Brussels time
Erasmus+ is the EU funding programme for education, training, youth and sport for the period 2021-2027. Read more about ERASMUS+ here.
This call funds online people-to-people activities that promote intercultural dialogue and soft skills development.
Virtual exchanges projects consist of online people-to-people activities that promote intercultural dialogue and soft skills development. They make it possible for every young person to access high-quality international and cross-cultural education without physical mobility. While virtual debating or training does not fully replace the benefits of physical mobility, participants in virtual exchanges ought to reap some of the benefits of the international educational experience. Digital platforms represent a valuable tool in partially answering the global constraints on mobility caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Virtual exchanges also help spreading European values. Moreover, in some cases, virtual exchanges can give ideas and prepare the ground for future physical exchanges not funded under this action.
Virtual exchanges in higher education and youth take place in small groups and are always moderated by a trained facilitator. They should be easily integrated into youth (non-formal education) projects or higher education courses. Virtual exchanges can draw participants from both sectors, even if, depending on specific projects, they could involve participants from either only one of them or from both. All projects under this call will involve organisations and participants coming from both EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, and third countries not associated to the Programme in eligible regions.
Projects will be funded based on work plans that integrate online cooperation activities, including:
▪ Online-facilitated discussions between young people of youth organisations based in different countries as part of youth projects. They could include role playing simulations;
▪ Training for youth workers willing to develop a virtual exchange project with colleagues from other countries;
▪ Facilitated online discussions between students of higher education institutions based in different countries as part of higher education degrees;
▪ Training for university professors/staff willing to develop a virtual exchange project with colleagues from other countries;
▪ Interactive open online courses including traditional course materials such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets (like the well-known MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, but putting an emphasis on interactive user forums in small groups to support community interactions among students, professors, teaching assistants, young people and youth workers).
The applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must be legal entities (public or private bodies) and may fall under the following categories:
• entities active in the field of higher education or youth (non-formal education)
• youth organisations
• higher education institutions, associations or organisations of higher education institutions, as well as legally recognised national or international rector, teacher or student organisations.
Applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
• an EU Member State
• a third country associated to the Programme or
• a third country not associated to the Programme from an eligible region:
The coordinating organisation must be a youth organisation or higher education institution and be legally established and located in an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme. The coordinating organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project. It cannot be an affiliated entity.Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme cannot be coordinators.
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 4 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities), which complies with the following conditions:
• Minimum 4 independent entities (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 4 different eligible countries;
• Minimum 2 higher education institutions or youth organisations from 2 EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme and 2 higher education institutions or youth organisations from 2 eligible third countries not associated to the Programme belonging to the same eligible region;
• Organisations from different eligible regions cannot participate in the same project. Cross-regional projects are not eligible;
• The number of organisations from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme must not be higher than the number of organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme.
Projects should normally last 36 months
The maximum EU grant per project is EUR 500 000. Beneficiaries can receive at most EUR 200 per Virtual Exchange participant (i.e., young participant or facilitator). For example, beneficiaries receiving the maximum grant of EUR 500 000 must involve at least 2 500 participants in virtual exchanges.
Brussels time
