Key Action 2

Erasmus+ provides the opportunity for organisations from eligible Partner Countries, mainly higher education institutions (HEIs), to promote cooperation through actions that:

improve the quality of higher education and its alignment with labour market needs,
improve the level of skills in HEIs through new education programmes,
strengthen the capacity of management, governance, and innovation, as well as internationalisation,
build the capacity of national authorities to modernise their own higher education systems, and
foster regional integration and cooperation across different regions of the world.
Capacity building projects typically focus on one of three main activities:

curriculum development activities
modernisation of governance and management of HEIs and systems
strengthening of relations between higher education and the wider economic and social environment
Organisations can choose from three project strands:

Strand 1: Fostering access to cooperation in higher education, which are designed to cater for newcomers to the programme, less involved countries/regions, and for disadvantaged targeted groups (i.e. through modernisation of management/administrative capacity, increase of the accessibility of students/staff with fewer opportunities, etc.
Strand 2: Partnerships for transformation in higher education, which aim to have a large and wider impact on innovation, university/business relations and institutional governance
Strand 3: Structural reform projects, which focus on the macro level of policy reforms required to foster internationalisation and require the involvement of education authorities and ministries

This action is centrally managed by EACEA.

Presentation about action you can find on our website under Publications section.

A participating organisation can be:
– any public or private organisation offering higher education degrees or other recognised tertiary education level qualifications (defined as Higher Education Institution and recognised as such by the competent national authority) or
– any public or private organisation active in the labour market or in the fields of education, training and youth. For example, such organisation can be:
— a public, private small medium or large enterprise (including social enterprises)
— a public body at local, regional or national level (including ministries)
— a social partner or other representative of working life, including chambers of commerce, craft/professional associations and trade unions
— a research institute
— a foundation
— a school/institute (on any level, from pre-school to upper secondary education, including vocational education and adult education)
— a non-profit organisation, association, NGO (including national or international associations or networks of Higher Education Institutions, students or teachers associations, etc.)
— an inter-company training centre
— a cultural organisation, library, museum
— a body providing career guidance, professional counselling and information services

Each participating organisation must be located in a Programme Country or in an eligible Partner Country.

Higher Education Institutions (Higher Education Institutions) located in a Programme Country must hold a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE). An ECHE is not required for participating
Higher Education Institutions in eligible Partner Countries. (However for the Special Mobility Strand – Higher Education Institutions located in eligible Partner Countries must have established inter-institutional agreements with all partner Higher Education Institutions , endorsing the principles set in the ECHE).

Associations or organisations of Higher Education Institutions dedicated to the promotion, improvement and reform of higher education, as well as to co-operation within Europe and between Europe and other parts of the world, are eligible.

International governmental organisations may participate as partners in Capacity Building projects on a self-financing basis.

No, only the following types of participating organisations can apply for a grant:
– a Higher Education Institution
– an association or organisation of Higher Education Institutions
– only for Structural Projects: a legally recognized national or international rector, teacher or student organisation located in a Programme country or in an eligible Partner Country.

The coordinating organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project.

Yes, the coordinating institution can be legally established either in a Programme Country or in an eligible Partner Country (see list of eligible Partner Countries).

There is no limit regarding the number of times an institution can participate as partner in the selected projects. However, for each selection round, a maximum of three project proposals per applicant institution/organisation can be recommended for funding.

A Capacity Building project does not serve as a ‘one-way’ transfer of expertise, but rather as a ‘twoway’ exchange of know-how, skills and practical experience between Higher Education Institutions both in Programme and eligible Partner countries. Mutual learning is an integral part of every capacity building project. Certain Higher Education Institutions are in contact with institutions on other continents and have learned much from their expertise in a certain field, where they are a centre of excellence. This knowledge and ‘know-how’ is often valuable also to European partners, who might not otherwise be exposed to it. This has allowed Programme Country institutions to develop their own centres of excellence in areas that are specific to their local context. Working with Partner Country institutions has also allowed access to sites for field-work that cannot be found in Programme Countries, which has proved very useful in fields such as archaeology, solar energy and marine biology for example.

No, only countries from Regions 1 (Western Balkans), 2 (Eastern Partnership countries), 3 (SouthMediterranean countries), 4 (Russian Federation), 5 (Asia), 6 (Central Asia), 7 (Latin America), 8 (Iran, 26 Iraq, Yemen), 9 (South Africa) and 10 (African, Caribbean and Pacific countries) can participate in Capacity Building projects.

Please consult section A “Eligible Countries” in the Erasmus+ programme guide for the complete list of countries corresponding to the different regions.

Yes, it is possible. Regional and cross-regional cooperation should however be relevant and justified by a detailed analysis of common needs and objectives. The choice of the countries must be adequate and coherent with the objectives proposed.

The consortium should have a common working language. It is generally the language of the applicant. However, local/regional activities in the framework of the project might be implemented in any local language.

Capacity Building project consortia must respect the following criteria. There should be:
– At least one eligible Partner Country must be involved in the project. If the project involves more than one eligible Partner Country, these countries can be from the same region 2 or from different Partner Country regions covered by the Action.
– Minimum two Higher Education Institutions from each of the eligible Partner Countries taking part in the project.
– At least three Programme Countries, with a minimum one Higher Education Institution from each of the Programme Countries taking part in the project.
– At least as many Partner Country Higher Education Institutions as there are Programme Country Higher Education Institutions in the consortium.

In Partner Countries where the number of Higher Education Institutions is lower than 5 or in cases where one single institution represents more than 50% of the overall student population of the country, a derogation to the rule will be applied and applications counting only one Higher Education Institution for those countries will be accepted.

Where an association, organisation or network of Higher Education Institutions is involved, the requirements for the minimum number of participating organisations indicated above must be fulfilled, counting the association / organisation / network as only one partner from the country where the headquarters is based.

The coordinating institution signs the contract with the EACEA, and is responsible on behalf of the consortium for the management of the grant. Please keep in mind that since Capacity building grant agreements are multibeneficiary, any change in the partnership should however be approved by the whole consortium.

Capacity Building Projects can last 2 or 3 years. The duration must be chosen at application stage, based on the objective of the project and on the type of activities foreseen over time.

As a general rule, no extension to the eligibility period beyond the defined duration will be granted. However, if after the signing of the agreement and the start of the project it becomes impossible for the consortium, for duly justified reasons, to complete the project within the scheduled period, an extension of the eligibility period may be exceptionally granted.

Students are the end beneficiaries of the projects. However, Capacity Building in Higher Education is an institutional programme that aims to develop of the Higher Education Institutions and systems in the eligible Partner countries. Individuals cannot apply themselves for Programme funding, only Higher Education Institutions and other bodies can apply for a Grant.

However, individuals such as students, academic staff and university administrators can participate in the framework of a project, on limited and short term mobility, but only if it achieves the project’s objectives. Additionally, a Special Mobility Strand is available for Partner countries from Regions 1, 2 and 3.

Yes.
Overarching priorities for Central Asian countries (Strand 1 and Strand 2):
Green deal
– enabling a profound change in institutions and peoples’ behaviour and skills

Growth & Jobs
– foundational skills, ‘soft’ skills (e.g. problem-solving, communication), and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM), Education and employability

Overarching priorities for other countires
Smart
– digital technology in the poorest countries by building foundations for digital skills
Green deal
– enabling a profound change in institutions and peoples’ behaviour and skills
Inclusion and diversity
– making education systems more equitable
Values
– laying the foundations for strengthening active citizenship and building specific expertise of future policy-makers in areas such as democracy, human rights and multilateralism
Growth & Jobs
– foundational skills, ‘soft’ skills (e.g. problem-solving, communication), and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM), Education and employability

Please visit page: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-a/priorities-of-the-erasmus-programme#:~:text=The%20Programme%20seeks%20to%20promote,fairness%20across%20all%20its%20actions.

Selection of Capacity Building Projects for Higher Education (CBHE) is carried out by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, with the support of independent external experts from the academic world. Capacity Building Projects are selected each year following an Open Call for Proposals. There are four main award criteria:
– Relevance of the project (30%)
– Quality of project design and implementation (30%)
– Quality of project team and cooperation arrangements (20%)
– Impact and sustainability (20%)

More details on this will be available once the new edition of the Programme Guide (including provisions on Capacity Building Projects) is released.

Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE)
Organisations wishing to apply for Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education projects are invited to submit applications on-line to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels.

First at all,

1. Read the Guidelines and the call for proposals carefully.
Please note that the core description of your CBHE project will have to be completed in the Annex 1 “Detailed description of the project”.

2. Applicants must have an EU Login (European Commission Authentication Service) account. If you already have an EULogin account, you may use this, if not, create an EULogin account. When you have created your EULogin account, return to this page.

You are now ready to start the application process:

The applicant and all partner organisations must be registered in the Participant Portal. Organisations that register in the Portal receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC) that will be requested in the electronic application form. To access the Participants’ portal, you will need your EULogin username and password.
Given that each applicant organisation should use only one PIC code, please first check with your legal representative’s office whether such a PIC number has already been created for your organisation. If this is the case, you may use this PIC code to create your electronic application form. At the application stage, PIC statutes can be either “Validated”, “Declared” or “Sleeping” but in case of double reference for one same organisation, the “Validated ” PIC should always be considered.

Create your official electronic application form, also called the eForm. Use the official application package and the correct application form for the Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education programme action.

The eForm and its user guide are available on FTOP.

Completing your application:

1. Fill in the eForm with the required data.

2. Do not forget also to complete and attach the three mandatory attachments to the eForm. For that, please refer to the Annexes navigation tab to download the relevant templates.

3. Once you have completed the eForm and attached the annexes, validate the eForm. This triggers an automatic check that informs you if your application form is complete. If this is the case, you can submit it online.

4. When you have submitted your application online, you should receive a confirmation email and reference number. If not, contact the helpdesk.

Please DO NOT SEND A COPY of the e-form and the attached documents by post to EACEA.