Cooperation projects
in higher education
Erasmus + cooperation projects make it possible to share useful practical cooperating experience and solve problems and tasks in the field of education.
What are the goals?
Development of the field of higher education.
Strengthening cooperation with European partners (mainly from program countries), learning from each other, and exchanging experiences.
Creating, adapting, and deploying innovative and concrete solutions.
What are the priorities?
- According to the objectives of the European Union’s education policy, the priorities are divided into two: horizontal and sectoral.
- To be eligible, a project must relate to at least one horizontal priority or at least one sectoral priority.
Horizontal priorities:
Inclusion and diversity
The beneficiary organization must respect the principles of inclusion and diversity in all its activities and ensure that all participants have fair and equal conditions.
The program shall support projects aimed at improving the social inclusion of people with fewer opportunities, including people with disabilities and migrant backgrounds, people living in rural or remote areas, people experiencing socio-economic difficulties, or otherwise experiencing discrimination. Projects help to create an environment that meets the needs of the wider community and promotes equality.
Environment and the fight against climate change
The program aims to raise awareness of environmental and climate change issues in all areas and to promote green competencies, attitudes, consumption patterns, and sustainable living.
The digital revolution in education
The program supports the digital revolution in education and training institutions. Projects aiming at an effective transition to digital education, the development of digital skills and competencies, and the use of innovative technologies and solutions will be supported.
Active citizenship and participation
The program supports the development of active citizenship, social skills, critical thinking, and media literacy through both formal and non-formal learning. The focus is on understanding the common values and unity of the European Union, as well as the diversity, cultural, social, and historical heritage of each country.
Sectoral priorities:
Supporting cooperation between higher education institutions
We support the development and testing of various cooperation models (incl. web and embedded cooperation) and the use of digital tools and solutions.
We promote learning mobility by implementing the automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and learning outcomes and the integration of learning mobility into curricula.
We support higher education institutions in implementing the Bologna principles in mobility.
Modernization of the learning process and learning content
We support the development of outcome-based learning and the creation of student-empowering curricula that enable the acquisition of good professional knowledge and are in line with the needs of the labor market and society at large.
We promote the development, testing, and implementation of flexible learning pathways and learning modules, microcredits and smart bites that enable individualization, and the introduction of assessment systems that support learner development.
We popularize the lifelong learning dimension in higher education by supporting the recognition of prior informal and non-formal learning and work experience.
We support cross-sectoral approaches and innovative pedagogy, the continuous integration of sustainable development topics into curricula.
Development of STEAM learning in higher education
We promote the integration of mathematics, science, technology, engineering, and the arts in higher education curricula.
We support women’s participation in the natural and exact sciences and technologies, especially in the fields of engineering and ICT, career guidance for women’s participation, and the development of mentoring programs.
We support the development of gender-sensitive learning in the natural and exact sciences and technologies and the breaking of gender stereotypes.
Recognition of excellence
We consider it important to develop and implement strategies and a culture of quality in recognition of excellence in the learning process, including digital learning and the teaching of students with special needs.
We will increase our openness to innovation and enhance cooperation between educational and research institutions and the labor market in the field of development activities.
We promote the development and implementation of innovative research and creativity-based learning methods, smart study materials, and methodologies.
Inclusive higher education
We will improve access to learning mobility and international cooperation for disadvantaged target groups and promote their participation.
We support the development of flexible career opportunities between the fields of education and research.
We promote gender balance in higher education institutions both by specialties and in management positions.
We encourage active citizenship by popularizing informal and non-formal learning and promote the inclusion of volunteering and community work in formal learning.
Supporting digital capacity in the field of higher education
We support the introduction of a European student card, ensuring the secure exchange of student data between higher education institutions in accordance with the principles of personal data protection and linking it to the new Europass framework.
We develop the digital skills and competencies of students and employees of higher education institutions.
Who can participate?
All organizations wishing to promote the interests of the people participating in the higher education sector, regardless of their form or type of ownership, can participate, educational institutions, companies, local governments, cultural institutions, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, etc.
Projects are open to organizations established in program countries (EU Member States and Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Turkey, Northern Macedonia, Serbia). Agencies from partner countries can also be involved in cooperation projects (see the Program Guide for details).
What projects can be done,
and how long will they last?
Large-scale Cooperation Partnerships
duration 12-36 months
At least three organizations from three different program countries will participate; the project can only be managed by an organization from a program country.
Read more
The project must start between 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022.
What can be done to achieve the goals?
- Institutions with less experience in collaborative projects can use projects to promote the sharing of good practice at the international level.
- Organize face-to-face or virtual meetings with partners to plan, implement, evaluate results, report, and present results. You can also perform key activities related to the presentation of the project, such as creating websites, organizing media events, etc.
- To link educational developments to local and regional development.
- To develop and implement innovative (digital) solutions, training programs, (e-) courses, (digital) learning materials, teaching methods, etc.
- To develop the knowledge and skills of teachers and trainers.
- Organize events, working meetings, workshops, training, study visits, studies, surveys, reports, etc., to exchange experiences and achieve results.
- To develop appropriate solutions to involve people with fewer opportunities and those at risk of discrimination more effectively in education and the world of work.
- To establish recognition and assessment systems to provide feedback on knowledge, skills, and competencies acquired through different learning pathways.
- To organize virtual and face-to-face events, seminars, conferences, etc., to present the results of the project.
Read more about the different activities in the program guide.
Large-scale Cooperation Partnerships
The aim of the cooperation projects is to improve the quality of the core activities of the participating organizations and to develop and implement innovative solutions.
In such projects, experiences are exchanged, and concrete results are achieved, which are presented together.
The results are, for example, new teaching methods, study materials, study modules, training programs, courses, etc.
Project activities must take place in the host countries of the participating organizations. In justified cases, activities may be carried out at the seat of the European Union institutions.
In order to achieve the project objectives, it is possible to apply for support to organize project meetings, international training and study activities, pay for project-related staff costs, and present the results.
The total amount of project support is at least 100,000 euros and at most 400,000 euros.
Costs are calculated on the basis of unit costs.
The cooperation project must relate to at least one horizontal and/or one sectoral priority.
Funding rules must be followed when completing the application and implementing the project.
Funding rules for cooperation projectsHow to implement
a cooperation project?
Preparation
Analyze the needs of your organization or (international) higher education and think about what change would be needed?
Conduct surveys or studies to learn if there is a problem and what the nature of the problem is. Look for other similar studies at home and abroad. The lack of a needs analysis is one of the main reasons why points are lost in the evaluation phase of an application.
See what has been done in similar projects on the same topic to avoid duplication. The Erasmus + Projects Results Platform, for example, is well suited for this.
Think about what skills and information are needed to achieve the change you want and map out ways to reach a solution.
Start looking for suitable partners at home and abroad and sign agreements. The selected partners must have the necessary skills and knowledge to achieve the results of the project, and the missing part cannot be purchased as a service. Each partner must play a leading role in the project.
Think about the activities and the roles of the partners, the schedule of activities, the budget, organizational issues, including asking for confirmations from the target groups you want to involve.
Be sure to read the project conditions, funding rules, and evaluation criteria.
Familiarize yourself with the application deadline and start writing a project.
Application
To access the European Commission’s web applications, an account must be created (if it does not already exist) on the EU login page of the authentication service.
Find out if your organization and partners have the OID required to participate in Erasmus + projects. If necessary, register your organization.
Fill in the application form for the correct field in the application environment.
Apply on time.
The application is submitted to only one Erasmus + National Agency at a time. Applications that are identical or too similar in the content will not be funded.
Evaluation and contracting
Once the application has been submitted, you have to wait a while – usually about four months. During this time, the application will be dealt with by Erasmus + and the European Solidarity Corps Agency, and project applications will be evaluated by two experts in the field of higher education. A ranking of projects is formed.
If the project receives a positive financing decision, a contract is awarded, and, as a general rule, a 40% advance is paid.
Implementation
Inform the partners and start the activities as planned in the application, taking into account the expert feedback, the program guide and the contract concluded.
The role of the coordinator is to create an overall picture of the project and the rules and to keep in touch with the partners and all participants in the project, to involve them in the decisions, to keep the overall picture of the budget, and to collect the required documents.
Each project is expected to make the activities, results, and success story widely publicized and communicated to potential external stakeholders. Dissemination activities should take place throughout the project.
Termination
At the end of the project, a final report must be submitted, in which you analyze the activities and their impact on different target groups also outside the project.
The results must be entered into the Erasmus + Project Results Platform.
The results of the project must be freely available and usable even after the end of the project.
