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Universities & HEIs
Grant programmes, rules and terms that matter for Universities & HEIs: 34 knowledge base articles.
Programmes4
- Digital Europe Digital Europe (DIGITAL) is the EU programme for 2021–2027 with a budget of over €8.1 billion that funds the deployment of digital technologies: supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital skills and their uptake in business and the public sector. Ukraine has been associated since 2022, but only to four objectives. The typical rate is 50%, so applicants fund the other half.
- Erasmus+ Erasmus+ is the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport for 2021–2027, with a budget of €26.2 billion. It funds the mobility of people, partnerships between organisations and capacity building in higher education. Ukraine takes part as a third country not associated to the Programme, so what is open is the international dimension rather than the whole programme.
- Horizon Europe Horizon Europe is the EU framework programme for research and innovation for 2021–2027, with a budget of roughly €93.5 billion – the largest such programme in the world. It funds fundamental science, applied research against societal challenges and breakthrough innovation, and Ukraine takes part in full as an associated country.
- Interreg Interreg is the EU’s European territorial cooperation for 2021–2027: dozens of separate programmes, each with its own territory, calls and rules. Ukrainian municipalities, public institutions, NGOs and universities take part in several of them, but only together with partners from EU countries. The rate, the advance and Ukraine’s status depend on the programme, so check them on its website.
Programme sections17
- CBHE: capacity building in higher education Capacity Building in Higher Education is the Erasmus+ action built around universities outside the EU, which makes it the most important one in the programme for Ukrainian institutions. It has three strands, with grants from €200,000 to €1,000,000 and durations from 24 to 48 months. Erasmus+
- Common mistakes and reasons for application rejection Most Horizon Europe proposals are rejected not for a weak idea but for predictable failures: drifting from the topic scope, unmeasurable expected results, a consortium duplicating expertise instead of complementing it, and a work plan that does not match the narrative. Learning this list beats waiting a year for the next call. Horizon Europe
- EIC Pathfinder: the earliest stage of a breakthrough technology EIC Pathfinder funds research into a breakthrough technology at the earliest stage, when no market prospect is yet visible. The 2026 budget for the strand is around €262 million, grants reach €4 million, the funding rate is 100% and the model is a lump sum. Horizon Europe
- EIC Transition: from a result to market readiness EIC Transition funds taking an existing scientific result to a state fit for market entry. The 2026 budget for the strand is around €100 million, grants reach €2.5 million, and the entry ticket is a result from Pathfinder, ERC Proof of Concept or another eligible project. Horizon Europe
- ERC: six frontier research schemes The European Research Council funds frontier research on a single criterion, scientific excellence, with no set topics, no consortium and no requirement of practical application. Six schemes: Starting, Consolidator, Advanced, ERC Plus, Synergy and Proof of Concept, from €150,000 to €10 million. Success rates in the 2025 calls were around 10–12%. Horizon Europe
- Horizon Europe budget calculator The Horizon Europe budget rules define which costs may be charged to a grant and how: personnel by actual salary and productive hours, equipment by depreciation in proportion to project use, plus subcontracting and indirect costs at a flat rate. Knowing them at proposal stage decides whether your budget survives evaluation. Horizon Europe
- Jean Monnet: modules, chairs and centres of excellence Jean Monnet Actions fund teaching and research on European integration. It is the most accessible strand of Erasmus+ for a single institution: one university applies with no consortium, and the grant is up to €35,000 for a Module, up to €60,000 for a Chair and up to €100,000 for a Centre of Excellence. Erasmus+
- Key Action 1: mobility and KA171 Key Action 1 funds the movement of people: study and traineeships for students, teaching and training for staff. Mobility with countries outside the EU sits in a separate action, KA171, where the grant goes to the European institution and the Ukrainian partner sends and hosts participants under an agreed quota. Erasmus+
- Key Action 2: cooperation partnerships Key Action 2 funds joint projects between organisations rather than trips for individuals. Cooperation Partnerships come in three fixed lump sums – €120,000, €250,000 and €400,000 – and Small-scale Partnerships in two, €30,000 and €60,000, the latter designed as the entry point for organisations with no EU project experience. Erasmus+
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: mobility programmes Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund people rather than topics: researcher mobility, doctoral programmes and training. Payments are made at fixed monthly unit rates rather than against actual costs, and both individual researchers and institutions can apply. Horizon Europe
- Pillar 2: Clusters – 6 thematic clusters The clusters are the six thematic areas of Horizon Europe Pillar 2, funding applied research against specific societal challenges: health; culture and society; civil security; digital, industry and space; climate, energy and mobility; food, bioeconomy and environment. This is where the bulk of consortium calls sits. Horizon Europe
- Pillar 3: European Innovation Council (EIC) The European Innovation Council is the part of Horizon Europe for high-risk breakthrough innovation, from early idea to market. Its distinguishing feature is blended finance – a grant alongside a direct equity investment in the company – and most of its instruments are applied for by a single company rather than a consortium. Horizon Europe
- Structure of a successful application: Excellence, Impact, Implementation A Horizon Europe proposal is assessed against three criteria, and Part B mirrors them: Excellence – how ambitious the objectives and how convincing the methodology; Impact – what change it brings and how that is measured; Implementation – whether the work plan, roles and budget are realistic. What an evaluator looks for matters more than length. Horizon Europe
- Submitting an application: the Funding & Tenders Portal step by step Applying to an EU call runs through the Funding & Tenders Portal as a sequence of steps: an EU Login account, registering the organisation to obtain a PIC, choosing a topic, preparing Parts A and B of the proposal, and submitting through the system before the call closes. Each step has its own timing and requirements, and underestimating them is what most often derails a last-day submission. Horizon Europe
- Ukrainian participants in Erasmus+: what is open In Erasmus+ Ukraine holds the status of a third country not associated to the Programme, region 2 "Neighbourhood East". This is not the full access it has in Horizon Europe: a Ukrainian institution applies in its own right in centralised actions and joins decentralised ones as a partner of a European applicant. Erasmus+
- Ukrainian participants: statistics and cases Ukraine participates in Horizon Europe as an associated country with full access to every part of the programme, and the national financial contribution is currently suspended. Ukrainian institutions may coordinate projects, and separate mechanisms support displaced researchers and deep-tech companies. Horizon Europe
- Widening Programme: opportunities for Ukraine Widening is the strand of Horizon Europe created to close the participation gap between countries with different research capacity. Ukraine is a Widening country, so Ukrainian institutions may coordinate Twinning, ERA Chairs and Excellence Hubs projects, and join already-funded consortia through the Hop-on Facility. Horizon Europe
Glossary13
- CFS: Certificate on the Financial Statements A CFS is a report by an independent auditor who checks, under agreed-upon procedures, the costs declared in a beneficiary's financial statements. In Horizon Europe it is required only at the final payment and only for a participant whose requested EU contribution reaches EUR 430,000. Below the threshold no certificate is needed and its cost is not reimbursed. Horizon Europe
- Consortium Agreement A consortium agreement is an internal written contract between project partners on governance, distribution of funds, liability and intellectual property. The funder neither signs nor reviews it. In EU grants it should be concluded before the grant agreement is signed, so the text has to be read and negotiated during grant preparation, not after the project starts.
- Eligible and Ineligible Costs Eligible costs are the costs a donor agrees to cover with the grant because they meet the conditions of the agreement: actually incurred during the project, foreseen in the budget, necessary for its implementation and backed by documents. Anything that fails these conditions, or is expressly excluded by the agreement, is rejected at the check, and the organisation covers that money itself.
- Final payment and closing the grant The final payment is the closing settlement of a grant: the donor determines the final amount from accepted costs and deducts everything already paid. The difference can be positive or negative, in which case part of the advance has to be repaid. In Horizon Europe the payment is due within 90 days of receipt of the final report. Horizon Europe
- Financial statement for a grant A financial statement is the part of the periodic report in which each participant declares its eligible costs for the reporting period. In EU grants it is filled in on the Portal in euros, signed by an authorised person of the organisation, and due within 60 days of the end of the period. The interim or final payment depends on its acceptance.
- Foreign currency account and receiving a grant in foreign currency To receive a grant in euros or dollars, an organisation or a sole proprietor opens a foreign currency current account with a Ukrainian bank and gives the donor the IBAN and the bank’s SWIFT code. National Bank Resolution No. 18 does not require foreign currency receipts to be sold, but transfers abroad are restricted, so returning a balance or paying a foreign partner is planned in advance.
- Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) is the stage between the evaluation result letter and the signature of the grant agreement. In Horizon Europe applicants must be informed within 5 months of the deadline and the agreement signed within 8, leaving about three months. In that time the consortium turns the proposal into annexes to the agreement, while organisations are validated and appoint a LEAR. Horizon Europe
- Grants for budgetary institutions: treasury servicing A budgetary institution receives a grant as own revenue of the special fund, in the Budget Code subgroup for charitable contributions, grants and gifts. The money goes to an account with the State Treasury or, for universities, research and cultural institutions, with a state-owned bank. It can be spent only after the estimate is amended, and that time has to be built into the project plan.
- Partner Search for a Consortium Partner search means finding the organisations you will apply with to a call that requires a consortium. The main free channels are Partner Search on the Funding & Tenders Portal, National Contact Points, the Enterprise Europe Network, brokerage events and the CORDIS project database. For a newcomer, joining a consortium that is already forming is usually more realistic than building one.
- Record-keeping after the grant ends After a grant ends, project records must be kept for several more years, because the donor may check costs after the last payment. In EU grants this is five years after the final payment, or three for grants of up to EUR 60,000. If a document is missing when a check comes, the related cost is rejected and the money has to be repaid.
- Registering an international technical assistance project in Ukraine State registration of a technical assistance project is an entry in the register kept by the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, confirmed by a registration card. Without it the grant can still be received and spent, but tax and customs exemptions are unavailable and a foreign implementer cannot be accredited. The recipient then reports twice a year.
- Timesheets (time records) A project timesheet is the evidence of how much time a specific person spent on the grant itself. The amount of personnel costs depends on it. In Horizon Europe hourly timesheets can be replaced by a monthly declaration of days, and costs are calculated as a daily rate multiplied by the number of days worked on the action.
- VAT and customs exemption in technical assistance projects Goods and services paid for by a registered international technical assistance project and listed in its procurement plan are supplied in Ukraine without VAT, and imported goods are free of import charges. The exemption is tied to the registration card and the procurement plan, not to the word grant in a contract, so a paperwork mistake turns into a tax reassessment for the supplier.
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