Program for 4 million Europeans

19.12.2013

On December 6th 2013, the European Commission awarded the MUG the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE). The new EU student exchange and scholarship program is called Erasmus+ and has been approved by the European Parliament and the European Council in Brussels.

The program has a total budget of 14.7 billion euro and over 4 million young Europeans will take advantage of it until the year 2020. Erasmus+ will begin in January 2014 and will combine the Comenius, Erasmus, Erasmus Mundus, Leonardo da Vinci and certain sport programs. The purpose of the Erasmus+ program is to make it easier for young people to study abroad and to improve their career prospects by deepening knowledge, enhancing skills and experience. The fact that the EU increased the funding for scholarships by 40% shows its commitment to education and job training.

Erasmus+ will provide something completely new: guaranteed loans for 1- and 2-year masters studies in a foreign EU country for students who did not use the scholarship program. 3.5% of the total budged will be designated for these loans of 12000 euro (for 1-year studies) or 18000 euro (for 2-year studies).