Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges in higher education and youth: deadline for applications 26 April 2023

Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges projects (EVE) consist of online people-to-people activities that promote intercultural dialogue and soft skills development. They make it possible for all young people to access high-quality international and intercultural (both formal and non-formal) education without physical mobility. Although virtual debates or training does not fully replace the benefits of physical mobility, participants in virtual exchanges should gain some of the benefits of international educational experiences. Virtual exchanges also help to spread European values, and in some cases, they can be used to prepare, deepen and extend physical exchanges and increase their demand.

Virtual exchange projects are implemented in small groups and they are always moderated by a trained facilitator. They should be easy to integrate into youth projects (non-formal education) or higher education studies. Virtual exchange projects can have participants from both sectors although, depending on the project, they may involve participants from only one or both sectors. Organisations and participants from both EU Member States, third countries associated to the programme and third countries not associated to the programme participate in all projects under this call for proposals. In this action eligible regions of third countries not associated to the programme are the Western Balkans, Partnership East, South Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Applying

Grants for Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges can be applied for directly to the Executive Agency of the European Commission. 

The deadline for applications in the 2023 application round is 26 April 2023 at 18.00 Finnish time (17.00 CET).

Objectives

The objectives of Erasmus+ virtual exchanges programme are to

• encourage intercultural dialogue between EU Member States as well as European third countries associated to Erasmus+ and third countries not associated to the Programme, and foster tolerance through people-to-people interaction based on digital and youth friendly technologies.
• promote different types of virtual exchanges to supplement the physical mobility in the Erasmus+ programme so that more young people have access to intercultural and international experiences.
• develop critical thinking and media literacy especially in the use of the internet and the social media to prevent discrimination, indoctrination, polarisation and violent radicalisation.
• promote the development of digital and soft skills, including the practice of foreign languages and teamwork, among students, young people and youth workers especially to improve employability.
• promote citizenship and the shared values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education.
• strengthen the youth dimension in the EU’s relationships with third countries.

A bottom-up approach is used in Erasmus+ virtual exchanges. The participating organisations are free to choose the topic(s) on which the project will focus. However, the project application must indicate the expected outcomes of the project in relation to the objectives listed above.

Financing to be granted

This action follows a funding model based on a lump sum. The amount of each grant is determined according to the estimated budget for the project proposed by the applicant.

The EU grant per project is a maximum of EUR 500,000 and a maximum EUR 200 per person (i.e., a project awarded EUR 500,000 should reach at least 2,500 participants). 

Further information

More detailed information on applying for Erasmus Virtual Exchanges, the award criteria and the funding rules have been published on pages 205 - 212 of Part B of the Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2023.

The European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission is responsible for providing guidance to applicants in this action.  You can send contact requests related to applications for virtual exchanges to the following email address: EACEA-EPLUS-VlRTUAL-EXCHANGES [at] ec.europa.eu (EACEA-EPLUS-VlRTUAL-EXCHANGES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).