On 29 September 2026, the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) voted to amend the Commission proposal for the 2028–2034 Erasmus+ programme. CULT’s position was approved by 24 votes to one, with one abstention. 

The compromise amendments largely build on the draft report presented by rapporteur MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski earlier this year (see ACA Newsletter - Education Europe, June 2026). They maintain the proposed overall budget at EUR 47.39 billion in current prices (EUR 42 billion in 2025 prices), while introducing a number of noteworthy changes and safeguards: 

• Regarding the distribution of funds between policy fields, the share for education and training was increased from 73.4% in the draft report to 74.6% of the total programme envelope, alongside 15% for youth and volunteering and 4.1% for sport. Within the education and training envelope, the minimum share for higher education increases from 34.6% to 35%. This nevertheless translates into an effective lower higher education share of around 26.1% of the overall next programme, compared with around 28.7% under the current Erasmus+ programme. 
• For European Universities alliances, the compromises retain the draft report’s emphasis on their long-term and structural character and on synergies with other EU funding instruments. Alliances are explicitly included among partnerships for excellence and innovation, but no separate budget earmark is introduced for them. 
• The compromises maintain a strong role for Erasmus+ in supporting transnational higher education cooperation, including joint study programmes and progress towards a joint European Degree. They also retain the programme’s international dimension, with an additional contribution foreseen from Global Europe, although no specific financial amount has yet been earmarked for it either. 
• A new quantitative inclusion target stipulates that at least 20% of all Erasmus+ mobility participants should be people with fewer opportunities. This brings into the Erasmus+ legislative framework the inclusion ambition of the 2024 “Europe on the Move” Council Recommendation. Financial support may also take account of differences in living and housing costs, inflation and purchasing power between host countries, regions and cities. 
• The new Erasmus+ scholarships in strategic educational fields are accompanied by safeguards intended to prevent them from crowding out existing Erasmus+ activities. They must be co-funded through additional resources or another EU programme, while the Erasmus+ contribution is capped at the maximum monthly mobility-grant level so as not to reduce funding for learning mobility, inclusion measures and transnational cooperation. 
• The future Erasmus+ programme should contribute to implementation of the forthcoming EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda, including measures related to teacher recruitment, retention and mobility. For the first time, Erasmus+ should also facilitate the mobility of athletes and people active in grassroots sport, rather than only sport staff. 
• MEPs support the Commission proposal to integrate the current European Solidarity Corps into Erasmus+, including the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps, while maintaining volunteering and solidarity as distinct activities within the programme. 
• The share reserved for National Agencies’ (NA) operational costs remains at 2.3%, i.e. below the 3.3% level in the current programme, while programme support is allocated 1%, likewise below the current level. At the same time, the existing requirement that at least 75% of the programme budget be implemented through NAs is maintained. NAs would therefore retain their central implementation role, despite a lower protected share for their operational costs. 

CULT’s position will now need to be endorsed by the European Parliament, in November’s plenary session. Once Parliament has established its position, negotiations can proceed with the Council, which agreed its partial negotiating mandate on the future Erasmus+ programme in May 2026; financial and other horizontal MFF-related provisions remain outside that mandate (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, May 2025).