In Italy, 2023 marks a strong growth in the volume of Erasmus+ Programme activities aimed at schools, with significant increases in study opportunities in Europe for pupils and training activities for teachers and school staff.

This is what emerges from the national results of the selections managed by the Erasmus+ INDIRE Agency, relating to the requests for funding received from schools and consortia that have obtained the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 Accreditation.

“Compared to 2022 – declares the Erasmus+ INDIRE General Director, Flaminio Galli – in which there were 491 approved funding requests, the numbers have doubled. This highlights the growing interest of schools in mobility for learning purposes and the planning capacity of many institutions that get involved with a long-term strategy: the Erasmus Plan, which thanks to Accreditation will allow Italian schools to take advantage of these important opportunities until 2027”.

Erasmus+ Accreditation is the gateway to international mobility projects funded under Key Action 1, with a view to a long-term strategy to support the mobility of pupils and school staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Once you have obtained Accreditation as a single institution or as a consortium coordinator, it is sufficient to submit an annual budget request to the Erasmus+ National Agency INDIRE.

Overall, 989 institutes are accredited in Italy for the school sector, of which 59 as coordinators of consortia. Sicily ranks first with 121 institutes, 4 of which as consortium coordinators. Campania comes next with 112 (of which 2 consortia), then Lombardy with 92 (10 consortia) and Puglia with 81 institutes (3 consortia). The next deadline for applying for Erasmus+ Accreditation will be 19 October 2023.

Results of the 2023 selection

At the deadline of 23 February 2023, Erasmus+ INDIRE received 932 requests from accredited institutions, of which 57 as consortia (this number adds up the institutions and consortia accredited in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022). 921 funding requests were approved (of which 865 from individual schools and 56 received from consortia of schools coordinated by the Regional education authority or by leading institutions).

The budget distributed to the 921 funded projects exceeds 30.5 million euros and will support 11,888 teachers and school staff (they were 9,000 in 2022) to gain training experience in structured courses (7,223), job shadowing (4,528) or teaching in other Programme Countries (137). Furthermore, 26,087 pupils are going on mobility (double compared to 2022) for Erasmus+ short-term mobility experiences, including both individual mobility (2,567) and group mobility (21,811) in European schools. Furthermore, 1,709 pupils chose to spend study periods of up to one year in a partner school. Finally, there will be 390 European experts and teachers hosted in Italian schools.

Erasmus+ opportunities for school education >>

Outcomes of the school education sector >>