At present, Switzerland is indirectly involved in the EU education programmes, taking part in individual projects on the basis of agreements with EU project coordinators or partner institutions.
In 2006, around CHF 14 million was spent on projects which included funding of student, trainee and teacher exchange programmes. Approximately 5,400 young people (about half Swiss nationals in the EU and the other half EU nationals in Swizerland) benefited from this funding. Once Swiss involvement becomes official, Switzerland will be able to take part in the decision-making process for these programmes as well as launch and run its own projects.
From 2011, Switzerland will be associated to the European Education "Lifelong Learning Programme" and the "Youth in Action" programme, a European programme for young people. These two programmes are part of a new generation of EU programmes for education, training and youth set for the period of 2007-2013.