Cooperation outside the EU
What is it?
European higher education institutions and individuals can work with partner institutions outside the EU through international mobility, joint degrees, and international cooperation partnerships, including capacity building and staff development in emerging and developing parts of the world.
What is it for?
Learning mobility and capacity building projects can improve skills, modernise higher education systems and institutions, and create better partnerships between the EU and education systems across the world. Opportunities given through Erasmus+, such as the high level Erasmus Mundus scholarships, can contribute to make Europe a more attractive study destination.
What are the opportunities for cooperation with partners outside the EU?
- Student mobility between Programme and Partner countries
- Joint Master's Degrees
- Joint Doctoral programmes and other opportunities for researchers
- Staff mobility between Programme and Partner countries
- Capacity Building projects
- The Jean Monnet Action for European integration studies
Non-EU partner countries can also participate in the following actions mainly targeted at programme country institutions, under the condition of bringing a specific added value to the project:
Who can take part?Higher education institutions in Programme countries may apply. Master's students and doctoral candidates may apply individually for the relevant programmes.
Capacity Building Projects
Higher education institutions can take part in collaborative capacity-building projects set up and managed by a consortium of higher education institutions from the Erasmus+ programme countries on the one hand and those from a particular region of the world on the other (the EU's neighbouring countries, Russia, EU candidate and potential candidate countries, Latin America, Asia, Africa-Caribbean-Pacific countries). These projects can be:
- Joint projects: these help higher education institutions from partner countries to develop, modernise and disseminate new curricula, teaching methods or materials, as well as to boost quality assurance and governance of higher education institutions.
- Structural projects: to develop and reform higher education institutions and systems in partner countries; to enhance their quality and relevance, promote regional cooperation and increase convergence.
In certain partner countries neighbouring the EU, capacity-building projects will also be able to include a mobility strand targeted at students and staff from the institutions involved in the project. Institutions from the regions mentioned above can submit a proposal for a capacity-building project under an Erasmus+ Call for Proposals.
Info and contact
Institutions in a Programme country can contact their National Agency for more information on student and staff mobility and Strategic Partnerships and the EACEA for Joint master degrees, Capacity building, and Knowledge alliances Institution in a Partner country can contact their European partner institution for more information on student and staff mobility, Joint Master's degrees, Strategic Partnerships and Knowledge Alliances, and the Education, Audiovisual, and Culture Executive Agency for capacity building projects. Students can apply for a scholarship to attend a high-level joint master or doctoral programme. Courses can be selected on the EACEA website . The current Erasmus+ call for proposals and programme guide do not yet include two actions targeted at cooperation with partner countries- the international credit mobility and the capacity building action in higher education. These two actions are funded from the EU external cooperation instruments, which will be launched at a later stage in 2014. See more...