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How to write an Erasmus+ accreditation that gets funded

How to Write an Erasmus+ Accreditation That Actually Gets Funded

Schools often treat Erasmus+ accreditation like a wish list of countries to visit. Assessors read it as something else entirely: proof that your organisation knows exactly what it needs to improve, and has a plan to get there.

Quick answer: Erasmus+ accreditation is scored against four criteria — relevance, your Erasmus Plan, management quality, and follow-up — worth 100 points combined. The Erasmus Plan alone carries 40 of them, so it needs to read as a strategy your school will actually carry out, not a list of activities you’d like to do.

Writing a strong Erasmus+ accreditation

Writing a strong Erasmus+ accreditation application starts with one shift in thinking: it isn’t a request for a trip abroad, it’s a long-term development plan for your school or organisation. Erasmus+ offers schools and educational organisations the opportunity to develop international mobility, give students and staff access to learning experiences abroad, and build long-term partnerships across Europe. If your organisation wants to make international mobility a regular part of its work, applying for Erasmus+ accreditation is the route designed exactly for that.

Accreditation is built for organisations that want a long-term approach to Erasmus+ mobility rather than applying for individual projects every time. Successful applicants create an Erasmus Plan explaining their objectives, planned activities and how international mobility will contribute to the development of their organisation. So, how can your school or organisation become accredited?

What Is Erasmus+ Accreditation?

Erasmus+ accreditation is a tool for organisations in school education, vocational education and training (VET), and adult education that want to participate in cross-border learning and mobility on a regular basis. Rather than being a single mobility project, accreditation is based on a longer-term strategy. An organisation applying for accreditation needs to demonstrate how Erasmus+ activities will support its development and improve opportunities for its learners and staff. The central part of the application is the Erasmus Plan. This plan describes the organisation’s current situation, its objectives and the activities it intends to implement through Erasmus+. Previous Erasmus+ experience is not required to apply for accreditation in school education, although applicants must demonstrate sufficient operational and professional capacity and, under the 2026 rules, at least two years of relevant experience in the field of the application.

Who Can Apply for Erasmus+ Accreditation?

The exact eligibility requirements depend on the field in which the organisation applies. For school education, eligible organisations can include schools providing general education at pre-primary, primary or secondary level, including organisations providing early childhood education and care. Local and regional public authorities and certain organisations with a role in school education can also be eligible. An organisation can potentially be eligible in more than one field if it provides different types of educational programmes or activities. However, separate applications are required for each field.

Table 1 — Eligible organisations by field

Erasmus+ fieldExamples of eligible organisations
School education Pre-primary, primary and secondary schools; relevant education organisations and authorities
Vocational education and training VET providers, training organisations, relevant public authorities and organisations working with VET learners
Adult education Organisations providing formal, informal or non-formal adult education

Step 1: Decide Which Erasmus+ Accreditation You Need

Before starting the application, your organisation should identify the field that best matches its activities. For example, a general secondary school would normally apply for Erasmus accreditation in school education (KA120-SCH), while a vocational training centre would normally look at the VET accreditation route. There is also an option to apply as a mobility consortium coordinator. A consortium is a group of organisations from the same country that work together under a joint Erasmus Plan. The coordinator must hold the accreditation, while consortium members do not need to have their own accreditation.

Step 2: Register Your Organisation for Erasmus+ Accreditation

Before submitting an Erasmus+ application, your organisation needs to be registered in the appropriate European Commission system. For actions managed by National Agencies, organisations register through the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps platform and receive an Organisation ID (OID). Organisations applying for centralised actions use the EU Funding & Tenders Portal instead. Make sure your organisation’s information is correct and up to date before starting the accreditation application.

Step 3: Develop Your Erasmus Plan

This is one of the most important parts of the Erasmus+ accreditation application. An Erasmus Plan should not simply be a list of countries your school would like to visit. It should show why international mobility is needed and how it will contribute to the organisation’s development.
Think about questions such as:
What challenges does our school currently face?
Which skills do our students need to develop?
What professional development do our teachers need?
How can international experiences improve teaching and learning?
Which groups of learners may have fewer opportunities to participate?
How will we share and use the results of mobility activities?
What do we want our organisation to look like in several years?
The strongest plans connect mobility activities with real organisational needs.

Table 2 — A simple Erasmus Plan structure

SectionWhat to explain
Current situationYour organisation, learners, staff and main challenges
NeedsWhat needs to improve and why
ObjectivesWhat you want to achieve through Erasmus+
ActivitiesWhat types of mobility and learning activities you plan
ParticipantsWho will participate and how they will be selected
InclusionHow you will support participants with fewer opportunities
ImpactHow mobility will benefit learners, staff and the organisation
EvaluationHow you will measure whether your objectives are being achieved
DisseminationHow you will share results and good practices

A simple Erasmus Plan structure

To better understand what an Erasmus Plan can look like in practice, it is helpful to look at a simple example. A good Erasmus Plan connects the organisation’s current needs with clear objectives, planned activities and measurable results. For example, if a school wants to improve teachers’ digital skills, its Erasmus objective could be to develop digital teaching competences through training courses and job shadowing abroad. The expected result could then be a wider use of digital tools and innovative teaching methods in the classroom. (See the table in Section 5 below for the full plan structure.)

Step 4: Follow the Erasmus Quality Standards

Accredited organisations are expected to follow the Erasmus quality standards. These cover areas such as good project management, inclusion, participant support, learning outcomes, environmental responsibility and the integration of results into the organisation’s regular work. As a result, your application should demonstrate that Erasmus+ will not be treated simply as a collection of trips abroad. Instead, mobility should become part of your school’s wider educational and development strategy. For example, if your objective is to improve digital teaching, your plan could include teacher job shadowing or courses abroad followed by
internal workshops where participants share what they learned with colleagues.

Step 5: Prepare and Submit Your Erasmus+ Accreditation Application

Once your Erasmus Plan and other required information are ready, the organisation submits its application through the
appropriate Erasmus+ system. Applications for school education, VET and adult education accreditation are submitted to
the National Agency in the country where the organisation is established. For the 2026 call, the application deadline for Erasmus accreditation in school education, VET and adult education is 29 September 2026 at 12:00 Brussels time. In practice, do not wait until the final days to submit, a good application requires time for the management team and relevant staff to agree on objectives, collect information, and develop a realistic long-term plan.

What Separates a Successful Erasmus+ Accreditation From an Unsuccessful One?

A successful Erasmus+ accreditation is more than a well-written application. The strongest applications show a clear connection between the organisation’s real needs, Erasmus objectives, planned activities and expected impact. Instead of simply saying that teachers want to travel abroad or students would benefit from international experience, a strong application explains what problem the organisation wants to solve, why Erasmus+ mobility is the right solution and how the results will improve the organisation in the long term. (See the comparison table in Section 5 below.) The key difference is coherence. Evaluators should be able to follow a logical story from the organisation’s current situation to its needs, objectives, activities and expected impact. If every part of the Erasmus Plan supports the same strategy, the application becomes much more convincing — and much more likely to demonstrate the quality required for successful accreditation.

Table 3 — Strong vs. weak applications

Strong applicationWeak application
Starts with clearly identified organisational needsStarts with a list of countries or trips
Sets specific and measurable objectivesUses broad objectives such as “become more international”
Connects every activity to a specific objectiveLists activities without explaining their purpose
Explains how participants and the organisation will benefitFocuses mainly on the participants’ travel experience
Includes realistic targets and indicatorsPromises unrealistic numbers or results
Addresses inclusion and equal opportunitiesTreats all participants as having the same needs
Explains how results will be shared and integratedEnds when participants return home
Presents a realistic long-term strategyReads like a one-off project

How Are Erasmus+ Accreditation Applications Evaluated?

Applications are assessed against several quality criteria and receive a score out of 100 points. For the 2026 school education, VET and adult education accreditation call, an application must receive at least 70 points out of 100 and at least half of the available points in each of the four award criteria (see the scoring table in Section 5). Because of this, it’s important to focus not only on what your organisation wants to do, but also on why it wants to do it, how it will
manage the activities and how it will measure their impact.

Table 4 — Evaluation scoring

Evaluation areaMaximum score
Relevance10 points
Objectives and Erasmus Plan40 points
Quality of management and implementation20 points
Quality of follow-up30 points
Total100 points

What Happens After Erasmus+ Accreditation?

Receiving accreditation does not mean that your organisation automatically receives an unlimited Erasmus+ budget. Instead, accreditation gives successful organisations simplified access to funding opportunities for mobility activities. Organisations then apply for funding for their accredited projects according to the rules and available budget. The accreditation therefore works as a long-term framework for developing international mobility. Your organisation can gradually build experience, establish international partnerships, develop staff skills and create more opportunities for learners.

How Long Is Erasmus+ Accreditation Valid?

For the 2026 call, accreditations in school education, VET and adult education are scheduled to start on 1 February 2027 and continue for the current programming period until 31 December 2027, with the possibility of prolongation under conditions set by the European Commission. Organisations may submit Erasmus Plans covering a period of two to five years, allowing them to plan beyond a single project or academic year.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your Erasmus+ Accreditation

Getting Erasmus+ accreditation requires demonstrating that your planned international activities directly serve your organisation’s needs. Ensure your application avoids these five common pitfalls:

  1. Writing vague objectives: Avoid broad ambitions like “improve internationalisation.” Clearly define what you want to change and how you will measure progress.

  2. Planning unrealistic activities: Align your Erasmus Plan with your actual capacity. Smaller schools do not need dozens of mobilities each year to show ambition.

  3. Focusing solely on travel: Mobility exists for learning and development. Detail what participants will learn and how those skills benefit your broader school community.

  4. Forgetting inclusion: Specify how students and staff with fewer opportunities will participate and what target support they will receive.

  5. Ignoring post-mobility steps: Outline concrete plans for participants to share knowledge, integrate new practices, and evaluate final outcomes after returning.

Is Erasmus+ Accreditation Worth It?

For organisations that want to make international mobility a regular part of their educational strategy, Erasmus+ accreditation can be a valuable long-term approach. It can help create a more structured Erasmus+ strategy, simplify access to relevant mobility funding opportunities and encourage the organisation to think strategically about internationalisation. However, accreditation requires commitment. Your organisation needs a realistic plan, appropriate management structures and a willingness to monitor results and continuously improve its Erasmus+ activities.

Final Checklist Before You Apply

  • Is our organisation eligible?
  • Have we chosen the correct Erasmus+ field?
  • Is our organisation registered and does it have an OID?
  • Have we clearly identified our organisation’s needs?
  • Are our Erasmus objectives specific and realistic?
  • Does our Erasmus Plan connect mobility with organisational development?
  • Have we considered inclusion and equal opportunities?
  • Do we have a clear system for managing mobility activities?
  • Have we explained how we will evaluate results?
  • Will we share and integrate what participants learn?
  • Does the application meet the Erasmus quality standards?
  • Have we checked the deadline and requirements of our National Agency?

Start Planning Your Erasmus+ Accreditation

Erasmus+ accreditation is best approached as a long-term development strategy rather than simply another funding application. The more clearly your organisation can connect its real needs with measurable objectives and meaningful mobility activities, the stronger the application can be.
The official Erasmus+ Programme Guide and your country’s National Agency should always be checked before submitting an application, as eligibility rules, deadlines and national requirements can change. For the most up-to-date information, consult the official Erasmus+ Programme Guide and the European Commission’s guidance on registering organisations and applying for Erasmus+ accreditation.

What comes next?

Once your Erasmus+ accreditation is approved, the real work begins: finding the right courses to fulfil the Erasmus Plan you’ve just spent weeks
building. That’s where Erasmus Courses Croatia comes in. We run accredited KA1 professional development courses for teachers and school staff in two
of Croatia’s most sought-after locations, Split and Dubrovnik, and beyond! We cover topics from digital teaching skills to inclusive education and classroom
innovation. Browse our full course catalogue, check upcoming dates, and start mapping specific courses to the objectives in your Erasmus Plan, so
your accreditation turns into real mobility experiences rather than staying on paper.

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