Why do we need a more ambitious Erasmus+ programme?

This now 30 year old scheme has changed the lives of millions of people - educators, students, pupils, school heads, adults, researchers, VET providers, teachers, parents, volunteers, young people and youth workers. It provides excellent learning and cooperation opportunities, allowing people to broaden their horizons and develop new skills through a period of mobility abroad. Crucially, it also contributes to the modernisation of our education systems by facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices among Member States and their respective institutions.

During the Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaty, political leaders mentioned Erasmus as the EU’s biggest achievement in changing the lives of 9 million Europeans. However, this achievement has touched only a very limited section of the EU’s population. Only 4 million people (around 0.8% of EU citizens) are expected to benefit from Erasmus+ in the 2014-2020 period. Indeed, the funding for the programme amounts to only 1,4% of the overall EU budget for this period. Is this really enough for the EU’s most successful programme?

The Erasmusx10 Campaign has been launched by the Lifelong Learning Platform, European Youth Forum and EURODESK in order to call for a more ambitious programme by increasing Erasmus+ budget of ten times as negotiations begin for the next generation of EU programmes post-2020. This claim has been echoed by several political leaders including the President of the European Commission who, when speaking about the programme’s number of participants reaching 9 million people, called for us to be ‘at least nine times as ambitious’.

This would send a strong political message to EU citizens by putting at the forefront the need to build stronger ties between them and to foster a common European identity. It would also allow more individuals to benefit from a mobility experience, therefore improving their life prospects with higher employability chances and stronger social and civic participation.

The campaign is supported by thousands of civil society organisations representing the different beneficiaries and by policy makers across Europe, join us and ask for a genuine investment in Erasmus+: sign the petition, share it within your networks and help us make a difference!

Check out all the details of the campaign.