Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education supports the modernisation, accessibility and internationalisation of higher education in EU-external partner countries.
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Capacity Building projects are multilateral projects developing higher education between EU Member States and third countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme and more than 150 third countries not associated to the Programme.

The projects and results of Capacity Building in Higher Education must benefit higher education institutions and higher education systems in partner countries.

Capacity Building projects support the relevance, quality, modernisation and resilience of higher education in issues such as the globalisation of the economy and increasing inequality. Capacity Building projects are aimed at improving the administration, management and innovations capacities of higher education institutions in partner countries, promote internationalisation and modernise education systems. At the same time, the projects also promote regional and interregional cooperation.

The action also promotes the general priorities of the European Commission, such as the Green Deal, digitalisation, sustainable growth, peace and security.  

In Capacity Building projects, Finnish higher education institutions can through cooperation, their expertise and good practices contribute to the development of higher education in partner countries.

In Capacity Building projects, higher education institutions can participate in

  • enhance the relevance of higher education for the successful implementation of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy and the investment priorities set within
  • improve the quality HE and enhance its relevance for the labour market and society
  • improve the level of competences, skills and employability potential of students in HEIs by developing new and innovative education programmes
  • promote inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination and the promotion of civic-competences in higher education in the third countries not associated to the Programme in HE
  • enhance the teaching, assessment mechanisms for HEI staff and students, quality assurance, management, governance, inclusion, innovation, knowledge base, digital and entrepreneurial capacities, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs
  • increase the capacities of HEIs, bodies in charge of HE authorities to modernise their higher education systems, particularly in terms of governance and financing, by supporting the definition, implementation and monitoring of reform processes
  • improve the training of teachers and continuous professional development in order to impact the longer term quality of the education system
  • stimulate cooperation of institutions, capacity building and exchange of good practice
  • foster cooperation across different regions of the world through joint initiatives
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There are three kinds of Capacity Building projects:

Strand 1: Fostering access to cooperation in higher education
  • support the access of newcomer organisations such higher education institutions from the least developed countries and remote areas and less experienced higher education institutions
  • improve the quality, administration and accessibility of education
  • grant per project EUR 200,000–400,000
  • projects may last 24–36 months
  • budget for the strand approximately 30 million euros.
Strand 2: Partnerships for transformation in higher education
  • aimed specifically at developing the operation of higher education institutions of partner countries
  • grant per project EUR 400,000–800,000
  • projects may last 24–36 months
  • budget for the strand approximately 44 million euros.
Strand 3: Structural reform projects 
  • aimed at developing higher education at the national level in partner countries
  • the authority responsible for higher education in the country in question must be involved in structural projects
  • grant per project EUR 600,000–1,000,000
  • projects may last 36–48 months
  • budget for the strand approximately 16 million euros.

Projects in Strands 1 and 2 must comply with regional priorities that have been determined for each region in conjunction with the call for proposals. Projects under Strand 3 in the following regions must be aligned with the Global Gateway priorities.

The budget for Capacity Building in call 2025 is approximately 107 million euros, which is allocated by strand and geographical region. Detailed budget distribution is available in the application portal.  

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EU Member States, third countries associated to the Programme and third countries not associated to the Programme from the following geographical regions can participate in CBHE projects: 

Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South-Mediterranean Countries, Asia, Middle East, Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Caribbean (regions 1–11, not region 4 in the regional classification of the Erasmus+ programme).  

The eligible countries and the budget reserved for each region are determined in more detail in the annual call for proposals.

Projects under Capacity Building in Higher Education include:

  • national projects, i.e. projects involving higher education institutions from only one eligible third country not associated to the Erasmus+ programme
  • regional projects, i.e. multi-country projects within one single eligible region
  • cross-regional projects, i.e. multi-country projects involving more than one region and involving at least one country from each eligible region.  

Projects focusing on countries in the Western Balkans, Latin America and the Caribbean cannot be national projects (Strand 1&2). Instead, they have to focus on at least two partner countries. Projects for strand 3 can be from regions 5-11. Projects under Strand 3 cannot focus on Syria.  Belarus is not an eligible country.

The projects are implemented by networks of higher education institutions. At least the following number of institutions must participate in capacity building projects:

  • 2 higher education institutions from two EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme
  • 2 higher education institutions from each participating partner country
  • in a project, the number of institutions from partner countries must be at least as high as the number of institutions from programme countries
  • in addition, projects under Strand 3 must involve the ministry responsible for higher education in the partner country.

In addition, many other parties can participate in the projects (e.g., companies, ministries, NGOs, research institutes or different parties working with higher education).

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The application process is managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The organisation coordinating the project submits the application to EACEA, which evaluates and selects the projects to be funded.

Application deadline

A call for proposals is organised annually. The 2025 application round closed on 6 February 2025 18.00 Finnish time (17:00 CET).

The opening of the call is announced through the EDUFI_HigherEd mailing list.

Detailed instructions for applying and other important material

Detailed application instructions, the programme guide, the Call for Proposals and the applicant's guide can be found on the Commission's Funding & Tenders application portal:
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Support and guidance for the application process are provided by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Additionally, EDUFI informs about the action in Finland and advises Finnish applicants on general application questions. Contact information can be found at the bottom of the page.

Information about EACEA and EDUFI's applicant webinars, as well as their materials, can be found below.

Information and support for global co-operation

Twenty-seven partner countries in the EU’s neighbouring area have a National Erasmus+ Office (NEO). In the application stage NEOs can offer support for cooperation in the countries in question.

In addition, the Erasmus+ National Focal Points (ENFP) support participation in the Erasmus+ programme in 78 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and America. Following the work of EU Delegations can also support the planning of your project.

Country-specific information on participation in the Erasmus+ programme globally is available on the Erasmus+ Factsheets pages.
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  • There must be a justified need for your capacity building project in the partner country. Familiarise yourself with the higher education development strategies in your partner country and with other already funded projects and adapt your own project to them.
  • Familiarise yourself with the country- and region-specific priorities of different project types under Capacity Building projects. To be selected, your project must fit into the priority areas determined by the European Commission. 
  • Read the material carefully and reserve plenty of time for preparing the application.  
  • Keep in mind that the application consists of an electronic application form and its many attachments. The most extensive part of the application is the appendix Detailed description of the Project.
  • Participate in EDUFI's application guidance sessions. Information on the sessions will be published on this website.
  • You can also familiarise yourself with the ongoing and already completed capacity building projects, which you can find below under Results of calls for proposals. 
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Funding was granted to Finnish organisations in the application rounds of 2022 and 2023. There was no application in 2021.

In EACEA's project database, Capacity Building projects in higher education can be found in the Topic menu under the code CBHE.

Finnish organisations in Capacity Building for Higher Education
Explore the projects of Finnish organisations in the Excel spreadsheet. You can find more information through the external link in the table.
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Participants’ experiences of Erasmus+ Capacity Building projects.

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Contact the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) responsible for the application: EACEA-EPLUS-CBHE [at] ec.europa.eu (EACEA-EPLUS-CBHE[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) 

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