Erasmus+ Annual Work Programme published for the upcoming 2024 Calls

The 2024 Erasmus+ Work Programme confirms the funding available over the following year and the new direction already established for Erasmus+ in the 2021–2027 funding round. Organisations and institutions seeking funding in the framework of the Call due soon must comply with the conditions for participation and funding expressed, and so should access the latest version.

The document will provide information on:

  • the priorities of the programme,
  • the actions supported,
  • the funding available for different actions,
  • detailed information on participation.

For actions managed by the EACEA, there is an overview of the indicative funding available and the approximate number of projects expected to be funded per action.

The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work. The seven-year programme has managed to gain a significant increase compared to previous spending levels from 2014–2020, reflecting the EU’s commitment to investing in these areas after the completion of the first implementation of Erasmus+.

Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad as well as transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe. It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism.

Searchlighter allies with the Eastside Community Trust on the Erasmus+ ComEnter Project

The Eastside Community Trust is at the foundation of community activity in Easton and Lawrence Hill areas of Bristol where Searchlighter is based. With our work in a European context and the Trust’s vast experience on the ground at the most local level, this is an alliance that should allow the ComEnter project to flourish in the UK, with each of us working more effectively in the future.

The first initiative last year was to cooperate on the implementation of the Pilot study to test the training course established in our ComEnter project. This taught local community activists how they can establish sustainable community enterprises where they can draw in income to support their communities directly from their own activities rather than a dependence on good fortune with their grant applications.

In this, the Trust was able to use their experience in the community and their local knowledge to assist in recruiting participants while Searchlighter provided the course curriculum and the post-course mentoring support for those who take part. The aim at the time was to establish community enterprises that could thrive using the resources and innovation of local community members based in this eastern area of Bristol. Eastside Community Trust also provided the location for the course sessions at the Easton Community Centre on Kilburn Street.

Both parties hope that this will be the first of several collaborations in the future and look forward to exploring these. More information on the ComEnter project and the Eastside Community Trust on these sites.

Industrial Relations in Plans for Research Computing

At a ‘Town Meeting’ looking to put the final touches to a Strategic Plan for the UK Research Computing Ecosystem, hosted by University College London on July 8, there was notable discussion about who the stakeholders are in the process.

Are users ‘first among equals’? Does it undermine the currency of this initiative if it is seen to be too close to industry when lobbying?

Lobbying is clearly an important part of the process to implement the Strategic Plan: the executive people that hold purse-strings need to be persuaded that this is a priority. So, can the Board that produced the plan collectively hit the right buttons with government ministers, industry executives and research funding decision-makers? (more…)

How to Measure and Understand Usage / Impact of Digital Content

JISC sponsored a workshop under the title “Digital Impacts: How to Measure and Understand the Usage and Impact of Digital Content” at Jesus College, Oxford earlier in 2011.

The question of how we can measure and understand the usage and impact of digital content within the education sector is reflected by the substantial investment that goes into the creation of digital resources for research, teaching and learning.  Content creators, publishers as well as funding bodies are being asked to provide evidence of the value of the resources they’ve invested in. How do we go about defining value and impact? Which metrics should we adopt to understand usage? When is a digital resource a well used resource?

This one-day event explored these issues and showcased the work of the JISC-funded Impact and Embedding of Digitised Resources programme. Speakers included: Melissa Highton (Oxford University Computing Services), Brian Kelly (UKOLN), Dr Jane Winters (Head of Publications, IHR), Professor David Robey (Oxford e-Research Centre), Paola Marchionni (JISC), Dr Eric T. Meyer (Oxford Internet Institute), and  Dr Kathryn Eccles(Oxford Internet Institute). The workshop was aimed at:

  • content creators and publishers
  • Information professionals and content managers in charge of maintaining and developing digital collections
  • librarians, archivists and institutional staff involved in digitisation efforts
  • researchers and research directors interested in learning about alternative methods of measuring impact
  • representatives of funding and evaluation bodies
  • early career researchers concerned about ways of demonstrating the impact of their online activities
  • those interested in understanding the impact of distributing materials online

Further details are available at the Oxford Internet Institute.

Eduserv covering Virtualisation and the Cloud

Eduserv still have some places available for their Symposium this year.

Virtualisation and the Cloud: Efficiency, shared services, impact and effectiveness is to be held on 12 May 2011 at Royal College of Physicians, London. The event aims to provide a platform for institutions to explore this field among peers having been organised for benefit of the HE/FE sector.

This is likely to be an opportunity to hear about the latest developments in the University Modernisation Fund (UMF) shared services in cloud computing infrastructure project, as well as come away with an understanding of the strategic role of virtualisation and the cloud in the delivery of shared IT services. Current and future directions in the provision of cloud solutions, within academia and beyond, will be covered, as will impacts on efficiency and cost effectiveness.

There are two keynote speakers, Simon Wardley from Leading Edge Forum and Armando Fox, an author of the position paper “Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing”. Other speakers include Chris Cobb (Pro Vice Chancellor, Roehampton University), Phil Richards (Director of IT, Loughborough University), Kenji Takeda (Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton) and Terence Harmer (Technical Director, Belfast e-Science Centre).

You can find out more and register for a free place through Eduserv’s Symposium page.