Capacity building in the field of Vocational education and training (VET)

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Erasmus+ Programme

Programme Description

Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

ERASMUS-EDU-2024-CB-VET

Call

Capacity building in the field of Vocational education and training (VET)

Summary

Capacity building projects are international cooperation projects based on multilateral partnerships between organisations active in the field of VET in EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, and third countries not associated to the Programme. They aim to support the relevance, accessibility, and responsiveness of VET institutions and systems in third countries not associated to the Programme as a driver of sustainable socio economic development.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION – Specifically, the action will:

Build capacity of VET providers to strengthen cooperation between private and public stakeholders in the field of vocational education and training for demand-oriented and opportunity-driven VET interventions;
Improve the quality and responsiveness of VET to socio-economic opportunities and social developments to enhance the labour market relevance of skills provision;
Align VET provision to local, regional and national development strategies.

Detailed Call Description

Through joint initiatives that foster cooperation across different regions of the world, this action intends to increase the capacity of VET providers – especially in the fields of management, governance, inclusion, quality assurance, and innovation – so that they are better equipped to engage with private sector/enterprises/business associations to explore employment opportunities and jointly develop responsive VET interventions. International partnerships should contribute to improving the quality of VET in the third countries not associated to the Programme, notably by reinforcing the capacities of VET staff and teachers as well as by strengthening the link between VET providers and the labour market.

THEMATIC AREAS:
Features that characterise capacity building in VET include some thematic areas presented below. Proposals should focus on one or more of the following themes:

Work-based learning (for young people and/or adults);
Quality assurance mechanisms;
VET teachers/trainers professional development;
Key competences, including entrepreneurship and citizenship competence;
Public Private Dialogue and Partnerships in VET;
Innovation in VET;
Green and digital skills for the twin transition;
Skills matching with current and future job opportunities, including in promising value chains under development;
Development of curricula and training modules.

Funded projects will be able to integrate a wide range of cooperation, exchange, communication and other activities including, for example:

creating and developing networks and exchanges of good practice between VET providers in third countries not associated to the Programme and in EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme;
creating tools, programmes and other materials to build the capacity of institutions from third countries not associated to the Programme (practical training schemes training programmes and tools for assessing and validating learning outcomes in VET, individual action plans for participating institutions; professional guidance and counselling and coaching methods);
creating mechanisms to involve the private sector both in the design and delivery of curricula and to provide VET learners with high quality work-based experience;
developing and transferring pedagogical approaches, teaching and training materials and methods, including work based learning, virtual mobility, open educational resources and better exploitation of the ICT potential;
developing and implementing international (virtual) exchange activities for staff primarily (including teachers and non-teaching staff such as school leaders, managers, counsellors, advisors, etc.).

REGIONAL PRIORITIES:
The budget available is divided between different regions of the world (i.e. Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South-Mediterranean countries, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Caribbean) and the size of each budgetary envelope is different.

The regional priorities set for this action are the following: If the application involves one or more ETF (European Training Foundation) partner countries, the proposal should provide evidence of responding to ETF recommendations formulated in the relevant Torino process country reports.

Western Balkans:

Priority will be given to projects that contribute to its Economic and Investment Plan404 and/or the European Training Foundation recommendations under the Torino process (see above);
Mobility of learners (students) and staff (teachers, trainers, directors, managers etc.) will be privileged.

Neighbourhood East:

Priority will be given to projects that contribute to its Economic and Investment Plan and/or the European Training Foundation recommendations under the Torino process.

South-Mediterranean countries:

Priority will be given to projects that contribute to its Economic and Investment Plan and/or the European Training Foundation recommendations under the Torino process.

Sub-Saharan Africa:

Priority will be given to least developed countries; a special emphasis shall also be put on migration priority countries; no country will access more than 8% of funding foreseen for the Region;
Priority will be given to projects that contribute to the EU-Africa Global Gateway Investment Package;
Priority will be given to projects that contribute to foster public-private dialogue between VET institutions and the private sector.

Latin America:

Priority will be given to regional projects (projects involving more than one eligible third country not associated to the Programme) or projects in lower and upper middle income countries;
Priority will be given to projects that contribute to the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Global Gateway investment agenda.

Caribbean:

Priority will be given to regional projects (projects involving more than one eligible third country not associated to the Programme) or projects in least developed, lower and upper middle income countries;
Priority will be given to projects that contribute the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Global Gateway investment agenda.

Call Total Budget

€19.350.001

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

The EU grant per project will vary from a minimum of €100.000 and a maximum of €400.000.

This action follows a lump sum funding model.

The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget evaluation results.

The funding rate is 80%.

Thematic Categories

Education and training
Employment
Research, Technological Development and Innovation

Eligibility for Participation

Businesses
Educational Institutions
International Organisations
Other Beneficiaries
Private Bodies
Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
State-owned Enterprises
Training Centres

Eligibility For Participation Notes

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must:

be legal entities (public or private bodies)
be active in the VET field or in the labour market

Participating organisations can be, for example (non-exhaustive list):

VET providers
Companies, industry, other employers or sector representative organisations
National/regional qualification authorities
Employment services
Research institutes
Innovation agencies
Regional development authorities
International organisations

Ans must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e. EU Member State, third country associated to the Programme, third country not associated to the Programme from an eligible region.

The eligible regions covered by this action are Regions 1, 2410, 3, 9, 10 and 11 (please see Part A of this Guide).

The coordinator must be an organisation active in the VET field. It applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project. It cannot be an affiliated entity.

Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme cannot be coordinators.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners.

Exception: organisations from Belarus and Russia are not eligible to participate in this action as associated partners.

Consortium composition:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 4 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from minimum 3 eligible countries:

at least 2 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme;
- each of these participating countries must involve at least 1 organisation.
at least 1 eligible third country not associated to the Programme:
- at least 2 organisations from the participating eligible third country/countries not associated to the Programme from the same region
- Organisations from different eligible regions cannot participate in the same projects. Cross-regional projects are not eligible.

The consortium must include at least one VET provider at non-tertiary education level.

The number of organisations from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme may not be higher than the number of organisations from eligible third countries not associated to the Programme.

Affiliated entities and associated partners do not count for the consortium composition.

Geographic location: Activities must take place in the countries of the organisations participating in the project. If duly justified in relation to the objectives or implementation of the project:

Activities can also take place at the seat of an Institution of the European Union, even if in the project there are no participating organisations from the country that hosts the Institution;
Activities involving sharing and promotion of results can also take place at relevant thematic transnational events/conferences in EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme or eligible third countries not associated to the Programme.

Call Opening Date

05/12/2024

Call Closing Date

27/02/2025

National Contact Point(s)

Foundation for the Management of European (EU) Lifelong Learning Programmes

Website: Erasmus+ – IDEP
Website with Contact details: Εpikoinonia – Erasmus+ – IDEP
Address: Prodromou & Dimitrakopoulou 2, Nicosia 1090, Cyprus
Τelephone: +357 22448888
Email: info@idep.org.cy

EU Contact Point

For help related to this call, please contact: EACEA-EPLUS-CBVET@ec.europa.eu