Authors: Arabella Seits and Maria Madalena Bragança Fontes-Sailler

Learning in and cooperating within Europe is ideal in order to strengthen your educational institution. ERASMUS+ offers many easy opportunities to do so. In this blog post, you can discover which highlights the new EU programme offers to adult education institutions!

The current programme features mobility and cooperation possibilities while defining four horizontal priorities:

• Inclusion and diversity
• Digital transformation
• Environment and fight against climate change
• Participation in democratic life, common values, and civic engagement

Mobility and cooperation possibilities for adult education

ERASMUS+ Adult Education supports cross-border collaboration between adult education institutions. The aim is to improve the quality of adult education in Europe.

In order to achieve this objective, there is Learning mobility of individuals (Key Action 1) and Cooperation among organisations and institutions (Key Action 2). Adult education institutions can apply for ERASMUS+ funding through each of these two Key Actions. It depends on the needs of your institution which Key Action is the correct one for you.

© OEAD, Gianmaria Gava

Key Action 1 – Learning mobility of individuals

Does your adult education institution wish to facilitate education and training in Europe for staff as well as for learners with fewer opportunities? Then you should choose Key Action 1! Your staff can then attend courses in Europe, give guest lectures, and observe the work of other organisations. Learners with fewer opportunities, on the other hand, can become mobile as a group or as individuals. However, the new programme not only assists people travelling from Austria to other European countries, but also those wishing to travel to Austria from Europe. So, you could invite experts to come to Austria, for instance! This would allow training to take place at your own institution, thus benefiting many employees.

It is also possible to include adult educators who are currently in training and wish to complete an internship in Austria. Sending institutions receive a grant for every mobility participant. The amount of funding depends on the type of visit, the host country, and the length of stay. Applications for additional funds can be made in the case of participants with fewer opportunities.

The mentioned mobility opportunities can either be applied for via an Erasmus accreditation or via a short-term project. Erasmus accreditation is particularly suitable for organisations that want to participate (nearly) every year. They can apply once for accreditation (as an individual organisation or coordinator of an Austrian mobility consortium) and then gain simplified access to the annual budget.

Accreditation therefore creates financial planning security and long-term prospects for carrying out Erasmus activities. It is also flexible and grows along with the plans of the institution. Through accreditation, every organisation can determine its own pace for European collaboration, and transition to more ambitious and complex activities as it gains more experience. 

If you (still) would like to apply for accreditation or wish to be part of a consortium, then short-term projects present a very attractive alternative! Short-term projects are ideal for organisations that want to gain initial experience with ERASMUS+ and/or only wish to carry out mobility activities occasionally. These projects are limited with regard to the duration and number of mobilities, and can only be conducted three times within a period of five consecutive years.

© OEAD, Gianmaria Gava

Key Action 2 – Cooperation among organisations and institutions

Does your institution wish to increase the quality and relevance of its activities, develop networks, promote internationalisation, transfer innovative methods, and work together with other institutions from different countries over a longer period on a topic of your choice within the scope of the ERASMUS+ priorities? If the answer is yes, then cooperation among organisations and institutions is the perfect choice!

Every project must address at least one of the four horizontal priorities or one specific priority of adult education (see programme guide part B, Key Action 2). The programme differentiates between Cooperation Partnerships and Small-scale Partnerships. If you are already familiar with Key Action 2 from the past, then the invoicing of lump sums will nevertheless be new to you. One new aspect is that activities from both of these categories will be funded by means of lump sums. The applicant organisation and its partners determine their activities, estimate the total costs of the project being applied for, and then choose the lump sum which best suits the needs of the partnership. The requirements can increase according to the requested level of funding.

Cooperation Partnerships are particularly suitable for experienced organisations and for large-scale projects. The main aspects in this context are the development of new methods, the expansion of networks, and the internationalisation of activities.

The projects should deliver results and provide learning experiences which are reusable and transferable, and which can be utilised on a large scale. This category applies to projects between at least three institutions from at least three EU Member States or third countries associated with the programme, with project durations of twelve to 36 months. Activities are funded by means of three different possible lump sums (either EUR 120,000, 250,000, or 400,000 per project).

Small-scale Partnerships are aimed at less experienced institutions and newcomers to the ERASMUS+ programme which have limited organisational capacities; the entry threshold for this category is rather low. In addition, it facilitates access to the ERASMUS+ programme for disadvantaged target groups. Small-scale Partnerships are collaborations between at least two institutions from at least two different EU Member States or third countries associated with the programme. The funding for this category is lower (EUR 30,000 or 60,000 per project), the project duration is shorter (6–24 months), and the administrative effort is less than in the case of Cooperation Partnerships.

Application deadlines, advice, and information

The application deadlines for Key Action 1 and Key Action 2 have been published on our website: https://erasmusplus.at/de/erwachsenenbildung

The adult education team at OeAD | National Agency for ERASMUS+ also provides information events, webinars, and advisory services. Please feel free to contact us at: erwachsenenbildung@oead.at

If you would like to be informed automatically about new application deadlines and events concerning the EU programme ERASMUS+ as well as the European Solidarity Corps, then simply register for the OeAD Erasmus+ Europa bewegt newsletter here: https://oead.at/de/newsletter

About the authors:

Arabella Seits is a project coordinator for Key Action 1 in the area of adult education as well as an employee of Euroguidance (European network for education and career guidance) at OeAD. She previously worked in the fields of internationalisation and public relations in the education segment for many years. She studied international development, African studies, and EU project management in Austria, Tanzania, and France.

Maria Madalena Bragança Fontes-Sailler is a project coordinator for Key Action 2 as well as a certified quality manager (TÜV-Austria Academy) in the area of adult education at OeAD. She has been working at OeAD since 1997. Originally from Portugal, she completed a degree in philosophy at the University of Porto, and taught philosophy at a secondary school in Portugal. She then completed a post-graduate joint master’s degree in European tourism management at universities in England and Germany.