1. Application advice
session for schools:
KA2 Strategic
Partnerships

2. What is Key Action 2?
Key Action 2 will focus on sharing, developing and
transferring innovative practices in education, training and youth provision between participating countries

3. How? Through Strategic Partnerships (SPs)
UK organisations can apply for funding to run collaborative
projects which address: •
EU policy objectives and priorities
Challenges (within school)
Needs of one or more specific field of education

4. Summary of basic features•
Can last
2 or 3 years
Can focus on one
education
specific field of education
eg school •
Can promote cross-sectoral cooperation i.e. involve
than one field of education
Grant is not a simple lump sum for mobilities (as
more •
Comenius) but a mix of lump sum (unit costs) and real
costs

5. can apply Who can apply/participate? •
Any organisation from the list of Programme
can apply
Countries •
Organisations from Partner Countries (wider world) can take part as project partners (not as applicants) and only if they add value to the project

6. Programme countries

7. Number and profile of partner organisations•
Minimum of two partner schools from
two programme countries
Up to a max. of ten partner organisations from funded programme countries can be involved per SP •

8. • Acronyms galore: ECAS, URF, PIC • • ECAS URF PIC Start at •
Before applying, all schools will need a Personal
Identification Code (PIC) …
… to get a PIC, a school must use the Unique
Registration Facility (URF) …
…and to access the URF, a school must register with the European Commission Authentication Service (ECAS)
ECAS URF PIC
Start at • • •

9. Selection and grant agreements•
One application per project, assessed by coordinating
National Agency
School to school only SPs = individual Grant Agreements
as per current Comenius partnerships
If schools partner with other organisations (eg Local Authority), the applicant organisation holds the grant agreement with their National Agency and hence the funds for the whole partnership • •

10. What happens when you apply?•
a formal check is made to verify against the eligibility and
exclusion criteria
a quality assessment evaluates how well the participating organisations meet the selection criteria and the project meets the award criteria
Notification of result of application is within 4 months of the submission deadline (30 April 2014) • •

11. Each application is scored out of 100 points
Award Criteria-
Each application is scored out of 100 points •
Relevance of
Quality of the
the project (30)
project design and implementation
project team and the cooperation
(20)
arrangements (20)
Impact and dissemination (30) •
A project must score at least 60 to be considered
AND score at least 50% in each category

12. Relevance of the project (30 points)
Relevance of the proposed
project to: •
one of more of the EU policy priorities for education & training •
and/or the school education priorities
Education and training priorities:
developing basic and transversal skills, e.g. entrepreneurship, digital skills, multilingualism
enhancing Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) uptake in teaching and learning

13. School priorities • Improving the attainment of
those at risk of early school
young people, particularly
leaving (ESL)
young people with low basic •
skills in Maths, Science and Literacy
Developing high quality and accessible Early Childhood
Education and Care services
Revising and strengthening the professional profile of the
teaching professions • •

14. The application eform • Completed on-line only (no paper) •
Completed on-line only (no paper)
You’ll need the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader •
To submit and complete in full, you will need to be
connected to the internet
It must be saved to your desktop (not USB!) before starting

15. Application process Complete form Validate Print declaration
Have it signed (by Headteacher)
Attach the declaration (electronically)
Attach the time table of activities (Gantt chart)
Submit the application online

16. You must also upload the following documents
in the Participant Portal: •
the Legal Entity form as proof of legal status (this form
can be downloaded from the European Commission’s
website at:
ts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm);
the Financial Identification form. This form can be downloaded at:
ts/financial_id/financial_id_en.cfm) • • •

17. It should look like this

18. The application form content overview•
Context: background
Participating organisations: basic information
Description of the project: rationale for project and
partnership,
objectives •
Preparation and project management:
including m&e; •
Project activities: details of all outputs and activities

19. The application form content overview•
Follow-up: dissemination, use of results, sustainability
Budget: management and activities
Project summary
Formal aspects: data protection, sign off

20. Context and participating organisations•
Basic information
Applicant organisation cf. coordinator in Comenius
Details fill in automatically when ‘PIC’ input
Partners – as above

21. Description of the project, objectives•
Rationale, issues and needs ie why this project?
Innovative or complementary: how does it fit with other activity/ies?
Partners: how chosen? skills, knowledge, experience?
New partners? EU added value
Communication and meetings, partners and stakeholders
Relevant Priorities - drop down
Relevant Topics - drop down
Results: outputs, products, changes • •

22. Preparation and project management•
Preparation: analyses, planning, building engagement,
possibly before funding starts; •
Budget and timelines:
management and monitoring
budget between partners, monitoring timelines, rectifying •
Quality of activities: monitoring quality of delivery;
how, when?
who, •
Risks: internal and external, how monitored and mitigated
Assessing
achievement: qualitative and quantitative
indicators and activities (outputs, results, objectives)

23. Implementation • Organisation of activities: coordinated, timings?
who, what, where, how •
Target groups: who? cf. “needs”, above
Participants with fewer opportunities: number; proportion
participants
support for them
why is participation difficult? of •

24. Project activities (and outputs)•
Menu caters for a range
scale
Divided into types: of
projects in
terms of in
type
and •
Intellectual outputs
Multiplier events
Learning/Teaching/Training Activities

25. Mobilities Transnational Project Meetings – no minimum stay;
Learning, Teaching and Training Activities:
Short term staff training events (5 days – 2 months)
Short term pupil visits (5 days – 2 months)
Both must clearly contribute to overall objectives of project

26. Follow up - impact •
Impact (effects, results, changes) on participating
individuals and organisations, systems and practices and other stakeholders
Impact beyond the project; local, regional, national, European
Measurement – who, what, how? • •

27. Follow up – dissemination & sustainability•
Important in Erasmus+ - added value of EU funding, wider
reach and impact •
Communicating successes and results widely: for
use
into by
the
others including other sectors; to influence
future
Measureable, realistic objectives (timetable)
Resource planning
Involvement of target groups if possible
policy; •

28. Budget • Menu of different cost items: different funding levels and
structures •
Most payments conditional on justification
Unit costs/flat rates (with maximums)
Two cost items are common to any project: in
application
Project management and implementation
Transnational project meetings

29. Project management and implementation•
500 EUR per month to the coordinator, and 250
EUR per month to each other partner
project management e.g. contribution to tasks such as planning, managing finances, coordination, communication, promotion and dissemination
Virtual cooperation and local activities
Information/promo/dissemination (e.g. production
and dissemination of brochures, web info…) • •

30. Transnational project meetings•
Travel and subsistence costs for project meetings
between partners, hosted by one of the participating organisations
Distance bands as crow flies, - use European •
Commission
100km –
2,000km
distance calculator
1,999km = 575 EUR per participant
and above = 760 EUR per participant •
Maximum 23,000 EUR per year in total (for all
partners)

31. Optional cost items linked to activities
Transnational learning/teaching/training activities:
Travel by distance (275 EUR/360 EUR)
Subsistence per pupil (55 EUR) and staff (100 EUR) per day for first 14 days

32. Special needs (optional)•
Additional actual costs incurred to support
participants with special needs.
Please enter actual costs as far as you know •
them, it
funding has not request
may not be possible to provide extra
for participants with special needs which been included in your original budget

33. Exceptional costs (optional)•
75% actuals , subcontracted goods and services
which partners cannot provide
Office equipment or other equipment normally
used by partners will not be funded •

34. Project Summary • Synopsis: to be used for publicity, uploaded to EC
dissemination
Context
Objectives
Participants
Activities
Methodology
platform •
Results, impact,
longer
term benefits
Summary of participating organisations and budget

35. between schools Example of a Strategic Partnership •
Three schools in 3 programme countries
developing learning materials together
interest pupils in the subjects of Maths
creative and appealing way.
on how to
and Science
in a •
The expected output
is the creation of
a number of
learning materials to be used in Maths and Science
classes
The activities would involve the direct cooperation of pupils in those classes both virtually (e.g. using eTwinning) and live for a project week. •

36. apply for a grant covering:
For a two-year project the schools would
apply for a grant covering: •
Project management and implementation: a unit cost/flat
rate grant per
Transnational
mobilities
school
project meetings: 4 meetings including 24 • •
learning/training activity: a joint project
week for which a group of 15 pupils each from two of the
schools would travel to
together during a week exhibition open to local of the hosting school.
the third school and work
with the materials, closed by an
schools and the local community

37. Finding out more • www.erasmusplus.org.uk – Application guidance,
Forms,
Deadline (11am UK time on 30th April),
Programme guide,
Links and guidance for ECAS
and PIC,
Everything else to do with Erasmus+ •