EU budget gives important impetus to education and research

Federal Minister Faßmann: The budget increase also means more opportunities for Austria.

Vienna (OTS) – The agreement between the EU Commission and the EU Parliament on the EU budget also means – subject to the final approval of the countries – more money for those areas that are central to the future of Europe: education, research and innovation. The EU research programme Horizon Europe will be endowed with approximately 95.4 thousand million euros for the 2021 to 2027 term and the EU educational programme Erasmus+ will increase by 2.2 thousand million euros.
Education and Science Minister Heinz Faßmann: "Education, research and innovation are the key to prosperity and competitiveness in Europe. Austria has already benefited more than average from these EU programmes: More than 1.65 thousand million euros from Horizon 2020 went to Austria, there have been more than 4,050 Austrian participations and lately always more than 20,000 stays abroad of people from Austria have been funded by Erasmus every year – a real success story!"
Horizon Europe: More money for future-oriented topics and economic growthThe increase in the budget for Horizon Europe amounts to approximately 4.6 thousand million euros. Another approximately 5.4 thousand million euros will be made available within the European reconstruction programme "Next Generation EU". With the additional funds the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, will be budgeted at 95.4 thousand million euros for the period from 2021 to 2027.
Horizon Europe will consist of three central pillars: excellent science, global challenges and industrial competitiveness, and innovative Europe. "The preparations for the launch of Horizon Europe are in full swing as far as we are concerned," say the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)‘s managing directors Henrietta Egerth and Klaus Pseiner. "With our tried and tested services we also provide systematic support for Austrian companies, higher education institutions and other organisations within the new EU programme in order to continue to achieve the same high success rates as in the past."
Erasmus+’ new programme framework sets the course for the futureWith the agreement the new Erasmus+ programme will be able to start its next seven-year programme term on 1 January 2021 as planned and it will set a new course for the future. In addition to inclusion and "Green Erasmus" digitisation of the Erasmus+ programme is one of the major topics for the future of European higher education cooperation.
Jakob Calice, managing director of the OeAD, the national agency for the implementation of Erasmus+ in Austria, emphasises: "I am pleased that an additional 2.2 thousand million euros will be available for the Erasmus+ programme on top of the 24.0 thousand million euros agreed at European Council level in the summer. More money for Erasmus means more money for education and thus for democracy and the future".
According to Calice "internationality is an indispensable dimension of science and education". Calice continues: "Erasmus+ enables joint projects to be implemented in Europe. This is not just a question of mobility but of promising developments such as how digital tools will be used in all areas of education in the future. This facilitates the inclusion of people who had not been reached in an optimal way by the programme up to now."

In case of further questions please contact:Federal Ministry of Education, Science and ResearchMag. Debora KnobPress Officer01 53120-5026debora.knob@bmbwf.gv.atOeAD-GmbHMag. Ursula Hilmar0 1 53408-270presse@oead.atwww.oead.atAustrian Research Promotion Agency FFG0664-8569028 / +43 5 7755-6010presse@ffg.atwww.ffg.atTo the BMBWF’s OTS