The 35th anniversary of the Erasmus+ programme re-launches learning mobility in Europe after the pandemic and brings some new ideas forward.
The Erasmus+ programme turned 35 on 20 January 2022. The most widely known and appreciated programme of the European Union (EU) started as a visionary student exchange programme and now encompasses learning mobility opportunities for all people in education or training, be it apprentices or VET learners, pupils, teachers, youth workers, any staff of education institutions including administrators, and also wide-ranging cooperation projects to exchange best practises, develop new curricula, or create long-term deep transnational alliances.
As the global pandemic put a huge dent in mobility numbers for obvious reasons (according to the Erasmus+ 2020 report), the French presidency of the Council of the EU held events on 19 and 20 January 2022 to re-launch Erasmus+ mobility. These events served to put a special focus and push on mobility opportunities for VET learners and to celebrate the achievements of 35 years of Erasmus+. The participation of several ministers, commissioners, and French President Emmanuel Macron underlined the political importance of the programme. This political support is matched by significant funding and ambition: The new programme generation of Erasmus+ has a budget of more than € 28 billion (see Swisscore article) and aims to enable the mobility of 10 million Europeans between 2021 and 2027 (this is a significant goal, given that 12 million people have participated since the creation of the programme 35 years ago). Achieving this goal requires an extension of the programme to reach more people, especially young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who don’t think that Erasmus+ is for them. In this regard, the French education minister puts a particular focus on broadening mobility in secondary schools with the vision to harmonise the recognition of qualifications from secondary schools across Europe. This goes hand in hand with the strengthening of the European dimension in teacher training, especially under the new “Erasmus+ Teacher Academies”. Many of the ideas of the French education minister are based on a 2021 report by MEP Ilana Cicurel (Renew Europe/France).
When it comes to volunteering, the creation of a European Civil Service was proposed. This service would consist of a mobility experience for young people (up to the age of 25) of volunteering in another European country for 6 months. A number of countries in Europe currently have a similar national civil service, which could be expanded with a European dimension. However, it remains unclear how this new service would be compatible or integrated with the existing volunteering opportunities in the European Solidarity Corps (ESC).
On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Erasmus+, young European citizens presented 35 propositions for the future of Erasmus+, including suggestions such as the establishment of an Erasmus+ contact person in each education institution, the creation of an Erasmus+ alumni network, the recognition of a right to learning mobility for all Europeans, the expansion of language courses for mobility participants and the generalisation of the European Student Card. These proposals will also be included in the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).
In conclusion, the Erasmus+ anniversary showed that the ambition to expand the Erasmus+ programme is not only bolstered by strong political will, but also endowed with significant funding. The programme will continue to benefit millions of Europeans in the coming years, of course provided the pandemic doesn’t take another bad turn. Countries not associated to the Erasmus+ programme would have to invest even more in order to keep pace with the expansion of learning mobility in Europe. The Swiss government and Swissuniversities have expressed interest in an association of Switzerland to the Erasmus+ programme.