Erasmus+

Erasmus+ is the EU's second largest programme after Horizon Europe and by far its best known. It is often reduced to a semester abroad, but mobility is only one action, and not the one where the money for institutions sits.

The 2021–2027 budget is €26.2 billion, roughly double the previous period, plus around €2.2 billion from the EU's external instruments. That second envelope is what pays for the international dimension, meaning cooperation with countries outside the EU.

Three key actions plus two separate strands

Key Action 1 – learning mobility. Movement of students, teachers, pupils, staff and young people. Inside the EU this is KA131; mobility with third countries is KA171, and that is the one relevant to Ukraine.

Key Action 2 – cooperation among organisations. This holds partnerships for exchanging practice and innovation, plus capacity building in higher education outside the EU.

Key Action 3 – support to policy: analysis, networks, expert structures. A single institution rarely enters here.

Outside the key actions sit Jean Monnet Actions, on teaching and research in European integration, and the Sport strand.

How much is granted

Erasmus+ has moved almost entirely to lump sum funding: you do not report receipts, you receive a predetermined amount for work delivered. The budget in the application therefore justifies the volume of activity, not the costs.

Cooperation Partnerships come in three fixed lump sums per project: €120,000, €250,000 or €400,000. Small-scale Partnerships: €30,000 or €60,000.

CBHE: Strand 1 from €200,000 to €400,000, Strand 2 from €400,000 to €800,000, Strand 3 from €600,000 to €1,000,000.

Jean Monnet: Module up to €35,000, Chair up to €60,000, Centre of Excellence up to €100,000.

OID or PIC: the programme uses two different codes

This is where nearly everyone trips. In decentralised actions an organisation registers in the Erasmus+ system and receives an OID, a code shaped like E10000001. In centralised actions run by the EACEA the application goes through the Funding & Tenders Portal and the organisation is identified by a PIC, the same code used in Horizon Europe.

A Ukrainian institution applying to CBHE or Jean Monnet needs a PIC, not an OID.

What is open to a Ukrainian institution

In programme terminology Ukraine is a third country not associated to the Programme, region 2 "Neighbourhood East". This is not the status Ukraine holds in Horizon Europe, where it is associated and has full access.

In practice a Ukrainian organisation can be a full partner and in many cases an applicant in CBHE, Jean Monnet, Erasmus Mundus and KA171, but has no access to actions that operate only inside the circle of participating countries. See the article on Ukraine's participation.