A trilogy of documents examining the current situation of the Swiss Programme for Erasmus+ and its limitations

Erasmus+ represents an opportunity for universities, vocational training institutions and schools. Movetia is publishing three notebooks taking stock of the situation in each of these sectors and examining their prospects for the future.

Movetia is publishing three notebooks – covering the three fields of school education, vocational training and higher education – presenting the European Erasmus+ programme and explaining the opportunities offered by the corresponding Swiss Programme since 2014. The documents examine the state of play in the field of international mobility and cooperation while also illustrating the potential that would be offered by Switzerland’s full participation in the next generation of European Erasmus+ programmes over the period 2021-2027.

The Swiss Programme for Erasmus+ was designed as an urgent measure for the period 2014-2020 in order to ensure that Swiss stakeholders in the education sector would continue to have access to funding instruments with a view to encouraging individual mobility for the purposes of learning and fostering cooperation between Swiss and European educational institutions. The structure of this programme, funded unilaterally by the Swiss state, is based very closely on the European Union’s programme, although it does not provide access to all the possibilities for international cooperation.

The Federal Council will examine potential membership of the programme scheduled to supersede Erasmus+ in 2021 as soon as the guidelines and budget for the new programme 2021-2027 have been adopted and published by the European Union (EU).

Erasmus+, the European programme for education and training

Erasmus+ is the European Union’s programme for education, training, youth and sport covering the period 2014-2020. The member states of the European Union together with non-members of the EU with the status of full associate member can participate in the programme on condition that they pay a financial contribution agreed with the European Commission. The following non-members of the EU currently participate in the Erasmus+ programme: Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. [MH1] Switzerland is not a member of the Erasmus+ programme. Its status as a non-member country only offers it partial access to the activities of the European programme.