Full speed ahead thanks to Erasmus+: All education stakeholders would benefit from an association, as would the youth and sports sectors

There is no lack of arguments for a Swiss re-association with Erasmus+. This is shown, among other things, by a report on the six half-day Workshops+ that took place at the beginning of the summer. The Workshops+ were organised by Movetia, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) and the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and brought together key stakeholders.

While Switzerland has not been part of the Erasmus+ education programme since 2014, the Workshops+ were able to demonstrate the many benefits of participation. Participants emphasised that mobility and cooperation activities can be significantly increased with an association to Erasmus+. They consider it realistic that Swiss institutions will be strongly committed and achieve a great deal of success in the European Education Champions League. In addition to the networking opportunities for Swiss institutions, Switzerland's participation in Erasmus+ is also financially interesting. More on this in our report!

Good cooperation between the different education stakeholders will be crucial to make the most of Erasmus+. Movetia will support the stakeholders in increasing activities across the board and in specific areas. These include:

National communication campaign for a "culture change": Raising awareness of the added value of stays abroad and international cooperation;
Promoting all Erasmus+ offers and doing so as close to the people as possible (door-to-door), in cooperation with key stakeholders;
Supportive measures: Facilitating networking and supporting the search for partner institutions, assistance with applications, etc.;
Establishing support and coordination structures for exchange, mobility and cooperation at sub-national level;
Coordination among the stakeholders: Supporting the implementation of the measures identified in the Workshop+ at political and institutional level.

What are the next steps towards a Swiss association to Erasmus+?

Association with Erasmus+ is one of the Federal Council's declared goals for 2022, which Guy Parmelin presented to the National Council on 13th September. The release of the cohesion contribution to the European Union seems to be a key political step in the process. If the negotiations are successful, a funding proposal is still needed on the Swiss side.