On 15 September 2023, the European Commission opened a public consultation on the mid-term review of the current Erasmus+ programme and the final evaluation of the 2014-2020 programme. The public consultation is open until 8 December 2023.  

The overall aim of this evaluation process is to assess the effectiveness of Erasmus+, especially in terms of simplification and inclusion. In anticipation for this process, various European higher education stakeholders and networks, including ACA, have been consulting their constituencies over the summer to prepare in-depth inputs.  

On 19 September, the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) presented their own draft report assessing the implementation of Erasmus+. The Rapporteur (Milan Zver, EPP) highlighted, among others, the following points:  

• Overall success of the programme fulfilling the regulation’s objectives; 
• High levels of participation but frequent occurrences of over-subscription; 
• Flexibility in difficult times and overall effectiveness of European cooperation;  
• Persistent issues with the IT infrastructure, as various elements are still not functional; 
• Insufficient progress in terms of simplification; 

• Need for greater synergies with other EU actions and programmes.  

Shadow Rapporteurs and Members agreed with the raised points and highlighted matters, such as the way forward for the European Universities Initiative, further work to enhance inclusion, especially towards persons with disabilities and linguistic minorities, and the next steps in establishing the European Education Area. They also stressed the need to improve coordination between the European Commission and national agencies the Erasmus+ programme. 

The mid-term review of Erasmus+ is running in parallel with the evaluation of the European Education Area. As the call for evidence has just been closed and a public consultation is foreseen for the first quarter of 2024, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council plan a joint midterm review event on 10 October 2023 in Brussels. 

Last but not least, the European Commission opened, on 14 September, a call for evidence to prepare a communication on maximising the potential of talent mobility as part of the European Year of Skills. This initiative will set out measures to facilitate the so-called talent mobility, support labour matching for third country nationals, and help member states and employers in recognising their qualifications and validating their skills more efficiently. The main aim is to increase the attractiveness of the EU to talent from outside Europe and to encourage talent inside the EU to be leveraged fully. The call for evidence is open until 12 October 2023.