commitment, not a single grant application, and worth distinguishing clearly if a client asks about it versus a partnership project.

This action funds VET providers to send learners and staff abroad for job shadowing, professional development courses, traineeships, and — the flagship format — ErasmusPro, long-term placements of up to a year.

Learner mobility formats:

• VET skills competitions (1–10 days)
• Group mobility (2–30 days, minimum two learners)
• Short-term learning mobility (10–89 days)
• ErasmusPro — long-term mobility (90–365 days), with a strong work-based component and an individual learning plan per participant

Who's eligible: learners and apprentices enrolled in initial or continuing VET (iVET/cVET); recent graduates remain eligible up to 12 months after graduating.

Access routes: either a standard short-term project (6–18 months, good for first-time applicants or a limited number of activities), or, for organisations wanting to run mobility regularly, an Erasmus accreditation (see the section above) giving simplified, ongoing access.

Funding is unit-cost based, not lump sum — e.g. €150/participant for linguistic support, €680/participant for preparatory visits, plus travel and subsistence rates that vary by distance and duration. This is a meaningfully different funding shape from KA210/KA220, worth flagging clearly if a VET provider asks you to help with "an Erasmus proposal" without specifying which action.

This action funds schools to send pupils and staff abroad — group mobility, individual short-term or long-term mobility for pupils, plus staff mobility for job shadowing, teaching, and training. It aims to make learning mobility a realistic option for any pupil, not just top performers or those already inclined to travel.

Pupil mobility formats:

• Group mobility — a group of pupils travels together, accompanied by teachers for the full duration
• Short-term individual mobility — a pupil studies or trains at a partner school/organisation abroad, on an individual learning programme (minimum 2 days for participants with fewer opportunities)
• Long-term individual mobility — same idea, longer duration, with mandatory pre-departure training and extra organisational/linguistic support funding

Who's eligible: pupils enrolled at the sending school (some flexibility for pupils schooled outside institutional settings, where that practice exists in a country).

Access routes — same two-track model as VET: a short-term project (6–18 months, best for first-timers or limited activity plans, only open to individual schools/authorities, not consortium coordinators), or an Erasmus accreditation for organisations wanting ongoing, regular access.

One nuance worth knowing: accredited organisations cannot apply for short-term projects — once you're accredited, that's your access route.

This action funds adult education providers — and a genuinely broad range of organisations beyond formal schools — to run mobility for adult learners and staff. Eligible organisations include adult learning centres, NGOs and volunteering organisations, counselling centres, libraries, museums, and community/cultural centres, as well as organisations working with people with disabilities, senior citizens, or people at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Who counts as an "adult learner" is intentionally broad: anyone benefiting from an organisation's adult education activities — including informal and non-formal settings (guidance services, community learning), as long as the organisation and activity are recognised as eligible by the National Authority in that country.

Formats:

• Group mobility — best for simpler activities using existing content/resources; trainers accompany the group throughout
• Short-term individual mobility — an adult learner spends a period abroad on an individual learning programme
• Long-term individual mobility — same idea, longer duration, more institutional investment required

Typical activity themes: citizenship, learning about Europe, community service, volunteering, intergenerational exchange, critical thinking, active ageing.

Access routes: the same two-track model as VET and school education — a short-term project (limited scale, for first-timers, not open to consortium coordinators or already-accredited organisations), or an Erasmus accreditation for ongoing access.

This is the youth-field equivalent of the VET/School/Adult accreditation — a route to regular, simplified access to funding rather than applying project-by-project. Successful applicants get streamlined access to Youth Exchanges (KA152-YOU) and Mobility Projects for Youth Workers.

Who can apply: non-profits, associations, NGOs, European Youth NGOs, public bodies, social enterprises, or profit-making bodies active in corporate social responsibility (non-commercial involvement only) — established in an EU Member State or associated country, and legally established at least 2 years with relevant youth-field experience.

Important difference from the VET/School/Adult accreditation: this one is actually competitively scored, not a pass/fail eligibility check. Applications are evaluated out of 100 points across three criteria — Relevance (20), Strategic Development (40), Quality of Management & Coordination (40) — and must clear 70/100 overall plus at least half the points in each criterion. In countries with high demand, the National Agency can cap the number of accreditations awarded and rank applicants by score. This is a meaningfully higher bar than the education-sector accreditations, and worth flagging clearly to any youth-sector client who assumes accreditation is just paperwork.

Validity: runs through the end of the current programming period (2027), with activity plans typically covering 3–4 years.

Once accredited, organisations don't submit a fresh project proposal each round — they apply against their existing Activity Plan, estimating how many activities and participants they'll run rather than describing each one in detail. This is the practical payoff of going through accreditation.

Eligible activities: Youth Exchanges and Youth Worker professional development activities, plus preparatory visits and system development/outreach activities (only alongside youth worker professional development).

Duration: 12–24 months (starts at 12, can be extended to 24 after the first year).

Deadline: 12 February, for projects starting 1 June the same year.

One important restriction: accredited youth organisations cannot apply for funding under the standard Youth Exchanges or Youth Worker Mobility calls — accreditation replaces that route, not adds to it. They can still join someone else's standard project as a partner, though.

Worth flagging to clients: this section only matters once an organisation already holds the accreditation. For anyone asking "should I get accredited or just apply for a Youth Exchange directly," the real answer is about scale and regularity — a one-off project doesn't justify going through accreditation first.

This action funds the professional development of youth workers themselves — not the young people they work with. It's about building the capacity and quality of youth work as a field, contributing to the EU Youth Work Agenda.

Eligible activities (Professional Development Activities):

• Study visits, job shadowing, youth worker exchanges, peer learning abroad
• Networking and community building among participating youth workers
• Training courses building specific competences
• Seminars and workshops for knowledge-building and sharing best practices

Projects can also include preparatory visits and, for more experienced organisations, system development and outreach activities — testing innovative methods and producing tools that benefit the wider youth work field, not just the project itself.

Explicitly not eligible: academic study trips, profit-making activities, tourism, festivals, holiday travel, performance tours, or statutory meetings — worth knowing since these are the kind of activities a client might assume qualify but don't.

Access: same standard/accredited two-track model as Youth Exchanges — a standard project (one-off or limited activities) or, for organisations wanting regular access, the Erasmus Youth accreditation covered earlier.

This action funds young people to engage directly in democratic and civic life — not learning mobility in the traditional sense, but structured dialogue, debate, and civic action, often bringing young people together with actual decision-makers.

Activity types include:

• Dialogues and structured discussions between young people and decision-makers, aimed at making youth voices count in policy that affects them
• Civic action and youth activism — raising awareness and pushing for change on issues young people care about
• Can be run at national level (single country) or transnational/international level (multiple countries)

Who can apply: the same eligible organisation types as Youth Exchanges (NGOs, public bodies, social enterprises, non-commercial CSR bodies) or an informal group of young people (minimum 4, aged 13–30).

Scale requirements: national projects need just one participating organisation; transnational/international projects need at least two, from different countries.

Duration: 3–24 months for the overall project.

Deadlines: same as Youth Exchanges — 12 February or 1 October, depending on start date.

Distinct from Youth Exchanges in one key way: the focus here is civic/political engagement and influencing decision-making, not general non-formal learning or cultural exchange. If a client describes a project centred on "getting young people's voices heard by local government" or similar, this is likely the better-fitting action rather than a Youth Exchange.

DiscoverEU gives 18-year-olds a short travel experience across Europe, mostly by rail. The Inclusion Action is the extension of this for young people aged 18–21 with fewer opportunities who wouldn't otherwise apply on their own initiative.

How it works: 1 to 5 young people with fewer opportunities from the same country travel together for a short period, using a travel pass (valid 30 days, unlimited train travel on 7 designated travel days). The organisation supports the young people through four project stages: planning, preparation, implementation, and follow-up — this isn't just funded tourism, learning outcomes must be identified and documented, typically via Youthpass.

Who runs it: one organisation or informal group of young people, sending one or more small groups. Cooperation with organisations in other countries (for activities, hosting, etc.) is possible but optional.

Not eligible: academic study trips, profit-making activities, performance tours, statutory meetings, or adult-led training courses.

Practical note: this is a genuinely niche, small-scale action — a single small group with a travel pass, not a multi-partner project. It's unlikely to be a significant service line for you, but worth being able to explain clearly if a youth organisation asks about it specifically (it's easily confused with a Youth Exchange, which is a very different scope and budget).

This action funds professional development mobility for coaches and other sport staff at grassroots level — the focus is explicitly on grassroots sport (local clubs, non-profit sport organisations), not elite or professional sport.

Who can apply: public or private organisations active in grassroots sport (non-profits, local public authorities, sport clubs), or non-grassroots organisations (e.g. national federations) where their staff's participation clearly benefits grassroots sport.

Eligible participants: coaches and sport staff at grassroots level, staff from non-grassroots sport (including dual-career or non-sport-career staff) where relevant, and volunteers other than coaches.

Activity formats:

• Job shadowing / observation periods — 2–14 consecutive days
• Coaching and training assignments — 7–45 consecutive days
• Preparatory visits are available as a supporting arrangement, not a standalone activity

Duration & deadlines: overall project runs 3–18 months; standard deadline is 12 February, with National Agencies able to open an optional second round (deadline 1 October) at their discretion. An organisation can only submit once per round, and can't apply again in the second round if it already received funding in the first.

Practical note: this is a genuinely different applicant profile from your usual clients (sport clubs and federations rather than NGOs/schools) — worth flagging if this ever comes up, since it's a smaller, more specialised niche than your core KA210/KA220/KA152-YOU work.

Online, facilitator-moderated people-to-people activities that give young people (13–30) intercultural dialogue and soft-skills development without physical mobility. Despite sitting under KA1, this action is structured very differently from the rest of the Key Action.

Who can apply: legal entities active in higher education or youth (non-formal education) — universities, HEI associations, youth organisations, or recognised student/teacher/rector bodies. The coordinator must specifically be a youth organisation or HEI, based in an EU Member State or associated country.

Scale — this is a big-consortium action, not a small mobility project:

• Minimum 6 independent beneficiary organisations from 6 different eligible countries
• Must include a mix of EU/associated-country organisations and organisations from an eligible third-country region (Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South Mediterranean, or Sub-Saharan Africa) — cross-regional projects aren't eligible
• Project duration: 36 months
• Managed centrally by EACEA, not National Agencies — applications go via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal

Funding: lump sum, up to €500,000 per project, capped at €200 per participant — meaning a maximum grant requires at least 2,500 participants.

Worth flagging clearly: despite the KA1 label, this is functionally closer in scale and complexity to a KA2 consortium project than to a typical mobility action. If a client asks about "virtual exchanges," don't default to KA1 pricing/scope assumptions — this is a much bigger undertaking.

A distinct strand within Partnerships for Cooperation, aimed specifically at school authorities — not individual schools acting alone. It's about building institutional capacity across a local school system, not just running one school's international project.

Who can apply: the coordinator must specifically be a local/regional school authority or school coordination body — not a school itself. Schools, teacher/parent associations, and other school-system stakeholders can join as partners.

Consortium requirements: at least 6 participating organisations, and — notably strict — the applicant's own country plus at least one other country must each include at least one school authority and at least two schools.

Eligible activities, split into two categories (projects must do at least 3 tasks total, with at least one from each category):

1. Improving quality of learning and teaching — innovative teaching methods, CLIL, collaborative co-teaching across countries
2. Internationalisation and capacity building — professional development structures, recognition of learning outcomes, training school leaders and staff to run mobility programmes independently

Funding: fixed lump sum of €400,000 per project.

Important distinction: this action must build lasting institutional capacity, not just replicate a KA1 mobility project — it's explicitly meant to create synergies with KA1 mobility and accreditation, not duplicate them. If a school district asks about this, the right question is whether they're trying to build systemic capacity across multiple schools (this action) or just send pupils/staff abroad (KA1 mobility instead).

A large-scale, EACEA-managed action building transnational VET "skills ecosystems" — networks bringing together VET providers, companies, social partners, and public authorities to drive systemic reform in vocational training.

Who can apply: legal entities (public or private) active in VET or the world of work, established in an EU Member State or associated country.

Scale: this is a large-scale action — lump-sum funding at an 80% rate, with a maximum EU grant of €4,000,000 per project. Award criteria weight "Relevance" heavily (35 of 100 points), with strong emphasis on links to EU-level VET policy frameworks (Union of Skills, Osnabrück/Herning Declarations, Clean Industrial Deal).

A higher-education-only action supporting jointly-delivered international Master's programmes, split into two independent lots — completing one isn't a prerequisite or advantage for the other.

Lot 1 — Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters (EMJM): funds a consortium of HEIs worldwide to jointly deliver and jointly recognise an actual Master's programme (ISCED level 7), including EU-funded scholarships for top students. This is a flagship prestige action — HEIs must hold a valid ECHE, and the scoring heavily weights genuine "jointness" (shared curriculum, mutual credit recognition, joint degree) rather than a loosely coordinated set of national programmes.

Lot 2 — Erasmus Mundus Design Measures (EMDM): a smaller, single-beneficiary grant (€60,000, 15 months) to help a single HEI develop and design a future EMJM proposal — covers costs like meetings, studies, and accreditation groundwork, not the programme itself.

A large-scale, EACEA-managed action bringing together higher education, VET, and enterprises to drive innovation and address skills gaps — split into three lots (Alliances for Education and Enterprises, Alliances for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills / "Blueprint", and STEM Skills Foundries).

Who can apply: a wide range of organisations — HEIs, VET providers, enterprises (including SMEs), research institutes, NGOs, public bodies, chambers of commerce, and various intermediary bodies — established in an EU Member State or associated country.

Scale (Lot 1 — Alliances for Education and Enterprises, the main one):

• Minimum 8 beneficiary organisations from at least 4 different EU/associated countries
• Must include at least 3 labour market actors (enterprises, trade associations) and 3 education/training providers, with at least one HEI and one VET provider
• Project duration: 24 or 36 months
• Funding: lump sum, up to €1–1.5 million depending on duration and lot (higher for Lot 2's Blueprint alliances, up to €4 million)

An international development-oriented action: CBHE funds partnerships between EU/associated-country HEIs and higher education institutions in third countries not associated to the Programme, with benefits explicitly directed at strengthening those third countries' higher education systems — this is EU external-action funding, not intra-European cooperation.

Who can apply: legal entities in the higher education field or labour market — HEIs, HEI associations, or related organisations. Only HEIs (or HEI organisations) can coordinate.

Scale: large, multi-country, multi-year projects targeting specific world regions (Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, etc.), each with its own budget envelope and regional priorities tied to EU external policy (Global Gateway, Pact for the Mediterranean).

Duration: typically 24–36 months, extendable.

An international development action supporting cooperation between VET providers and organisations in EU/associated countries and third countries not associated to the Programme, aimed at strengthening VET systems' relevance and responsiveness to labour market needs in those third countries.

Who can apply: legal entities active in VET or the labour market — VET providers, employers/industry representatives, qualification authorities, research institutes, and similar. The coordinator must be from an EU Member State or associated country.

Consortium: minimum 4 EU/associated countries, at least 8 beneficiary organisations, with each of those countries required to include at least one enterprise/industry representative and one VET provider.

Eligible regions: the third-country side spans Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Caribbean, each with dedicated calls and budget envelopes.

Thematic areas include work-based learning, quality assurance, teacher/trainer professional development, green and digital skills, and curriculum development.

An international cooperation action supporting partnerships between youth organisations in EU/associated countries and organisations in specific third-country regions — Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South Mediterranean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. It supports non-formal learning and youth work as drivers of socio-economic development in those regions.

Who can apply: NGOs (including European Youth NGOs and national Youth Councils) or public bodies working in the youth field. Other organisation types can join but not as coordinator.

Consortium: minimum 4 organisations — at least 1 from an EU/associated country and at least 2 from the same eligible third-country region. Cross-regional projects aren't eligible.

Thematic areas include political participation and civic engagement, inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities, democracy and youth leadership, peace and post-conflict reconciliation, environment and climate, and digital/entrepreneurial skills.

Duration: 12–36 months, managed by EACEA.

An international cooperation action supporting sport organisations in EU/associated countries partnering with organisations in Western Balkans and Neighbourhood East third countries, using sport as a tool for personal development, social inclusion, and community cohesion.

Objectives: building capacity of grassroots sport organisations, encouraging sport and physical activity, promoting social inclusion and positive values (fair play, tolerance, team spirit), and fostering cross-regional cooperation.

Thematic areas include promoting common values and gender equality through sport, developing skills for disadvantaged groups, integration of migrants, and post-conflict reconciliation.

Activities must focus on building capacity of sport organisations principally in the third countries covered by the action, and must be linked directly to one or more of the thematic areas.

Funds the organisation of sport events with a European dimension, focused on one primary theme: volunteering in sport, social inclusion, anti-discrimination, or encouraging healthy lifestyles.

Who can apply: legal entities active in sport — public sport bodies, sport organisations at any level, National Olympic Committees, or organisations in physical activity/active leisure.

Four event categories, each with its own scale and lump sum:

• European local events (Type I): 3–5 organisations from 3–5 countries, €200,000 lump sum
• European local events (Type II): minimum 6 organisations from 6 countries
• European-wide events: minimum 10 organisations, single event in the coordinator's country
• Large-Scale European events: minimum 15 organisations, must showcase at least 7 different sports and include follow-up activities for a full year afterward

Funding is lump sum (except Large-Scale events, which use an 80% co-financing rate against estimated costs).

Key Action 3's flagship action — funds transnational networks of youth organisations (from grassroots to large-scale) to run joint projects, exchanges, and training, reinforcing the European dimension of youth work and connecting to the EU Youth Strategy and European Youth Goals.

Who can apply: NGOs (including European Youth NGOs and national Youth Councils) or public bodies working in youth, established in an EU Member State or associated country. For-profit organisations can join but not coordinate.

Consortium: minimum 5 organisations from at least 5 different EU/associated countries.

Duration: normally 24 months, managed by EACEA.

Mobility activities for young people can form part of a project, but must be clearly justified against the action's broader networking/policy objectives rather than treated as a standalone mobility action.

Supports higher education institutions in teaching and researching European integration, and promoting policy debate between academia and policymakers. Three formats, each a single-applicant HEI project:

• Jean Monnet Modules — short teaching programmes (minimum 40 teaching hours/year, 3 years). Max grant €35,000.
• Jean Monnet Chairs — a specialised teaching post held by one professor (minimum 90 teaching hours/year, 3 years). Max grant €60,000.
• Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence — a focal point gathering high-level expertise across disciplines, with outreach to policymakers and civil society. Max grant €100,000. Only one per HEI at a time.

Who can apply: a single HEI (holding an ECHE if in the EU/associated countries) — these are not consortium actions. Deadline: 3 February, managed by EACEA.

Brings EU studies into schools and VET (ISCED 1–4), rather than universities — via two sub-actions:

• Jean Monnet Teacher Training — HEIs or Teacher Training Institutes design and deliver formal, certificate-ending training for school/VET teachers on EU subjects and teaching methodologies.
• Learning EU Initiatives — schools and VET providers directly embed EU content into their curricula or extracurricular activities (dedicated lessons, co-teaching, study visits), reported in teaching hours.

Who can apply: schools, VET institutions, or HEIs providing teacher training, established in an EU Member State or associated country.

Both sub-actions run as single-applicant or small-scale projects rather than large consortiums, and are lump-sum funded.

Funds Networks — groups of institutions collecting, sharing, and discussing research, course content, and teaching experience on a specific EU policy theme, rather than delivering teaching directly.

Higher education Networks: focus on a theme linked to a Commission priority, gathering research findings and course content across partner institutions.

Networks in other fields of education and training: connect schools, VET providers, and teacher-training HEIs to exchange good practice and co-teaching experience. Consortium: minimum 6 organisations from at least 3 different countries, including at least 4 schools/VET providers and no more than 2 HEIs.

Duration: normally 36 months, lump-sum funded, managed by EACEA.

Submitting an Erasmus+ application follows four steps:

1. Registration — for EACEA-managed actions, register on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for a Participant Identification Code (PIC); for National Agency-managed actions, register through the Erasmus+ Organisation Registration system for an Organisation ID (OID).
2. Check compliance with the eligibility, exclusion, and selection criteria for the specific action you're applying under.
3. Check the financial conditions — funding model (lump sum vs. unit costs), co-financing requirements, and any grant amount rules.
4. Fill in and submit the application form electronically — via the Funding & Tenders Portal for EACEA actions, or the Erasmus+ National Agency platform otherwise. Postal, courier, fax, or email submissions are never accepted.

A dedicated, more detailed walkthrough of this process — including the registration systems, common submission pitfalls, and what evaluators check first — will be published as a separate guide.