In early May, ACA issued a new EU policy input called “The future of Erasmus+ is the future of Europe”. Building on ACA’s first statement, which highlighted the importance and relevance of Erasmus+ for almost all EU priorities earlier this year, the second policy input provides insights on the future priority areas within the new programme ahead of the crucial decisions to be made on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the new Erasmus+ regulation. 

The new policy input outlines the main principles that should be guiding the future Erasmus+ programme, such as:  

• the continuity of the current structure, which has proven its value for internationalisation of national higher education systems and institutions  
• a strong and visible role for higher education  
• reinforced commitment to the current horizontal priorities as well as competitiveness, and future skills and competences 
• wider participation in mobility in line with the new targets set under the Europe on the Move initiative, and  
• the consolidation and targeted improvements of the novel actions and pilots (e.g., stronger global dimension enabled by the international opening of KA131, the development of new mobility formats such as Blended Intensive Programmes, deep transnational cooperation through European Universities alliances).  

Some of the key proposals aiming to ensure wider and more impactful mobility of students and staff, bolster partnerships in a new policy context, enhance the global dimension, and foster synergies between intra-European and external actions, are: 

• Safeguarding and expanding physical mobility of students and staff across all fields and disciplines, while using more flexible and simplified mobility formats, reinforcing mobility for traineeships and fostering more structured and strategic cross-border collaboration between universities and industry, and placing greater emphasis on civic engagement and European values.  
• Striking a balance between the bottom-up nature of partnerships (both intra-European and international) and the need for prioritisation in specific areas where the Union seeks to enhance its competitiveness or achieve more targeted impact, while leveraging and scaling up existing partnership formats. 
• Consolidating the achievements of the European Universities Initiative while applying a more selective approach by evaluating in greater depth the concrete impact and progress of individual alliances.  
• Strengthening the global dimension of the future Erasmus+ programme by supporting the EU’s enlargement agenda through Erasmus+ by allowing higher education institutions from the enlargement countries to participate as full partners (e.g. starting with the mobility actions, and extending to institutional collaboration formats), and integrating cooperation with so-called industrialised countries in existing partnership models within the programme in line with the Union of Skills ambitions.  

To deliver on these priorities, the future Erasmus+ programme will require a minimum two-fold budgetary increase over 2021-2027 levels, coupled with administrative simplification and use of more flexible, complementary mobility formats. These combined measures are critical to supporting a wider and more ambitious range of projects that advance Europe’s core objectives in a context marked by financial limitations. 

ACA submitted its both policy inputs in response to the EU public consultation on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (education and external action) in early May (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, February 2025).