Funding guidance
The Erasmus+ programme
What KA1 and KA2 actually pay for, who can apply, and where our courses fit in your application.
Erasmus+ is the European Union's funding programme for education, training, youth and sport. For a school, a VET centre or an adult education organisation, two parts of it matter most: Key Action 1 pays for people to learn abroad, and Key Action 2 pays for organisations to build something together.
Everything below is a practitioner's summary. The binding rules are in the annual Erasmus+ Programme Guide published by the European Commission, and in the country-specific instructions of your National Agency — always check both before you submit.
Key Action 1 — learning mobility of individuals
KA1 funds staff and learners to spend time in another programme country. For education staff the usual formats are:
- Structured courses and training events — a taught course abroad, typically five to seven working days. This is what most of our catalogue is.
- Job shadowing — observing and working alongside colleagues in a host organisation, usually two days to two months.
- Teaching or training assignments — you teach at a host institution rather than being taught.
- Preparatory visits — a short visit to set up a future mobility with a host.
Two ways to get KA1 funding
Accreditation (KA120). Your organisation writes an Erasmus Plan once, is accredited for the rest of the programme period, and then applies for funds annually with a short request. It is the better route if you intend to send people abroad every year.
Short-term projects (KA122). A single project of six to eighteen months, for a defined group of mobilities, with no accreditation required. Good for a first attempt, or for an organisation that wants to test the model.
Organisations that cannot manage this alone can join a mobility consortium led by an accredited coordinator.
What the grant covers
The grant is built from unit costs rather than receipts: a course fee contribution per participant per day (capped), individual support per participant per day for accommodation and living costs, a travel amount based on distance band, organisational support per participant, plus top-ups for inclusion, preparatory visits and green travel.
The exact amounts change with each call and differ by destination country and National Agency. We deliberately do not publish figures here — take them from the current Programme Guide and your National Agency's annexes. [TO CONFIRM: whether you want a country-specific figures table maintained on this page]
Your timeline, realistically
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| 8–10 months before | Decide objectives, choose courses and host, request an invitation letter |
| Application round | Submit KA120 or KA122 to your National Agency (annual deadlines, usually in the first months of the year) |
| 2–4 months later | Results published; grant agreement signed |
| Before departure | Learning agreement, insurance, linguistic and cultural preparation, travel booking |
| Mobility | Attendance recorded daily; evidence collected |
| After | Certificate of attendance, Europass Mobility, participant report in the Beneficiary Module, dissemination |
[TO CONFIRM: current-year deadlines — publish them only after checking your National Agency's calendar]
Key Action 2 — cooperation among organisations
KA2 funds organisations from different countries to work together and produce something that outlives the project.
- Small-scale partnerships (KA210) — lower budget, lump-sum, simpler reporting; designed for newcomers and small organisations.
- Cooperation partnerships (KA220) — larger, longer, with defined work packages, project results and a real dissemination obligation.
A workable KA2 proposal needs a genuine problem, partners whose competences differ in a way that matters, results other organisations can actually reuse, and a plan for what happens after the funding ends. We work on all four, either as a partner or as external support — see Services.
The horizontal priorities
Every application is assessed against the programme's priorities. In practice, four recur:
- Inclusion and diversity — reaching learners with fewer opportunities, and proving it.
- Digital transformation — digital pedagogy and staff digital competence, not just equipment.
- Environment and the fight against climate change — green competences and greener project practice.
- Participation in democratic life — civic engagement, media literacy, shared European values.
Each course page on this site states which priorities it addresses, in wording you can reuse in your application.
How we fit into your application
- You tell us the objectives and dates. We send a course description, our organisation details and Erasmus+ OID, and a signed invitation letter — the documents your file needs.
- If you are accredited, we help you phrase the mobility so it matches your Erasmus Plan. If you are applying under KA122, we can review the relevant sections of your draft.
- After the mobility we provide attendance records, a certificate of attendance stating contact hours, Europass Mobility support and an evaluation report for your final report.
Official sources
- Erasmus+ Programme Guide — the binding rules, updated annually.
- Erasmus+ National Agencies — your country's deadlines, unit costs and national priorities.
- Europass — Europass Mobility and the European learning documents.
- Greek National Agency — ΙΚΥ — for Greek applicants and host-country questions.
Not sure which route fits your organisation?
Send us a short description of your organisation and what you want to change. We will tell you which action fits, and what your file needs.