Monitoring Erasmus+: Conclusion

Abstract

According to the present research, it is important to minimise the amount of regions with low RMEs and decrease the national average project size. A solution could be to help small VET institutions with the application procedure and foster their participation in the application process, increasing the overall amount and quality of small projects. These actions should be primarily targeted at regions with low RMEs, to increase the participation of their institutions.

To correct low SFAF values, another point to tackle is the project examination process. The national Erasmus+ agencies coordinate the evaluation process, using the rules given by the European Erasmus+ Agency. These rules define the points given to relevance, quality of the project design, and its impact and dissemination, but do not make any clear difference between projects presented by the different size of the stakeholders. Small VET colleges and large regional institutions, for example, compete under the same rules, but with a completely different set of resources. The application procedure could take this situation into account, e.g. assigning different weights to projects depending on the type and/or size of the institutions or reserving a percentage of the total budget to guarantee the funding of small projects.

The VET systems in Europe still have a long way to go until they converge.

The Erasmus+ programme supports this process, and it is necessary to monitor the distribution of the funds to guarantee it reaches the widest range of the population.