Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Own contribution refers to resources you commit from your own funds or sources towards a project or initiative. It demonstrates your commitment and investment, alongside the funds received through match funding. Components include:

• Cash contributions: This can include direct costs related to the project, such as staff salaries, travel expenses, etc.
• In-kind contributions: These are non-cash resources you contribute, valued at their fair market price. Examples include volunteer time, expertise provided by your staff, etc. To calculate in-kind contributions, calculate volunteer labour at appropriate level per hour, or calculated donated goods at the price you would pay for/charge for if they were not donated.
   

Eligible costs are those that are related to the Erasmus+ "European Universities" project resp. the related project under the Swiss Programme for Erasmus+, necessary for implementing the project, and reasonable, identifiable and verifiable. The European Commission's Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Art. 6, provides a useful overview of what this means.
In principle, all personnel and material costs actually incurred (i.e. real and not estimated, budgeted or imputed) for the activities that are covered by the Grant Agreement can be credited. Eligible costs are, for example, costs arising from the following activities:

• Project management and implementation: Project management: e.g. project planning, bookkeeping, reporting, coordination, internal and external communication, participation in cross-border project meetings, including preparation and follow-up. Smaller project implementation activities: e.g. virtual exchange, local project activities such as project work with the class/group involved, organisation and mentoring for learning and training activities.
• Working on project results: Development of new joint educational offers (practices or products), e.g. curricula, pedagogical materials, open educational resources, IT tools, analyses, studies, further development of an educational sector, toolbox for internationalisation strategies, etc. Design and implementation of mobility scheme widening access for students, e.g. administration of a mobility scholarship. Connecting students and staff communities, e.g. facilitating training and community building exercises, language training, development of digital tools.
• Networking and dissemination activities: Networking with actors who are not directly involved in the project, disseminating the results of the project, PR work, etc.; e.g. venue costs, catering, promotional materials.
• Measures for environmentally friendly project implementation
• Measures for equal-opportunity project implementation (supporting participants with special needs)
• Other goods, work and services: includes consumables and supplies (e.g. office supplies), communication and dissemination materials (e.g. translation and printing, graphic design), costs for invited speakers, costs related to intellectual property rights (see Art. 6.2.C.3 of the Annotated Model Grant Agreement).
• Financial support for third parties: This may include seed funding, scholarships or prize money, or financing of student or staff short-term and blended mobility in order to achieve the project goals. Objective and transparent selection procedures must be ensured, and support must be documented.

Own contribution refers to resources you commit from your own funds or sources towards a project or initiative. It demonstrates your commitment and investment, alongside the funds received through match funding. Components include:

• Cash contributions: This can include direct costs related to the project, such as staff salaries, travel expenses, etc.
• In-kind contributions: These are non-cash resources you contribute, valued at their fair market price. Examples include volunteer time, expertise provided by your staff, etc. To calculate in-kind contributions, calculate volunteer labour at appropriate level per hour, or calculated donated goods at the price you would pay for/charge for if they were not donated.
   

No

The financial documentation and reporting must rely on actual costs. Each beneficiary institution is responsible to create its own system to document and report costs accordingly.

No, it is up to you whether you report personnel costs separately for each person or grouped by job function. You are also free to use a mix of the two approaches.

Extract from the accounting the total annual salary of the person working on the project. Depending on the percentage and the reported timesheets, calculate “backwards” the hourly rate based on fixed annual hours, the so-called annual productive hours or the ‘standard number of annual hours’ generally applied by your institution for its personnel in accordance with its usual cost accounting practices. Take the annual total salary plus social contributions and divide the total by the number of annual hours. For personnel employed on a contract of less than 100%, multiply the number of annual hours by percentage (e.g. 75%), then divide the salary plus social contributions by that amount to calculate the hourly rate.

No. Working time may only be spent by employees who are in a regular working relationship or long-term unpaid relationship with the institution of the Swiss applicant. External people will not be funded.  (see Guidelines for Grant Holders)

Yes, as long as the cost respect the general eligibility criteria and are necessary to implement the Swiss participation (see Guidelines for Grant Holders).

Report under Cost item C ‘Material costs / Purchase costs: other goods, work and services’ (sheet 7, Financial Monitoring Annex).

Yes, similar to student short-term mobility support. Report under ‘Direct costs of financial support’ (sheet 8, Financial Monitoring Annex).

Yes, seed funding, alongside scholarships or prize money can be reported under the ‘Direct costs of financial support’ (sheet 8, Financial Monitoring Annex). Indicate relevant category of support.

Yes, you can sign multilateral mobility agreements. If you use SEMP funding, you need to respect the SEMP rules (SEMP and Erasmus+ agreements comply with the rules). If you use funding from your European Universities project, you are free to use another template that respects the basic quality standards of the SEMP/Erasmus+.

Costs of subcontracting are not foreseen for Swiss participation in the European Universities project. However, if you consider subcontracting unavoidable, we advise you to contact Movetia before making the investment to check the eligibility costs.

Costs of equipment are not foreseen for Swiss participation in European Universities projects. However, if you consider the purchase of equipment indispensable, we advise you to contact Movetia before making the investment to check the eligibility of the costs.

You can find the official definition of short-cycle programmes at UNESCO (here). European peers might also refer to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) with EQF level 5 (here). In Switzerland, EQF 5 is usually offered by Colleges of Higher Education (Höhere Fachschulen/écoles supérieures).

By type of mobility and their level of study applying to the Swiss institution, for example: bachelor student from Swiss HEI who attends a short cycle program abroad should be reported as an outgoing bachelor student; short cycle student incoming in Swiss bachelor program should be reported as incoming bachelor level student. A doctoral researcher (ISCED 8) from a partner institution visiting a Swiss institution which does not deliver ISCED 8 programmes, can be reported as incoming staff.

Both. The first four tables in ‘Part A Mobility’ of the Operational Monitoring Annex refers to number of mobilities. I.e. students or staff who completed three mobilities in any academic year should be counted three times. In tables 5 and 6, you should report the total number of students/staff who experienced mobility during a particular academic year. I.e. students or staff who completed three mobilities in one academic year should be counted once. Students/staff who completed mobility in multiple academic years should be counted once per academic year. If this is not possible, an explanatory note can be added. As a general rule, mobilities should not be overreported.

Staff mobility would include only those who travel to partner institutions (or participate remotely) for mobility activity which is related to the staff's professional development and to address their learning and personal development needs. Staff may carry out any of the activities described below:

• A teaching period abroad at a partner higher education institution. The teaching period abroad enables any teaching staff at a higher education institution or staff from enterprises to teach at a partner higher education institution abroad. Staff mobility for teaching can be in any study field.
• A training period abroad at a partner higher education institution, enterprise or any other relevant workplace. The training period abroad enables any staff at a HEI to take part in a training activity abroad that is relevant to their day-to-day work at the HEI. It may take the form of training events (excluding conferences) or job shadowing and observation periods.

A staff mobility period abroad can combine teaching and training activities. Any teaching or training period abroad may be carried out as blended mobility.

​​​​​​Report under the source providing the largest amount. Ideally, your “European University” reporting is coherent with the SEMP reporting.

In the Operational Reporting Annex, provide a list of the main dissemination events and activities organised or attended by (members of) the Swiss institution. Dissemination includes sharing of results, experiences and good practices put in place, through events, activities, tools and communication channels (including the use of social media) to ensure that results, outputs and innovation triggered by the European University will be fully accessible and shared openly and effectively to a wide range of stakeholders during and after the funding period of the European Universities alliance. Target audience may include:

•  external stakeholders such as other alliances, other Swiss or European universities, industry partners or policy-makers, as well as
• internal stakeholders including students and members of staff.

Receipts and evidentiary documentation, e.g. contracts of employment, need to be retained for the case of an audit but should not be submitted with reports.

The relevant evidentiary documentation must be retained for 10 years after project completion (details can be found in your contract).