Authors: Arabella Seits and Sabine Wagner

Learning in and cooperating within Europe is an ideal way to strengthen your educational institution and further its development, and ERASMUS+ offers many opportunities for doing just that. Find out in this blog post what highlights the 2021–2027 ERASMUS+ Programme has in store for adult education institutions.

ERASMUS+ features mobility and cooperation possibilities in the areas of education, young people, and sport, for which it sets 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.

Key Action 1 – Learning mobility of individuals

If your adult education institution would like to facilitate education and training in Europe for staff and learners, then Key Action 1 is right for you. It allows your staff to attend courses in Europe, shadow colleagues to gain insights into how other organisations work, or lead their own training sessions.

You can also arrange an opportunity for learning mobility for your organisation’s target groups, i.e. the learners at your institution in Austria. One particular priority is encouraging the participation of adult learners with fewer opportunities, who can do their mobility placement either individually or in a group.

However, the ERASMUS+ 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. Additional funds can be applied for in the case of participants with fewer opportunities.

The mentioned mobility opportunities can either be applied for via a short-term project or via an Erasmus accreditation. 

Short-term projects are an entry-level model for organisations that want to gain initial experience with ERASMUS+ or only intend 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.

By contrast, Erasmus accreditation is ideal for organisations seeking regular participation. They are given simplified access to the annual budget after successfully applying for accreditation (as an individual organisation or coordinator of an Austrian mobility consortium), which gives them financial planning security and long-term prospects. The accreditation is flexible and grows along with the plans of the institution, allowing every organisation to determine its own pace for European collaboration.

Key Action 2 – Cooperation among organisations and institutions

Interested in raising your institution’s profile across Europe, increasing the quality and relevance of your activities, and building networks? Looking to bring your organisation’s work up to an international level and apply some innovative techniques? Keen to collaborate with institutions from several countries on an issue that is especially important to you? In that case, cooperation among organisations and institutions will be right up your street!

Every project must deal with at least one of the four horizontal ERASMUS+ priorities or one specific priority of adult education (see Programme Guide Part B, Key Action 2). ERASMUS+ differentiates between Cooperation Partnerships and Small-scale Partnerships, although both project types are funded via lump sums. The applicant organisation and its partners determine their activities and objectives themselves, 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 are expected to deliver results and provide learning experiences which are reusable and transferable, and which can be put to use beyond the boundaries of the organisations involved. 

The project partnerships comprise at least three institutions from at least three EU Member States or third countries associated with the programme and last 12 to 36 months. Activities are funded by means of three different possible lump sums (EUR 120,000, EUR 250,000, or EUR 400,000 per project).

Small-scale Partnerships are aimed primarily at less experienced institutions and newcomers to the ERASMUS+ Programme. They are mainly designed to make it easier for smaller stakeholders and hard-to-reach target groups to access the ERASMUS+ Programme and facilitate initial collaboration at transnational level. 

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 than for Cooperation Partnerships (EUR 30,000 or EUR 60,000 per project), while the project duration is shorter (6–24 months), and the administrative effort is less.

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.

Sabina Wagner is a project coordinator for Key Action 2 in the area of adult education at OeAD. She studied international business administration at the University of Vienna and has worked for OeAD for many years. She has longstanding experience in the European Education Area, primarily in adult education, vocational education and training, and cross-sectional issues, which has seen her work on issues such as the lasting impact of project results and raising their profile.