Erasmus Program

Erasmus+ is the Euro­pean Union’s educa­tion, youth and sport program. Erasmus+ brings toge­ther the exis­ting EU programs for lifelong lear­ning, youth and sport and the Euro­pean coope­ra­tion programs in the field of higher education.

Program Over­view

The program contains three key aims:
Aim 1 – Indi­vi­dual lear­ning mobi­lity
Aim 2 – Coope­ra­tion to promote inno­va­tion and exch­ange good prac­tice
Aim 3 – Support for policy reforms

Erasmus+ has a budget of around 14.8 billion Euros. More than four million people will benefit from EU funding by 2020. The seven-year programme aims to improve skills and employa­bi­lity and moder­nise educa­tion, trai­ning and child and youth services. Infor­ma­tion on Erasmus+ can be found on the Euro­pean Commis­si­on’s website.

The funding will mainly streng­then mobi­lity within Europe and probably from 2015 to a lesser extent with other parts of the world. Around two million students are expected to benefit from Erasmus+ by 2020, inclu­ding over a quarter of a million from Germany. This includes students in all study levels up to and inclu­ding doctoral studies who wish to complete a partial study or intern­ship abroad. For the first time, students can be spon­sored for up to 12 months each in the Bache­lor’s, Master’s and Docto­rate programm. In order to increase the finan­cial incen­tive for a stay abroad, the monthly mobi­lity grant for students will also be increased, espe­ci­ally for host count­ries with higher living costs. In future, intern­ships abroad will also be possible after gradua­tion. Finally, Erasmus+ offers students who wish to complete an entire Master’s program in Europe the possi­bi­lity of taking out a low-inte­rest loan. The previous Erasmus Mundus support for excel­lence, which supports the entire Master’s program of outstan­ding students in selected Euro­pean masters programs leading to joint degrees, will be continued under Erasmus+.

Erasmus+ also contri­butes to the further inter­na­tio­na­li­sa­tion of higher educa­tion insti­tu­tions by supporting short-term teaching and trai­ning for teaching and admi­nis­tra­tive staff. In addi­tion, univer­si­ties can invite company staff from abroad to teach and now also parti­ci­pate in multi­la­teral stra­tegic part­ner­ships with other Euro­pean part­ners (inclu­ding non-academic part­ners) and jointly develop inno­va­tive projects (e.g. in the field of curri­culum deve­lo­p­ment or on cross-curri­cular topics). For coope­ra­tion with the busi­ness commu­nity, Erasmus+ offers support in the new know­ledge alli­ances. Higher educa­tion insti­tu­tions wishing to engage in capa­city buil­ding in third count­ries can do so in the program’s inter­na­tional higher educa­tion partnerships.

Funding for most mobi­lity acti­vi­ties and the Stra­tegic Part­ner­ships is provided by the National Agen­cies in the 33 Program Count­ries (28 EU count­ries, Iceland, Liech­ten­stein, FYR Mace­donia, Norway, Turkey). In Germany, the German Academic Exch­ange Service (DAAD) conti­nues to perform this task.

Under the umbrella of the EU educa­tion program Erasmus+ the follo­wing mobi­lity measures are funded:

  • Study abroad for students (SMS)
  • Intern­ship abroad for students (SMP)
  • Teacher mobi­lity (STA)
  • Mobi­lity of personnel (SST)

ERASMUS Policy Statement

Erasmus Charter

Any higher educa­tion insti­tu­tion wishing to parti­ci­pate in and/​or apply for the EU Program for Educa­tion, Trai­ning, Youth and Sport 2014 – 2020 (herein­after referred to as the Program“) must hold a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Educa­tion (ECHE).

The ECHE was awarded by the Euro­pean Commis­sion. It proves that a higher educa­tion insti­tu­tion meets all the requi­re­ments for successful parti­ci­pa­tion in the Erasmus+ program.

Liabi­lity Clause

This project was funded with support from the Euro­pean Commis­sion. This publi­ca­tion (commu­ni­ca­tion) reflects the views only of the author, and the Commis­sion cannot be held respon­sible for any use which may be made of the infor­ma­tion contained therein.

Contact Persons

For further infor­ma­tion and advice on Erasmus+ Mobi­lity, please contact

German Academic Exch­ange Service
National Agency for EU-Univer­sity Coope­ra­tion
Kenne­dy­allee 50
53115 Bonn
Phone: +49 (0)228/882‑8877
Fax: +49 (0)228/882 – 555
Email: ed.daad@sumsare
Home­page: www.daad.de