United across Europe: joint Erasmus+ amendments from the higher education community

Brussels, 18 February 2026

Today, organisations representing Europe’s higher education institutions, universities of science and technology, and the student community present a coordinated set of amendments to the European Commission’s proposal for the next Erasmus+ Programme (2028–2034).

Europe is facing a moment that demands determination, clarity of purpose and decisive collective action. Education and training are not peripheral to Europe’s response to societal, technological and economic change; they are a central part of the solution and a prerequisite for Europe’s success.

Erasmus+ is one of the EU’s most effective and trusted instruments for translating these ambitions into tangible results for learners, institutions and societies. It must therefore continue to fund learning mobility and transnational cooperation as its primary mission, with a strong emphasis on quality, while building stronger synergies with other EU funding instruments.

To this end, CESAER with partners are pleased to share the following:

• A joint cover note outlining our shared strategic priorities for Erasmus+ 2028–2034.
• A full list of jointly proposed amendments to the draft legal text.

These amendments call for a strengthened Programme with a minimum budget of €60 billion, transparent sectoral allocations, reinforced governance through the committee procedure, and structured synergies with Horizon Europe and the European Competitiveness Fund.

“Europe’s strength has always come from people coming together to learn, create and build the future. Across CESAER Members, we see every day how collaboration across fields and cultures opens new possibilities, and Erasmus+ provides the structures that make such collaboration possible at European scale. The amendments rightly reinforce what the programme does best – supporting learning mobility, transnational cooperation and high-quality education – while allowing room to explore new initiatives, such as Erasmus+ scholarships in strategic educational fields, where they have the potential to deliver meaningful added value in addressing skills needs. As Europe works to remain competitive in the face of rapidly evolving technological disruptions and societal demands, sustained investment in people and in strong educational partnerships will be decisive.”

-- Ilkka Niemelä, Director of CESAER, President of Aalto University

“After several years of advancing joint educational offerings and building trust through shared governance and cooperation, European Universities alliances now stand apart from many other consortia as durable cross-border knowledge ecosystems. The next step is enabling alliances that wish to extend their successful collaboration to leverage these efforts through predictable, multi-annual financial frameworks that combine national and European instruments, with smart synergies with Horizon Europe and the European Competitiveness Fund. This requires recognising that the initial vision can only be realised when the research and innovation missions of universities are treated as core to their success. As collective knowledge ecosystems, alliances can also support deep, trusted connections with key European partners beyond the EU, including the UK and Switzerland, and we therefore welcome efforts to ensure clear and streamlined association pathways, co-developed with them and clarifying in practice how forms of ‘partial association’ can move beyond a binary associated or non-associated status.”

-- Justyna Lubośna, Director of CESAER, Co-Chair of CESAER Task Force European Higher Education, and Rector’s Representative for International Educational Programs at Gdańsk University of Technology

“Erasmus+ it is the foundation of Europe’s talent base and institutional cooperation. Our joint amendments send a clear message from across the higher education community on what truly matters: protecting mobility and transnational cooperation as the Programme’s core mission, restoring transparent sectoral allocations within a minimum €60 billion envelope, strengthening governance through a reinforced committee procedure, and building structured synergies with Horizon Europe and the European Competitiveness Fund so that education, skills development and knowledge creation reinforce one another. This approach keeps Erasmus+ strong to respond to evolving priorities while reinforcing the activities that have made it successful.”

-- Christian Gerhardts, Co-Chair of our Task Force European Funding and Policies and Head of the European Project Center at TU Dresden

Signatories

ACA - https://aca-secretariat.be/
AURORA - https://aurora-universities.eu/
CESAER - https://www.cesaer.org/
Coimbra Group - https://www.coimbra-group.eu/
DAAD - https://www.daad.de/en/
EAIE - www.eaie.org
ECIU - https://www.eciu.eu/
ESN - https://www.esn.org/
ESU - https://esu-online.org/
EUA - https://www.eua.eu/
EUF - https://uni-foundation.eu/
EURASHE - https://www.eurashe.eu/
The Guild - https://www.the-guild.eu/
LERU - https://www.leru.org/
UNICA - www.unica-network.eu
UNIMED - https://www.uni-med.net/
YERUN - https://yerun.eu