A recent study of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) for the Austrian National Agency for Erasmus+, which is hosted by ACA member OeAD, investigated the effects of inward-mobile Erasmus+ participants on the Austrian economy in 2014, when the programme in its present form was first launched. Compared to its predecessor schemes, Erasmus+ saw many innovations and new funding lines, amongst them work placements for teachers (earlier, there were just placements for students).  

Unsurprisingly, the majority of incoming mobile grantholders came from Germany. According to the study, there were overall about 14,000 persons in 2014, the majority of the students. The inward mobile grantees spent a total of € 39.2 million during their stay in Austria. Most of this money was spent on accommodation. Out of the almost 40 million € 8.5 million was spent by grantholders who stayed in the country for less than a month, and 28.6 million € spent by grantees that stayed over a month. Given that the Erasmus+ grants  of incoming foreigners amounted to only 13.5 million €, Austria received from incoming Erasmus+ mobility around three times as much as the grants’ worth. 

The OeAD Director General Stefan Zotti showed himself very satisfied with the outcome. As a result of increasing mobility, the forecast for 2018 and 2020 looks rather promising, with a prediction of 18,000 grantees for 2018 and 20,000 for 2020.