Following a public consultation on the mid-term implementation of Erasmus+, which collected comprehensive feedback from higher education institutions and other stakeholders including ACA by the end of 2023, the programme’s mid-term review continues throughout 2024 with the delivery of national reports and the final report expected by summer this year (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, December 2023).  

A highly important element in the evaluation process, the European Parliament adopted its resolution on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027 on 16 January 2024. This resolution builds, amongst others, on the implementation report issued by the Parliament’s Rapporteur MEP Milan Zver on 28 November 2023 (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, December 2023). 

In total, the resolution presents 122 points, including those demonstrating the state of affairs and successes of the programme, those outlining remaining challenges and problems, and those providing input into improving the current and design the future Erasmus programme.  

According to the Parliament, the programme’s major successes are related, amongst others, to its overall structure, the introduction of horizontal priorities, growing flexibility and, to some extent, simplification as well as the creation of a learning community made up of participants, beneficiaries, stakeholders, National Agencies (NAs) and EU institutions. The main challenges revolt around persistent IT issues and high economic costs that hinder the further progress on inclusion. 

Among the multiple recommendations, the Parliament acknowledges the crucial role of NAs in improving the programme and highlights that NAs, beneficiaries and other stakeholders, and Parliament should be actively involved in a dialogue to optimise the current and the next generation of Erasmus+. The Parliament also advocates for the continuous training to EACEA project officers and NAs’ staff, particularly empowering their inclusion officers to implement the plans for inclusion and diversity. It also requests the Commission, the EACEA and NAs to analyse and systematically implement concrete measures to increase synergies between different educational areas and actors to improve permeability and rebalance the programme.