EU’s Erasmus+ Program Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary
The EU Vice-President for Promoting the European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, and Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the symbolic Erasmus+ program, meeting 35 current and former Erasmus+ participants as well as representatives of the program’s founding team, AtoZSerwisPlus.pl reports.
“Erasmus+ is a 35-year-old success story that has provided life-changing opportunities to millions of people. I could not think of a better and more compelling example of what the “European way of life” concretely means. I look forward to exchanging with the participants about their experiences and with the programme founders who planted the seeds for this great programme more than three decades ago,” Vice-President Schinas pointed out in this regard.
At the same time, Commissioner Gabriel added that Erasmus+ is a true European success story, revealing that every year, more than 600,000 Europeans use the opportunities offered by Erasmus+.
In a statement issued on October 19, the European Commission of the EU emphasized that each participant will share personal experiences and discuss the achievements and challenges of the main EU program for education, training, youth and sport.
“Starting with just 3,000 university students, the programme now offers cooperation and mobility opportunities in school education for pupils and teachers, in vocational education and training, higher education and adult education, as well as projects for apprentices, young people, youth workers, and even (as of 2023) sports coaches,” the statement reads.
According to the Commission, the expansion in geographical and sectoral scope resulted in 2021, despite the unfavourable sanitary situation, in over 615,000 realized mobilities.
In addition, since the war in Ukraine began on February 24, the Erasmus+ program provided the greatest possible flexibility in implementing projects to support Ukrainian students and educational staff.
As the EU Commission explains, the current edition of the 2021-2027 Erasmus + marks the integration of DiscoverEU into the program. Based on this change and thanks to the extraordinary funding given in the European Year of Youth 2022, around 70,000 travel tickets have been made available for 2022.
DiscoverEU is open to 18-year-olds and allows them to discover Europe through travel and experiential learning. Meanwhile, regarding the next round, the application will be opened on October 11 to candidates from the EU and all countries of the Erasmus + program, namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.
