Euractiv: Special Report: Erasmus wins lion's share of EU education funding

Europe's most celebrated student exchange programme is set to win a 71% funding increase under European Commission plans for the 2014-2020 budget, with education and training schemes now all regrouped under the Erasmus brand.

The education sector won the biggest percentage increase under the EU's long-term budget and is set to leap 71%, from €8.76 billion to €15.2 billion, for the period 2014-2020 under proposals submitted last week.

But the EU executive wants to accompany the funding boost with a simplified organisation, causing teething problems with other education programmes which currently receive EU funding.

Education funding is currently divided into three elements. Lifelong Learning encompasses the academic exchange scheme Erasmus, vocational training scheme Leonardo da Vinci, teacher-training scheme Comenius, and adult education scheme Grundtvig.

Together, these account for the lion's share (€7.1 billion) of the current funds. Youth in Action – the scheme which offers more informal training opportunities – and global progammes such as Erasmus Mundus are administered separately.

Re-brand would see Erasmus name used for all programmes

According to internal policy documents seen by EurActiv, in advance of the massive budget injection these programmes would all be rolled under one 'Education Europe' programme.

Dennis Abbott, the spokesman for Education Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, told EurActiv: "They [the separate programmes] have been characterised by a proliferation of small-scale projects and some of them lack the critical mass to have a long-lasting impact. There are also some overlaps between actions – this has led to increased management costs and has confused potential applicants."

More controversially, the EU executive is set to ditch the marketing names of the programmes in its stable and capitalise on its best-known and most attractive brand, badging them all Erasmus, or 'New Erasmus'.

The Commission believes that – unlike some of the other named schemes – the Erasmus brand is recognised almost everywhere, and is arguably the best-known EU programme of all, regardless of policy area.

Capitalising on the visibility of Erasmus would raise wider awareness of the Commission’s financial support for study, training and volunteering in all spheres and age groups, EU officials believe.

Fears that name change will mean some lose out

The name change element is still under discussion at the European Parliament and among stakeholders, some of whom have expressed concern that the loss of names such as Youth in Action will lead to a corresponding loss of funding.

An EU official told EurActiv: "This is not correct. The Commission's proposal means more support for formal education and for youth. It is not true that the abolition, for example, of a separate Youth Programme means the abolition or reduction of informal youth education programmes."

He added: "A programme is a means, not an end: we want to focus on the best way to help young people - not on the best way to keep the current administrative structures unchanged."

The re-brand would come at a significant moment since under the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) the numbers of youths, students and academics that would be involved in the various training mobility programmes is set to almost double from 400,000 each year at the moment to between 700,000 and 800,000 each year.

Areas set to receive a specific boost are Master's Degree level research – which will benefit from a new programme involving the European Investment Bank providing guarantees for students – and professorial exchanges.

Jeremy Fleming

Positions: 

"This budget is excellent news for our young people. Investing in youth is one of the best business plans for the future of Europe," said Androulla Vassiliou, European commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, adding: "We want to help them to develop their skills and mobility so that they increase their job prospects. Around 400,000 young people a year currently benefit from our grants for study, training and volunteering abroad. But the demand for places is huge and we are turning down one in every two applicants due to insufficient resources. The additional funding will mean we can support up to 300,000 more young people each year."

"The current architecture of the programmes and instruments is fragmented. They have been characterised by a proliferation of small-scale projects and some of them lack the critical mass to have a long lasting impact. There are also some overlaps between actions – this has led to increased management costs and has confused potential applicants," according to Dennis Abbott, the spokesman of Commissioner Vassiliou.

He added: "Therefore, the Commission proposes to rationalise and simplify the current structure by proposing a single, integrated programme on education, training and youth. The focus will be on developing the skills and mobility of human capital. For the same reasons synergy will also be brought into the culture related programmes. The application processes and the monitoring and evaluation of projects will be simplified, including through the management of projects by national agencies."

“The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) welcomes the recently proposed budget and is very pleased to see that education and mobility are becoming a main priority of the European Commission. ESN is happy to see that, in times of financial austerity, the EU is moving towards deeper and more fundamental sectors, such as education, which is a sustainable basis for the enhancement of the Union,” said Tania Berman, the president of the Erasmus Student Network. “It wishes nevertheless to underline how much the balance between quality and quantity is needed in order to maintain the success and reputation of the Erasmus programme,” Berman added.