Erasmus+: the new EU programme for Education, Training, Youth, and Sport for 2014-2020.
The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work. The seven year programme will have a budget of €14.7 billion; a 40% increase compared to current spending levels, reflecting the EU's commitment to investing in these areas.
Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad.
Erasmus+ will support transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe.
It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism.
Erasmus+ brings together seven existing EU programmes in the fields of Education, Training, and Youth; it will for the first time provide support for Sport. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for cooperation across the Education, Training, Youth, and Sport sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules.

A quelques jours du début d’une nouvelle année qui verra deux célébrations universelles importantes – le centenaire du début de la Première Guerre Mondiale et les 70 ans du débarquement en Normandie – succéder à un rendez-vous électoral majeur pour l’avenir de l’Union européenne, il me paraît indispensable de rappeler une vérité que beaucoup – et, en particulier, un nombre important de responsables politiques – n’ose plus proférer de peur d’apparaître trop simpliste ou oublieux des difficultés présentes : la construction européenne dans laquelle nous nous inscrivons sert d’abord à ne pas faire la guerre… 
Certes, presque 15 ans après les derniers affrontements dans les Balkans, les jeunes générations ont oublié les images tragiques d’Omarska, de Vukovar ou de Srebenica et sont plus enclines à redouter les impasses en termes d’emplois ou à applaudir les opportunités d’enthousiasme offertes par les Emergents, mais il en va de notre responsabilité collective de leur rappeler que depuis la fin de la deuxième guerre mondiale, notre continent a de très loin préféré la paix aux conflits et, cela, parce que les esprits ont été obnubilés non par la victoire ou la défaite mais par la mise en place d’outils bureaucratiques souvent complexes mais qui se sont révélés les meilleurs boucliers contre le déferlement de violence sans précédent que leurs grands-parents ont connu au début du 20e siècle. Suite...

Le programme de mobilité Erasmus se transforme et devient Erasmus+, englobant d'autres programmes d'aide à la mobilité. Mieux doté, il devrait permettre à plus de jeunes de partir étudier à l'étranger, mais également de favoriser la mobilité des personnels enseignants.
Menacé un temps de disparaître, le programme Erasmus, devenu "Erasmus+", vient d'être sauvé in extremis, du moins jusqu'en 2020. Le programme européen de mobilité des jeunes vient en effet de bénéficier d'une enveloppe de plus de 14,7 milliards d'euros sur sept ans ! Suite...

By Kathleen Van Heule. After almost two years of negotiations with the European Council and the European Parliament, the European Commission is ready to launch Erasmus+ on 1 January 2014. With an agreed budget of 14.7 billion (an increase of 40% on current levels), the programme is set to run for the next seven years. What does the new programme really mean for higher education? Here’s a guide to the final agreements and implications of this highly anticipated programme. More...

Under the Erasmus+ program, the application process for study visits for educational and vocational training specialists has changed. Institutions must now apply instead of individuals, and include the “European Development Plan” in their application. 
These changes take place in the context of Key Action 1: Learning Mobility of Individuals. Although the target group is individuals, applications for funding must be made by institutions for in-service training for education staff. Each institution must submit one application for all planned training activities abroad over a duration of one or two years. Specific names and dates do not need to be included in the application.
Institutions must, however include the European Development Plan as part of their application. This would consist of the objectives of the training and plans for preparation and follow-up.
The application deadline is 17 March, 2014, for training activities taking place between 1 July, 2014 and 30 June, 2016. National Agencies across Europe are now disseminating this information, so educators or administrators should contact their National Agency for more information.
The attached presentation summarizes the key changes in the application procedure. The presentation was prepared by the Open Discovery Space, which offers teacher training programs periodically. More information is available in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide in the section “School education staff mobility.”
Website: UNESCO Open Acess Publications.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide is now available on-line!

The European Commission last week unveiled more details about the new Erasmus+ Programme including information regarding the first calls for proposals and a detailed programme guide. Following its adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, the programme will now officially start in January 2014 and will provide funding for activities in the fields of education, training, youth and sports until 2020. It will bring together all current EU and international schemes in these areas, including the current Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig), international programmes (Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa, EduLink and bilateral programmes) and the Youth in Action Programme. The total indicative budget for Erasmus+ is €14.7 billion for 2014-2020, with €1.8 billion in funding due to be available in 2014. More...