Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, and the Minister for Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia, Mladen Šarčević, have signed an agreement upgrading Serbia’s participation in the Erasmus+ programme on Tuesday, February 5th. The signing ceremony has taken place in Brussels and marked the move of Serbia from a Partner to a Programme Country under Erasmus+ Programme.

Since the start of Erasmus+ programme in 2014, Serbia was an active member, but as a “partner country”. Ahead of the signature, Commissioner Navracsics said: “I am very pleased to welcome Serbia as a fully-fledged Erasmus+ Programme Country. This new status will allow Serbia to participate in more actions in the fields of higher education and youth, start its involvement in sport, vocational education and training as well as in actions for school and adult education staff.”

Since the beginning of Erasmus+ programme, Republic of Serbia was the leader in the region of Western Balkans, regarding the number of approved projects, funds and the number of participants in mobility projects. Educational institutions from Serbia participated in projects with the total value of over 67 million euros. There were over 5800 mobilities to the programme countries and over 3000 mobilities to Serbia since 2014.

Currently, there are more than 300 projects in which many schools, universities, institutions and organizations are participating. With the new status, the possibilities for professional development abroad will be higher.

Serbia started preparations to become a Programme Country in 2016. By becoming an Erasmus+ Programme Country in 2019, Serbia is now among only six countries who fully participate in the programme, but are not EU member states.

Foundation Tempus is responsible for promoting and implementing Erasmus+ programme in Serbia.

Source: Erasmus +