Close to 800,000 persons, 22,942 of them in Belgium, studied, were trained or volunteered overseas in 2017 under the EU’s Erasmus+ Programme, the European Commission announced on Thursday. The record number of participants was 10% higher than in 2016.
The programme also funded cooperation between educational institutions, youth organisations and businesses. A total of 84,700 organisations were involved in 22,400 projects.
Under Erasmus+, more than 400,000 students, interns and higher-education staff spent a period of learning, training or teaching abroad in the 2016/2017 academic year. France, Germany and Spain were the three main countries of origin for the students, while Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom were the favourite host countries.
The EU invested a record 2.6 billion euros in Erasmus+ in 2017, a 13% increase on 2016.
In May last the European Commission proposed to double the exchange-programme’s budget from 14.7 billion euros in the 2014-2020 financing period to 30 billion euros in 2021-2027.
The Brussels Times
