The aim of the Erasmus+ is to support the participating countries in the efficient use of European talent and social capital and reinforce the principle of lifelong learning in education, training and youth affairs by supporting formal, non-formal and informal learning.
The programme also supports vocational training and adult training mobility, the latter being very low in Hungary, however, participation in vocational training mobility shows a steady increase.
The staff mobility aims to support the professional development of staff working in education or training in order to improve and modernise teaching, training and youth work.
Launched in 2018, the programme of the European Solidarity Corps provides a variety of opportunities for organizations and young adults. It supports volunteering, jobs, as well as the implementation of solidarity projects of participants.
Learner Mobility
The aim of the Erasmus+ mobility projects is to support participants in developing their (key) competences, personality and employability. As a result of mobility: foreign language competences and intercultural awareness improve and a more active social- and European identity is formed.
The mobility programme of vocational education remains to be popular in VET: both the range of eligible applicants and the available funding have been increasing year by year. Of all forms of grant, pupil mobility is the most popular. In 2020, 152 vocational schools were supported with almost EUR 11 million. This amount provides funding for 5,720 participants, the majority (4,113) of whom are pupils. This represents an increase of about 10% in both the number of outgoing mobilities and the total budget compared to the previous year.
The programme of the European Solidarity Corps, launched in 2018, offers three types of mobility activities for young people in the age group 18-30. In 2020, there were 57 applications for volunteering projects and 3 for employment projects. 50 volunteering projects were supported, with 126 individual and 66 group volunteer mobilities with a budget around EUR 1.8 million. A total of 342 young people receive support under this program, 70% of whom are disadvantaged in some way. In the case of the employment projects in line with the objectives of the voluntary activities, all three applications received support.
Teacher and Trainer Mobility
The aim of the Erasmus+ mobility projects is to support the professional development of staff working in education and training and in this way to promote the development and modernisation of the sector. At the institutional level, mobility promotes different forms of learning (formal and non-formal), supports the recognition of competences acquired during the mobility, and provides opportunities for co-operation between vocational education and enterprises. Trend-data confirms that mobility activities are an integral part of institutional strategies.
Under the mobility programme of vocational education, the institutions may receive grants for travel and subsistence costs of participating staff. Altogether 129 institutions in VET received a grant in 2018, 156 in 2019 and this number was 152 in 2020. In 2020, 1014 teachers and 593 accompanying teachers participated in various mobility activities, which is an increase compared to the previous year. The (Leonardo) mobility certificate launched in 2009 continues to exist in the new programme period. It enables eligible schools to get EU funding in a simplified procedure and predictable way for the implementation of their internationalisation strategies. Conscious planning ensures a competitive advantage for them: they will be able to make better use of international cooperation and synergies between projects, and they feed it into their curricula and operation. For the 2021-27 programme period the renewal of mobility certificates is required, by the autumn of 2020, 50 vocational mobility certificates had already been issued.
The Erasmus+ programme also supports the adult learning sector, including the significant share of expert mobility and in-service trainings. This measure supports both education/training activities whereby the staff of adult training providers undertake training/teaching in a partner institution abroad and the professional development (training course, job shadowing, study visits, school visits) of staff working in adult education and training. The application can be submitted by adult education institutions and the grant amount depend on the mobility, but typically cover the travel and subsistence costs of the participants and also the cost of the in-service training.
The available funding and the number of participants have increased in the past few years - in 2018 the programme supported 133 mobilities of 15 institutions, in 2019 the number of participants in international adult learning more than doubled - 315 mobilities of 25 institutions were supported. In 2020 322 mobilities of 28 institutions received grants. From the activities of the mobility programmes, the teaching/training assignments are dominating with 195 mobilities, then comes the job shadowing (104 participants) and the structured courses or training events abroad (23 participants).