About Erasmus +

Erasmus + is the European Union Program for Education, Training, Youth, and Sports for the period 2014-2020.

The program generally supports activities, co-operation, and tools that are in line with the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy and its leading initiatives, such as Young People on the Move and the New Skills and Jobs Program. It seeks to address the following challenges:

• Combating unemployment growth – especially among young people

• Developing social capital among young people and empowering their ability to actively participate in society

• Promoting systematic reforms in the area of education, training, and youth among countries participating in the program

The purpose of the Erasmus + program is to support the efforts of participating countries in the program in order to effectively exploit the opportunities of European human and social capital, while endorsing the principle of lifelong learning by linking support to formal, informal and informal learning in areas of education, training, and youth. The program also strengthens opportunities for cooperation and mobility with partner states, particularly in the areas of higher education and youth.

The goal of the Erasmus + program is to provide a more effective tool for meeting the real needs in terms of human and social capital development within and outside Europe.

The Erasmus + program consists of the following activities:

• Key activity 1 – Mobility for the purpose of learning for individuals – Refers to the mobility of students (pupils, students, trainees, youth, volunteers) and staff (educators, educators and the youth field from public institutions and civil society organizations)

• Key Activity 2 – Innovation and Exchange of Good Practice – Combining knowledge and skills, capacity-building projects that support cooperation with partner countries.

• Key Activity 3 – Policy Reform Support – Knowledge in education, training, and youth needs to develop policy-based information and policy tracking within the Europe 2020 strategy.

• Jean Monet – The activity is centralized to support institutions and activities in the field of European Integration.

• Sports – Sports activities will support: joint partnerships, non-profit European sporting events, dialogue with relevant European stakeholders and support for sporting events within the framework of a specific EU Presidency program.

Activities in the areas of education, training, and youth play a key role in providing people of all ages with the necessary means to actively participate in the labor market and society as a whole. Projects under this activity promote transnational mobility activities directed at students (students, trainees, scientists, young people, and volunteers) and staff (professors, teachers, training leaders, youth workers and people working in organizations active in education, training, and youth) and their goal:

• Assist students in acquiring competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) in order to improve their personal development and employability in the European labor market and beyond;

• To support the professional development of people working in the field of education, training, and youth in order to innovate and improve the quality of teaching, training and youth work across Europe;

• Increase the knowledge of foreign languages of the participants;

• To raise awareness of participants and understanding of other cultures and states by offering them the opportunity to build networks of international contacts, to actively participate in society and to develop the feelings of European citizenship and identity;

• Increase the capabilities, attractiveness and international dimension of organizations active in education, training, and youth so that they can offer activities and programs that best meet the needs of people, both within and outside Europe;

• Strengthen synergy and transition between formal education, informal education, vocational training, employment, and entrepreneurship;

• Ensure a better recognition of competencies acquired during the learning period abroad.

Academic mobility promoted through Erasmus + provides an individual experience of studying, working and living in a different academic, cultural and social environment. As a result, people participating in the mobility project increase their employment opportunities and competitiveness in the labor market.

The Education, Culture and Audiovisual Policy Executive from Brussels has published the results of the Erasmus High Education Charter for the period 2014-2020. The High School for Economics, Entrepreneurship and Management Nikola Šubić Zrinski has been awarded the new Erasmus Charter in Higher Education (ECHE), enabling participation in the activities of the new Erasmus + program for the period 2014-2020.

The international cooperation of the Nikola Šubić Zrinski High School with various institutions around the world is being realized through the Innovation Development Center Zrinski (IDCZ).