Events

The main aim of the LTA is to increase the capacities of Erasmus+ beneficiaries in the topic of inclusion and diversity. It would be organised for KA1 and KA2 beneficiaries in the fields of SE, VET, HE and AE, focusing on Erasmus+ beneficiaries, i.e., organisations with at least some experience in E+. The main expected outputs are for participants to gain theoretical and practical knowledge on how to raise the awareness of the I&D priority, increase the inclusive aspect of their project activities and results as well as identify and include more participants with fewer opportunities in their projects.

In some Erasmus+ projects in VET, increasing accessibility of the existing project results would result in inclusion & diversity project impact. 

In AE KA1, a new format is introduced with learners with fewer opportunities as eligible participants, therefore the LTA is expected to provide additional needed support to organisations to increase their participation.

In SE, pupil mobility was introduced in the new programme as eligible activity in mobility projects along with broader definition of fewer opportunities. Therefore, LTA is expected to provide support to beneficiaries in integrating these changes while planning their project activities, both in KA1 and KA2, subsequently increasing participation of participants with fewer opportunities.

In HE, an unofficial survey for National Agencies from November 2021 on National criteria for the top up amount for participants with fewer opportunities has shown that quite different criteria have been used across the programme countries, both in quantitative and qualitative manner. There is also a large difference between countries when it comes to the estimation of the percentage of mobile students entitled to the top up under call 2021. One of the possible reasons could be the fact that there are some countries that comprise a large share of the mobile student population by using a broad list of defined criteria and others have only one or two criteria listed.  These are only a few reasons why it would be very important to explore how these different approaches influence the increase or decrease of inclusion, what is the best way to define the fewer opportunities national criteria, how it could be done for the best in terms of not overburdening HEIs in the process of the implementation of those criteria etc. By involving more people with fewer opportunities in all programme activities, there is a need for exchanges between LTA participants to further expand categories and make the programme as accessible as possible. In this context, it will be particularly useful to exchange practices on how to increase the number of participants with fewer opportunities in the international dimension of the programme, especially bearing in mind possible administrative barriers, such as supporting documents for different criteria.

The LTA will consist of: a transnational TCA, networking events, study visits and the Howspace platform. Networking events and study visits would focus on different E&T sectors. Study visits would provide opportunities for visiting organisations that are successful with regards to implementing inclusive projects and for being inclusive and diverse regarding participants. It is to be decided if the participating NAs will rotate the central events in the next years or whether each NA would organise one type of the above-mentioned activities. Also, the partner NAs are yet to decide on the activities to follow from 2023 and their frequency, i.e., which events are to be organised on yearly basis and how many times. Since the LTA will be offered to Erasmus+ beneficiaries across Europe and from different sectors within the E&T field, it will be important to organise various activities across participating NAs in order to provide as many opportunities for participation as possible to Erasmus+ beneficiaries.  
 Back-to-back national event will be organized in Q4 2022 and the diversification of target groups will be ensured during planning and selection of participants for both activities. For the national event, the NA will select KA1 and KA2 beneficiaries (same starting point as for the LTA) but emphasis will be put on national needs in relation to the I&D priority. The design of the LTA content will be more transversal, addressing the needs of beneficiaries on a broader scope, but also taking into account sectorial differences.

Regarding the content, NAs that are participating in this LTA will decide in the coming period whether yearly TCAs would focus on the participants with fewer possibilities in general or each event would focus on particular categories within each E&T sector. In case LTA participants attend several events (for instance, a TCA, a study visit and participate in Howspace portal in order to get deeper knowledge of and tools for inclusive Erasmus+).

Expected objectives and outputs – transversal:

·                    Increase the capacities of LTA participants to improve the inclusion and diversity dimension in their current and future Erasmus+ projects

·                    Establish a common understanding of those who may be considered people with fewer opportunities and set up a coherent framework for including them in the programme

·                    Developing educational activities and materials for beneficiaries in order to convey ways of involving participants with fewer opportunities in programme activities

·                    Promoting good practice examples and maintaining the good practice collection related to projects fostering inclusion and diversity through direct involvement of participants with fewer opportunities and/or focusing on inclusion and diversity topic

·                    Providing a communication channel (platform) for exchange of ideas and networking opportunities

·                    Providing NAs` and experts` additional support in identifying various areas for improvement and enable valuable sharing of ideas among participants

 Expected objectives and outputs – sector - specific:

In addition to the above-mentioned objectives, in all E&T fields the participants are expected to raise awareness about inclusion and diversity programme priority, as well as promote and increase participation of persons with fewer opportunities within their organisations, consequently improving the inclusion and diversity dimension in their projects.