You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on Erasmus Plus.

It's definitely one of the most popular and well-known European Union programs,

and it's changed the lives of millions of students.

Even films have been made on the topic.

Guess which EU program I'm describing? Yes, you've got it. Erasmus

Plus. The program aims to boost skills and employability as well as modernising education,

training and youth work, but the European Parliament fears budgetary constraints and red tape

could cloud its success.

Named after the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam,

who fought against dogmatism and lived and worked in many places in Europe to expand his knowledge,

Erasmus Plus is the new catch-all programme for education, training, youth and sport in the EU.

With a budget of 14.7 billion euros over seven years,

Erasmus Plus brings together seven existing programs in the fields of education, training and youth.

And for the first time, it also includes sport, supporting grassroots projects and combating match-fixing,

doping, violence and racism.

Erasmus Plus supports transnational partnerships among education, training and youth organisations

in 33 different countries,

bridging the worlds of education and work

to tackle the skills gap that Europe is facing.

Erasmus Plus subsidises staff mobility

and initiatives to improve the quality of early education

to reduce the share of early school leavers to less than 10%.

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