Erasmus+ - Forward-Looking Cooperation Projects 2017 EACEA/41/2016

Deadline: Mar 14, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

Description, objectives, and priorities

Forward-looking cooperation projects (FLCPs) are transnational cooperation projects aiming to identify, test, develop or assess innovative policy approaches that have the potential of becoming mainstreamed and giving input for improving education and training systems. They should provide in-depth knowledge on target group(s), learning, teaching or training situations and effective methodologies and tools that help policies to develop, as well as conclusions relevant for policymakers in education and training at all levels.

FLCPs should therefore be led and implemented by key stakeholders with a proven record of excellence and state-of-the-art knowledge, the capacity to innovate or reach a systemic impact through their activities and the potential to drive the policy agenda in the fields of education and training.

Proposals under this call should be consistent with the new priorities for European cooperation set out in the 2015 Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) (1).

The specific objectives of this call are:

to kick-start longer-term changes and field-test innovative solutions to challenges in the education and training fields which have the potential of becoming mainstreamed and to generate a sustainable and systemic impact on education and training systems,

• to support transnational cooperation and mutual learning on forward-looking issues among key stakeholders,
• to facilitate the collection and analysis of evidence to substantiate innovative policies and practices.

Proposals submitted under the present call must address one of the five priorities listed below:

• acquisition of basic skills by low-skilled adults,
• promoting performance-based approaches in VET,
• promoting innovative technology in the field of providing career guidance,
• professionalisation of staff (school education, including early childhood education and care),
• achieving the aims of the renewed EU strategy for higher education.

Proposals not addressing any of the five call priorities will not be considered.

Eligible applicants

The term ‘applicants’ refers to all organisations and institutions participating in an application regardless of their role in the project.

Eligible applicants are public and private organisations active in the field of education and training or other sectors such as non-formal learning, including a.o. youth, other socio-economic sectors and/or organisations carrying out cross-sectoral activities.

Applicants considered eligible to respond to this call are:

• public authorities at national/regional/local level responsible for education and training policy,
• non-profit organisations (NGOs), private or public,
• research centres,
• schools or other educational institutions,
• higher education institutions,
• chambers of commerce,
• stakeholders networks,
• recognition centres,
• evaluation/quality assurance bodies,
• trade organisations and employers,
• trade unions and staff associations,
• career guidance services,
• civil society and cultural organisations,
• companies,
• international organisations.

Only applications from legal entities established in the following programme countries are eligible:

• the 28 Member States of the European Union,
• the EFTA/EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway,
• EU candidate countries: the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey.

The minimum partnership composition requirement for this call is three organisations representing three programme countries.

Eligible activities and project duration

Activities must start on 1 November 2017, 1 December 2017 or 1 January 2018.

The project duration must be between 24 and 36 months. However, if after the signing of the agreement and the start of the project it becomes impossible for the beneficiaries, for fully justified reasons beyond their control, to complete the project within the scheduled period, an extension to the eligibility period may be granted. A maximum extension of 6 additional months will be granted, if requested before the deadline specified in the grant agreement.

The activities to be financed under this call may include (not exhaustive list):

• analyses, studies, mapping exercises,
• research activities,
• training activities,
• drafting of reports, project conclusions, policy recommendations,
• workshops,
• conferences/seminars,
• tests and assessments of innovative approaches at grass-roots level, 
• awareness-raising and dissemination actions,
• actions aiming at the creation and improvement of networks, exchange of good practice,
• development of ICT tools (software, platforms, apps, etc.) or learning resources,
• development of other intellectual outputs.

Award criteria

The eligible applications will be assessed on the basis of exclusion, selection and award criteria (1).

The award criteria are the following:

• Relevance of the project (30 %).
• Quality of the project design and implementation (30 %).
• Quality of the partnership and cooperation arrangements (20 %).
• Impact on policy development and dissemination (20 %).

Only proposals having reached the minimum quality thresholds:

• at least the threshold of 50 % of each criterion (i.e. minimum 15 points for respectively ‘Relevance of the project’ and ‘Quality of the project design and implementation’; 10 points for respectively ‘Quality of the partnership and cooperation arrangements’ and ‘Impact on policy development and dissemination’, and
• at least the threshold of 70 % on the total score (i.e. aggregate score of the four award criteria),

will be considered for EU funding. Applications falling below those thresholds shall be rejected.

Budget

The total budget available for the co-financing of projects under the present call is EUR 8 000 000.

Financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed 75 % of the total eligible project costs.

The maximum grant per project is EUR 500 000.

The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available for this call.

Deadline for submission of applications

Applications must be submitted not later than 14 March 2017 — 12.00 noon CET.

Applicants are requested to read carefully all information about the call for proposals, the submission procedure and to use the documents forming part of the application (Application Package) at: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/forward-looking-cooperation-projects-2017-eacea412016_en

The application form is available on the Internet at the following address: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/PPMT/

The full Application Package must be submitted online by the submission on the correct e-form, duly completed and containing all relevant and applicable annexes and supporting documents.

Application forms which do not include all the necessary information and which are not submitted online by the deadline will not be considered.

Further information

For more details, please refer to the Guidelines for Applicants.

The Guidelines for Applicants and the Application Package are available on the following website:https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/forward-looking-cooperation-projects-2017-eacea412016_en

E-mail contact details: EACEA-Policy-Support@ec.europa.eu