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  1. An institution, body, office or agency established by or based on the Treaty on European Union and the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

    All education and training facilities for people of different age groups.

    An intergovernmental organization having legal personality under public international law or a specialized agency established by such an international organization. An international organization, the majority of whose members are Member States or Associated Countries and whose main objective is to promote scientific and technological cooperation in Europe, is an International Organization of European Interest.

    A person with legal rights and obligations. Unlike a legal entity, a natural person does not have a legal act (e.g. association, limited liability company, etc.).

    An NPO is an institution or organization which, by virtue of its legal form, is not profit-oriented or which is required by law not to distribute profits to its shareholders or individual members. An NGO is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that does not represent business interests. Pursues a common purpose for the benefit of society.

    A partnership, corporation, person, or agency that is for-profit and not operated by the government.

    Any government or other public administration, including public advisory bodies, at the national, regional or local level.

    A research institution is a legal entity established as a non-profit organization whose main objective is to conduct research or technological development. A college/university is a legal entity recognized by its national education system as a university or college or secondary school. It may be a public or private institution.

    A microenterprise, a small or medium-sized enterprise (business) as defined in EU Recommendation 2003/361. To qualify as an SME for EU funding, an enterprise must meet certain conditions, including (a) fewer than 250 employees and (b) an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. These ceilings apply only to the figures for individual companies.

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  1. Governance, partnership: Projects aimed at increasing the application of multilevel and transnational or cross-border governance, designing and testing appropriate governance structures and mechanisms. Also cooperation between public institutions on any theme.

    Innovation capacity and awareness-raising: Actions that increase a person’s or organisation’s capacity for innovation (not innovation as such), and that establish the capacity to diffuse and apply innovation; projects that stimulate innovation in different areas and innovation capacities; strengthening and empowering of innovation networks.

    Institutional cooperation and cooperation networks: Projects working on the improvement of institutional cross-border co-operation and capacities, on renewing and simplifying administrative management through long term cooperation between institutions (e.g. Euregion), on establishing and sharing regional knowledge and intercultural understanding and cohesion. It also deals with cooperations between universities, health care facilities, schools and sports organisations, as well as with management and capacity building.

    Activities focussing on agricultural products, organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products; furthermore the development of the food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products and any topics related to animals and fishing.

    Agriculture and fisheries and forestry: Projects focussing on agricultural products (i.e. fruits, meat, olives, etc.), organic farming, horticulture, as well as forest management and wood products. Also the development of the agro-food sector, food chains, organic food production, and seafood products. Any topics related to animals (i.e. health, management) and fishing (i.e. sustainable fishery, aquaculture).

    Soil and air quality: Projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Climate change and biodiversity projects assisting mitigation and adaption to climate change and environmental impacts of climate change. Development of low carbon technologies and strategies, reduction of CO2 emissions from all sectors. Promotion of biodiversity, new instruments to enhance biodiversity and natural protection.

    Soil and air quality projects that deal with any topic against soil and air pollution, except water pollution, for example, reduction of soil and air contamination, pollution-management systems, but also prevention and eradication of soil erosion, new ways of improving air quality (also indoors) and soil/air knowledge in general.

    Water management projects about management and distribution of drinking water, integrated sustainable water management, monitoring systems for water supply and improving drinking water quality; also water treatment (wastewater), in particular, innovative technologies to improve wastewater, treatments in the purification of industrial and domestic wastewater and water reuse policies. Waterways, lakes and rivers: This deals with any topics on waterways, lakes and rivers, from improving water quality, protecting and developing of ecosystems or sustainable wetland management.

    Activities that protect, promote and enhance cultural and natural heritage, increase the attractiveness through preservation and valorisation of common cultural and natural heritage in a sustainable manner, and improve and develop cultural and natural heritage objects, services and products. Cultural heritage management, art and culture, (maritime) heritage routes, access to cultural and natural heritage. Also all topics on cultural services such as festivals, concerts, art workshops.

    Tourism projects dealing with the promotion of natural assets, and the protection and development of natural heritage, as well as increasing the touristic attractiveness through the better use of natural, cultural and historical heritage. Also projects about improved tourist services/products, development of ecotourism models, tourism development strategies.

    Sustainable management of natural resources projects focussing on the protection, promotion and valorization, and sustainable management and conservation of natural areas (habitats, geo parks, protected areas, etc.). Also projects focussing on preserving and enhancing cultural and natural heritage and landscape, as well as protecting the marine environment.

    Projects on waste management (innovative services and strategies), ecological waste treatment, treatment techniques/systems; waste disposal and recycling (improvement of recycling, innovative recycling technologies, recovery of organic waste, repair & re-use centres and networks); also prevention of pollution and pollution control (ecological and circular economy, marine littering, etc.).

    Labour market and employment: creating employment opportunities and/or optimising jobs, academic (un)employment and job mobility, workforce attraction and improvement of employment conditions for different groups.

    SME and entrepreneurship: strengthening SME capacities, boosting entrepreneurial activities in different sectors and for different groups, supporting social entrepreneurship, creating business support/advisory systems for start-ups/spin-offs/incubators, improving the competitiveness of SMEs, and promoting new business processes.

    Community integration and common identity projects that build identity, create a more cohesive society, promote positive relations through an increased provision of shared spaces and services.

    Demographic change and immigration is about projects tackling major societal challenges like demographic change in different areas and migration, in particular, aging society (active aging, best agers, silver economy strategies) and related new public services (adaptation of key services and infrastructure), social and spatial segregation, and brain drain. Also all topics on migration (policy tools, strategic planning, integration).

    All projects where ICT has a significant role, including tailor-made ICT solutions in different fields, as well as digital innovation hubs, open data, Internet of Things; ICT access and connecting (remote) areas with digital infrastructure and services; services and applications for citizens (e-health, e-government, e-learning, e-inclusion, etc.); services and applications for companies (e-commerce, networking, digital transformation, etc.).

    This is about the mitigation and management of risks and disasters, and the anticipation and response capacity towards the actors regarding specific risks and management of natural disasters, for example, prevention of flood and drought hazards, forest fire, strong weather conditions, etc.. It is also about risk assessment and safety.

    Education and training projects on expanding educational opportunities, reducing barriers in the field of education, improving higher education and lifelong learning, training and labour mobility, educational networks, higher vocational education, common learning programmes.

    Topics on energy management, energy-saving methods, evaluating energy efficiency measurements, energy rehabilitation/efficiency in buildings / public infrastructure, promotion of energy efficiency, cooperation among experienced energy efficiency firms, institutions and local administrations, co-generation.

    Projects focussing on wind, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy, increasing the production of sustainable renewable energy and improving research capacities in biomass. Also projects focussing on storage and management of renewable energy, new technologies, sustainable regional bioenergy policies and financial Instruments for investments on renewable energy.

    Social projects concerning people with disabilities and excluded groups; enhancement of the capacity of children, young people, women and elderly; creation of infrastructure to improve access for disabled people, integration of socially vulnerable people; innovate in the care of victims of gender violence, social inclusion of women, etc.

    This deals with the development of health and social services and improved accessibility and efficiency for different groups (elderly, children, etc.). It is also about new healthcare models and medical diagnosis and treatments (dementia, cancer, diabetes, etc.), hospitals, care management, and rare diseases, as well as improving wellbeing and promoting sports.

    Projects about (organised) crime, efficient and secure borders, such as enhancing the effectiveness of the police in the prevention of drug crimes, the development of safety services, or tackling security and organised crime issues.

    Activities related to:

    • Transport and mobility covering all sorts of transport (incl. urban transport) and mobility.
    • Improving transport connections dealing with traffic and/or transport connections, rehabiliation/modernisation, better connectivity, improving accessibility/connections, but also public transport.
    • Multimodal transport and logistics and freight transport focusing on using different means of transport, developing multimodal connections, optimising intermodal transport chains; offering multimodal logistics solutions and providing access to clean, efficient and multimodal transport corridors and hubs; establishing cooperation among logistic centres and developing multimodal mobility strategies.

    Activities related to:

    • urban development, such as planning and design of cities and urban areas, urban renewal, urban-rural links (climate, sustainable mobility, water efficiency, participation, sustainable land use, smart cities, public urban areas, regeneration)
    • regional planning and development, such as the implementation of regional development policies/instruments and programmes, sustainable land use management plans, integrated regional action plans, spatial planning, and marine protected area management.
    • rural and peripheral development, referring to remote, sparsely populated areas, rural community development, and rural economics, in particular access to remote areas and policies for rural areas.
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Call key data

Topic 3: Vocational Education and Training: Development of joint VET qualifications and modules

Funding Program

Erasmus+ - Key Action 2 – Cooperation among Organisations and Institutions

Call number

ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD-VET-QM

deadlines

Opening
18.12.2024

Deadline
27.05.2025 17:00

Funding rate

80%

Estimated EU contribution per project

max. € 1,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

This action will aim to foster innovation, creativity and participation, as well as social entrepreneurship, in different fields of education and training, within sectors or across sectors and disciplines. The specific objective of the Topic is to support the development and delivery of joint VET qualifications and/or modules that are part of qualifications, or the improvement of existing ones, thus facilitating the mutual recognition of qualifications and learning outcomes and contributing to removing barriers to work and study mobility within the EU.

Call objectives

This action will aim to foster innovation, creativity and participation, as well as social entrepreneurship, in different fields of education and training, within sectors or across sectors and disciplines. 

Forward-Looking Projects are large-scale projects that aim to identify, develop, test and/or assess innovative (policy) approaches that have the potential of becoming mainstreamed, thus improving education and training systems. They will support forward-looking ideas responding to key European priorities. They should give input for improving education and training systems, as well as bring a substantial innovative effect in terms of methods and practices to all types of learning and active participation settings for Europe's social cohesion. 

The goal is to support transnational cooperation projects implementing a coherent and comprehensive set of sectoral or cross-sectoral activities that either: a) foster innovation in terms of scope, ground-breaking methods and practices, and/or b) ensure a transfer of innovation (across countries, policy sectors or target groups), thus ensuring at European level a sustainable exploitation of innovative project results and/or transferability into different contexts and audiences. The partnerships should be composed of a mix of public and private organisations combining researchers, practitioners and partners with the capacity to reach policy makers.

Forward-Looking Projects should therefore be implemented by a mixed partnership of organisations: 

  • based on excellence and state of the art knowledge;
  • having the capacity to innovate;
  • able to generate systemic impact through their activities and the potential to drive the policy agenda in the fields of education and training. 

The general objectives are as follows: 

  • Implementing innovative initiatives with a strong impact on education and training reforms in specific strategic policy areas;
  • Contributing to the strengthening of Europe's innovation capacity by promoting innovation in education and training;
  • Creating systemic change through fostering innovation at both practice and policy level;
  • Support forward-looking ideas focusing on key topics and priorities at EU level, with a clear potential to be mainstreamed in one or more sectors;
  • As fully innovative, ground-breaking educational methods and practices and/or transfer of innovation: ensuring at EU level a sustainable exploitation of innovative project results and/or transferability into different contexts and audiences. 

The specific objectives include: 

  • Identifying, developing, testing and/or assessing innovative approaches that have the potential to be mainstreamed in order to improve education and training systems, as well as the effectiveness of policies and practices in the field of education and training;
  • Launching pilot actions to test solutions and address future challenges, aiming to create sustainable and systemic impact;
  • Supporting transnational cooperation and mutual learning on forward-looking issues amongst key stakeholders and empowering them to develop innovative solutions and promote the transfer of those solutions in new settings, including capacity building of relevant stakeholders.

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Expected effects and impacts

The projects will contribute to addressing labour shortages in the EU and facilitate the removal of barriers to internal mobility and the single market, also fostering mutual trust and the recognition of qualifications or modules across countries. 

ADULT LEARNING 

Projects under this area address the adult learning sector. They support the implementation of the principles and objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the European Skills Agenda and in particular the Council Recommendation on individual learning accounts, the initiative on the Pact for Skills and the Council Resolution on a new European agenda for adult learning 2021-2030.

Expected results

The objectives of this Topic are to contribute to: 

  • Removing barriers to internal mobility for work and study purposes, facilitating portability, automatic recognition of qualifications and outcomes of learning periods abroad and contributing to the EU level target of 12% VET mobility participation by 2030;
  • Developing a highly skilled, qualified and mobile workforce, opening up opportunities for learners, workers and businesses;
  • Strengthening the quality, relevance and attractiveness of VET by supporting joint developments. 

The specific objective of the Topic is to support the development and delivery of joint VET qualifications and/or modules that are part of qualifications, or the improvement of existing ones, thus facilitating the mutual recognition of qualifications and learning outcomes and contributing to removing barriers to work and study mobility within the EU. The joint qualifications and/or modules will include a work-based learning component and a mobility window for a certain number of VET learners enrolled in programmes with vocational orientation at ISCED level 3 or 4. Furthermore they are aimed at creating rotation mobility schemes enabling exchanges among the project partners to ensure the mutual automatic recognition of the joint VET qualifications and/or modules among the participating organisations.

 Joint VET qualifications and modules have the potential to address common emerging and fast changing skills needs in various sectors and contribute to addressing labour shortages in the EU. Moreover, they can help remove barriers to internal mobility and the single market, while helping reduce persistent unemployment in some regions and contribute to reaching the VET mobility target set in the Council Recommendation on Europe on the Move. 

Applicants could base the development of the transnational joint qualifications/modules on existing evidence on the emerging and fast changing skills needs for concrete professions (including using results of Blueprint projects, EU skills academies, Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), EU sectoral strategies, etc.) or develop such evidence as part of the projects. 

Joint qualification (or module) means that the same learning outcomes are pursued in the programmes of the participating entities and that the qualification is part of the register of the officially recognized national or regional qualifications in at least one of the EU countries. 

To pursue these objectives, a strong focus should be placed on engaging with national or regional authorities in charge of qualifications and recognition, as well as on involving VET providers offering programmes at ISCED level 3 or/and 4. 

Specific activities that can be funded (scope):

Projects should implement all the activities listed below: 

  • Development of joint transnational qualifications and/or modules [based on the identified skills needs] - the qualifications and/or modules can target a certain trade or can develop multi-disciplinary content, they should not only include job specific skills, but also content related to basic skills and transversal competences;
  • Test the newly developed or adopted qualification and/or modules through exchanges of teachers and trainers among project partners;
  • Deploy the joint qualifications and/or modules in a mobility activity of VET learners to be organised on a rotation principle among the project partners; integrate the joint training module(s) in the VET programme curricula (for example as a mobility window) and cooperate with qualification authority(ies) on this matter;
  • Certify (national or regional certification rules and Europass Mobility using the European Digital Credentials for Learning infrastructure) and automatically recognise the learning outcomes of the mobility period abroad of the participants. 

Additional activities are possible, for example the joint development or adaption of digitalised learning and training content and/or assessment (including using results of Blueprint projects, EU skills academies, CoVEs). Projects could cover, as relevant, shortage occupations as listed in the Annex of the Commission proposal for the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an EU Talent Pool.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Albania (Shqipëria), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Iceland (Ísland), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Montenegro (Црна Гора), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Türkiye

eligible entities

Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities), from a minimum of 3 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must: 

  • be legal entities (public or private bodies) active in the fields of education and training, research and innovation or in the world of work. For Topic 4 ‘Adult Learning: Support to the Pact for Skills’, these bodies should also be registered members of the Pact for skills;
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e. Erasmus+ Programme Countries:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries: listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme (list of participating countries)
  • for higher education institutions (HEIs) established in Erasmus+ Programme Countries (see above): be holders of the ECHE certificate (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education). 

Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme can only be involved as associated partners (not as beneficiaries and affiliated entities). Exception: organisations from Belarus and the Russian Federation are not eligible to participate in this action.

Under Topic 3 ‘Vocational Education and Training: Development of joint VET qualifications and modules’, at least 2 applicants (beneficiary, not affiliated entity) must be a VET provider offering qualifications programmes at EQF ISCED level 3-4.

other eligibility criteria

Specific cases:

Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person). 

International organisations — International organisations are NOT eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them. 

Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons. 

EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium. 

Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).

Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations for participation in the programme (see list of participating countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call was launched).

Financial support to third parties is not allowed.

Topic 2 and topic 3 share a budget of € 8,000,000.00.

Additional information

Topics

Education & Training, Children & Youth, Media

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region, EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

project duration

between 24 and 36 months

Additional Information

Proposals must be submitted before the call deadline (see timetable section 4). 

Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Calls for proposals section). Paper submissions are NOT possible. 

Proposals (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System ( NOT the documents available on the Topic page — they are only for information). 

Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:

  • Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
  • Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (template to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re-uploaded)
  • Part C — contains the project’s contribution to EU programme key performance indicators (to be filled in directly online)
  • Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re uploaded):
    • Detailed budget table/calculator

Please be aware that since the detailed budget table serves as the basis for fixing the lump sums for the grants (and since lump sums must be reliable proxies for the actual costs of a project), the costs you include MUST comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6). This is particularly important for purchases and subcontracting, which must comply with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and be free of any conflict of interests. If the budget table contains ineligible costs, the grant may be reduced (even later on during the project implementation or after their end). 

Proposals are limited to maximum 70 pages (Part B).

Call documents

ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARDERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD(1214kB)

Contact

Erasmus+ National Agencies
Website

European Education and Culture Executive Agency
Website

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