If you’ve put an Erasmus+ application together before, you’ll know exactly how much hard work and planning goes into one. It’s extra frustrating then to fall at the final hurdle by missing the deadline or hitting a technical problem! Léargas (Irish National Agency for Erasmus+) has created the below blog post to guide you through how to submit your completed form, and help you avoid the most common problems.  Complete technical guidelines are also available to take you through the online form step-by-step.

1. Check you have the right application form

Erasmus+ uses online application forms. Each form has a different code for its Key Action and Sector.

 KA1: Learning Mobility of Individuals
KA101 School education staff mobility
KA102 VET learner and staff mobility
KA104 Adult education staff mobility
KA105 Youth mobility
KA116 VET learner and staff mobility (only for organisations that hold a KA109 VET mobility charter)

KA2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
KA201 Strategic Partnerships for school education
KA202 Strategic Partnerships for VET
KA204 Strategic Partnerships for adult education
KA205 Strategic Partnerships for youth
KA229 Strategic Partnerships for schools only

KA3: Support for policy reform
KA347 Dialogue between young people and policy makers

The ‘field’ for your project usually depends on the sector that will ultimately benefit. For example, if a school wants to send its teachers on a training course it would apply in the School Education field because it it School Education that benefits from having well-trained teachers. If you have any doubt about which sector you should choose, contact our Client Services team to check.

NB: Using the wrong form (for example, applying on an Adult Education form instead of a School Education form) automatically makes an application ineligible. This is a rule of the European Commission, and Léargas are not able to make any exceptions. So make extra sure that you work with the right form!

All forms are available from the Erasmus+ online applications page. You need an EU login account to see the forms.  If you don’t have one, you can create it though the EU login platform.

2. Protect your work by opening only one version of the form at a time

Once you have the correct form and start to fill in your information, keep only one version of the form open at a time. The forms are set to automatically save your work every two seconds, to minimise the risk of losing data. However, the autosave function can’t operate correctly if you have several versions of the form running in different tabs or windows on your browser. Many experienced coordinators choose to write their applications in a different programme such as MS Word, and then transfer the text into the online application form.

3. Attach your annexes

At the end of every form there is a checklist of supporting documents or annexes to include with the application. These vary depending on the type of project you have. Check the list on your own form carefully to see what is needed! There are templates for some annexes. Click the links to see them.

• Declaration of Honour – this must be printed, signed and attached as a scanned copy to the application form
• Mandate
• Project activity timeline (Gantt chart).

Upload your annexes by clicking ‘add’ in the relevant section of the form.

There is a maximum of ten slots available for uploading files. If you have more attachments than this, bundle documents of the same type together. For example, if you have eleven partners you can combine their mandates into one file instead of adding each one separately.

The maximum total file size is 10MB. If your files are bigger than this, you will need to compress or resize some documents.

4. Validate your application

Some sections of the application form are mandatory. If these sections have not be completed, you will not be able to submit the form. Look for a green box with a tick inside it to show that you have completed the mandatory sections. If you have missed one, you will see a red triangle with an exclamation mark.  You’ll need to fill in information in this section before you can proceed.

5. Submit your application

You are now ready to submit the application! Click ‘submit’ at the end of the form. The ‘submission summary’ section will update with an ID number and the message ‘your submission was successful’.

Your submitted application goes to the central European Commission database, which then sends it to Léargas for evaluation.

NB: Applications received after the deadline are considered late and are automatically deemed ineligible. We say from experience that this includes applications that are even one second late, and that we have no ability to appeal this with the Commission. So our key advice is: PLEASE do not wait until the deadline day to submit!

The only case in which late applications may be eligible is if there is a technical problem on the side of the European Commission, not of the applicant. There are very specific conditions under which a late application caused by a technical problem can be accepted. These are:

• The date and time of the last submission attempt (listed in the submission summary) is before the deadline.
• You inform Léargas of the difficulty within two hours of the application deadline.
• You email Léargas the complete, unmodified application form within two hours of the application deadline.

Remember to sign up to our newsletters for updates on Erasmus+, including notification of application workshops and future deadlines. We wish you the best of luck with your application!