Abstract:

Erasmus+ is the European Union Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014-2020. These four areas can make a major contribution to help tackle socio-economic changes, the key challenges that Europe will be facing until the end of the decade and to support the implementation of the European policy agenda for growth, jobs, equity and social inclusion. The Erasmus+ Programme was planned to support Programme Countries' efforts to efficiently use the potential of Europe’s talent and social resources in a lifelong learning perspective, linking support to formal, non-formal and informal learning throughout the education, training and youth areas. The Programme also highlights the opportunities for cooperation and mobility with Partner Countries, in the fields of higher education and youth. This programme is considered to be the most successful of the European Commission. Transnational Cooperation Activities (TCA) between National Agencies aim to support the Erasmus + programme in meeting its objectives and priorities, namely by supporting the high-quality implementation of Erasmus+ and the mobilization of a large number of organizations and individuals to whom the Education and Training Programme is directed; cooperation between active organizations in the areas of education and training; and, the development of work in those same areas. In Portugal, since 2014, TCA have been promoted among a wide range of education and training institutions. The number of institutions and participants has been increasing gradually over the years. Since the beginning of the programme, 119 participants have already benefited from these activities. The added value for participants and institutions is evident. Through the analysis of the final reports of the participants we will know to what extent the participation on the activity fulfilled their expectations; if they managed to find partners and/or start a project idea; how they prepare themselves for the activity; what were their next steps. Therefore, this paper intends to present the main conclusions obtained in Portugal by the participants and the institutions in the sectors of school education, vocational education and training, adult education and higher education.

Keywords:

Erasmus+ programme, institutions/organizations, participants, Transnational Cooperation Activities.