About the programme

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support, through lifelong learning, the educational, professional and personal development of people in education, training, youth and sport, in Europe and beyond. 

In doing so it contributes to sustainable growth, quality jobs and social cohesion, driving innovation, and strengthening European identity and active citizenship.

It has offered a life changing learning experience to millions of EU citizens and supports various activities such as learning mobility, cooperation, and policy reform. 

Erasmus was established in 1987 as an exchange programme for higher education students. Ever since the first year, when 3,200 students from 11 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom) participated, the programme has constantly been evolving.

Today, it is one of the European Union's most visible success stories with 15 million people participating since 1987. The number of participants in learning mobility is still growing every year and has nearly doubled since 2014. Thanks to strong support from EU institutions and EU countries, Erasmus+ provides more and more opportunities to learn and to participate in transnational projects, while expanding its international dimension.

Read about the history of Erasmus+

Get an overview of the programme

Structure

 Erasmus+ is implemented mainly through three so-called “Key Actions”, each reflecting levels of intervention.

Key Action 1 supports learning mobility of individual projects

Key Action 2 supports cooperation among organisations and institutions

Key Action 3 supports policy development and cooperation

(data available later)

The programme also supports Jean Monnet Actions, which offer opportunities to spread knowledge on the EU in the fields of education and training (data available later).

The above chart shows the total number of projects, grant amounts awarded and number of organisations funded by the Erasmus+ programme since 2014, per year and field.

It allows two types of interactions, with drop-down menus to toggle between projects, grants, and organisations as well as year / field.  A year may be selected by clicking on one bar (and validate). Refreshing the page will reset the filters.

Budget covered

The EU’s multiannual financial programming (the EU’s long-term budget) spans over seven years. Two statistical periods are covered: the 2014-2020 and the current programming period, started in 2021 and ending in 2027.

The overall budget envelope was nearly doubled from the previous period, with gradual yearly increases peaking in 2027, to support key political objectives such as building a European Education Area, empowering young people, and promoting a European identity through youth, education and culture policies.

This increased ambition also highlighted the goal of increasing the number of participants (pupils, higher education students, trainees, teachers, trainers, youth workers, sports coaches, and also learners in vocational education and training and adult learning staff), of reaching out more to people from all social backgrounds, while also building stronger relations with the rest of the world and promoting more forward-looking study fields.