The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) published a new call for proposals under Erasmus+ Key action3, titled “European policy experimentations are trans-national cooperation projects led by high-level public authorities”.

The specific objectives of this call are to:

• Promote trans-national cooperation and mutual learning among public authorities at the highest institutional level of the eligible countries in order to foster systemic improvement and innovation in the education and training fields;
• Enhance the collection and analysis of substantive evidence to ensure the successful implementation of innovative measures;
• Facilitate the transferability and scalability of innovative measures.

The call is aimed at supporting European policy experimentations as trans-national cooperation projects led by high-level public authorities. They involve testing the relevance, effectiveness, potential impact and scalability of policy measures through parallel field trials in different countries, based on (semi-) experimental approaches and common evaluation protocols.

The priority themes for this call are:

LOT 1

• Digital education and competences
• Teaching and teachers

LOT 2

• Funding mechanisms for upskilling and reskilling, including schemes similar to Individual Learning Accounts
• Policy and processes to support the validation of non-formal and informal learning, including through effective guidance

Eligible applicants

Applicants considered eligible to respond to this call are:

1. a) Public authorities (Ministry or equivalent) responsible for education and training at the highest level in the relevant context (national or decentralised). Responsible public authorities for sectors other than education and training (e.g. employment, youth, finance, social affairs, home affairs, justice, health, etc.) are considered eligible as long as they demonstrate that they have a specific competence in the area in which the experimentation is to be carried out.
2. b) Public or private organisations active in the fields of education or training or other relevant fields.
3. c) Public or private organisations or institutions carrying out cross-sector activities linked to education and training in other socioeconomic sectors (e.g. NGOs, information or guidance services, public authorities, agencies or services responsible for: career guidance, chambers of commerce, business and social partners, trade organisations, civil society, cultural or sport organisations, evaluation or research entities).

A project proposal can only be coordinated and submitted, on behalf of all applicants, by one of the following:

• A public authority (Ministry or equivalent);
• A public or private entity delegated by a public authority.

Only applications from legal entities established in the following programme countries are eligible:

• Member States of the European Union;
• the EFTA/EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway;
• EU candidate countries: North Macedonia, Turkey and Serbia.

The minimum partnership composition requirement for this call is 4 entities representing 3 different programme countries. Specifically:

• At least three public authorities (Ministries or equivalent) each from a different Programme country, while at least one of the three public authorities must be from a Member State of the European Union;
• At least one public or private entity with expertise in analysis and policy impact evaluation (‘researcher’).

The field trials must take place at least in three countries whose public authorities/Ministries are involved in the project. Activities must start between 1 January 2021 and 28 February 2021.

Project’s duration must be between 24 and 36 months.

Budget

The total budget available for the co-financing of projects under the present call is EUR 14 000 000 allocated as follows:

• Lot 1: EUR 12 000 000
• Lot 2: EUR 2 000 000

The financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed 75 % of the total eligible project costs.

The maximum grant per project will be EUR 2 000 000.

Deadline

The submission deadline is:

• Pre-proposals: 21 April 2020 – 17.00 (Brussels time)
• Full proposals: 24 September 2020 – 17.00 (Brussels time)

Official documentation is available here