7.57 million Euro (£6 million) has been awarded to Scottish education, training, youth and sports organisations as part of this year’s Erasmus+ European Union programme. The programme supports travel to and co-operation with organisations in other European countries to help boost skills and employability.
Scotland was awarded 151 grants, 18.5 per cent of the UK total. Schools accounted for 116 of the grants.
Erasmus+ replaced the former Lifelong Learning Programme and Youth in Action programme when it was launched across the EU earlier this year. In the UK around £840 million is being made available over the next seven years up until 2020. The UK National Agency for Erasmus+ is a partnership between the British Council and Ecorys UK.
Lloyd Anderson, director of British Council Scotland, said: “It’s encouraging that such a large section of the Scottish education sector is taking advantage of the European funding available.
“Research with Scottish businesses has highlighted the importance of skills, such as the ability to work with people from different parts of the world and knowledge of other countries and cultures.
“The Erasmus+ programme is a valuable way of ensuring that our young people, as well as those returning to education, develop these international skills. This isn’t just about language skills, but about international knowledge and understanding.”
Scotland’s funding covered the breadth of its education sector, with the largest portion going to higher education (£2.8million). Vocational education and training received over £1.5 million, schools gained £1.2 million and adult education gained over £590,000.
One category of grants funds study, work experience or volunteering abroad for young people and students and training, job shadowing and teaching opportunities for teachers, staff and youth workers. Beneficiaries of the Erasmus+ programme are able to spend a period of time in another participating country gaining valuable experience of life, study and work with the aim of increasing the opportunities available to them in the future.
A second category allows organisations involved in higher education, vocational education and training, school education, adult education and youth work to run collaborative projects with other organisations across the 28+ European countries and beyond on areas such as curricula and teaching methods, to improve education, training and youth practice.
Ruth Sinclair-Jones, director of the Erasmus+ UK National Agency, said of the awards: “This has been an encouraging start to the new programme and I congratulate everyone who has been successful so far.
“What has been especially pleasing to see is the high number of projects that cut across the sectors, for example higher education institutions working with further education colleges. There were 75 cross-sector applications. The new programme places greater importance on integrated working than previously.”
ENDS
Further information on the first release of statistics for Erasmus+ in the UK can be found at: https://www.erasmusplus.org.uk/about/programme-statistics
Notes to Editors
About Erasmus+
Erasmus+ is the new European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport for 2014-2020. It significantly increases EU funding (+40 per cent) with an overall budget of €14.7 billion (£12 billion) for the development of knowledge and skills and aims to increase the quality and relevance of qualifications and skills. Two-thirds of its funding will provide grants for more than four million people to study, train, gain work experience or volunteer abroad in 2014-2020 (compared with 2.7 million in 2007-2013). The period abroad can range from a few days up to a year. In the UK, it is expected that nearly 250,000 people will undertake activities abroad with the programme. Erasmus+ aims to modernise education, training and youth work across Europe. It is open to education, training, youth and sport organisations across all sectors of Lifelong Learning, including schools education, further and higher education, adult education and the youth sector. Erasmus+ provides funding for organisations to offer opportunities to students, teachers, apprentices, volunteers, youth leaders and people working in grassroots’ sport. It will also provide funding for partnerships between organisations such as educational institutions, youth organisations, enterprises, local and regional authorities and NGOs, as well as support for reforms in Member States to modernise education and training and to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and employability. Erasmus+ replaces the former Erasmus, Comenius, Youth in Action, Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal programmes which ran from 2007-2013.
When referring to Erasmus+, please use the phrase `The Erasmus+ UK National Agency is a partnership between the British Council and Ecorys UK`.
Further information from www.erasmusplus.org.uk
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in more than 100 countries and our 7,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes. We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publically-funded grant provides less than 25 per cent of our turnover which last year was £781 million. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally.
Further information from www.britishcouncil.org
About Ecorys UK
Ecorys UK, part of the international research, consulting and management services company Ecorys, provides high-quality communication, research and technical assistance services across education, economic and social policy areas. Ecorys employs over 150 staff in the UK specialising in education and culture, employment and labour markets, economic and international development, communications, public grant managed programmes and capacity building. Our mission is to add value to public service delivery through our experience of the entire policy cycle.
Further information from www.uk.ecorys.com
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