The Erasmus+ annual budget is set to increase by 10% in 2017 taking the total funding available to UK organisations to almost €145 million.
The announcement was made at the Erasmus+ annual conference held in Cardiff on 23 November and comes ahead of the 30th anniversary of the EU programme in 2017.
The conference showed that UK education, training and youth organisations will receive more than €354 million in Erasmus+ funding from 2014-2016, with 2016 being the most successful year so far.
Across the UK, more than €273 million has been awarded in England to date, while Scotland shows strong and consistent interest with nearly €42 million awarded. Northern Ireland receives almost €20 million, and Wales has been awarded over €20 million, after a surge in Welsh interest between 2014 and 2016.
More than 86,000 people are studying, training or volunteering abroad through more than 1,640 projects which started in 2014 or 2015. This number will increase in 2016, as another 866+ projects get underway.
Erasmus+ is the European Union exchange programme for education, training, youth and sport which runs from 2014-2020. In the UK Erasmus+ is managed by the UK National Agency, a partnership between the British Council and Ecorys UK.
Ruth Sinclair-Jones, Erasmus+ UK National Agency Director, said, “We’d like to encourage more and bigger applications across the UK for 2017, to take advantage of the higher levels of funding available in the 30th anniversary of the programme. 2016 has been the most successful year so far for Erasmus+ in the UK. 2017 is the first year following the EU referendum result and we’d like to emphasise that successful applicants in 2017 will be awarded funding for the duration of their project.”