Novelties for Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges 2026 call for proposals – open for submission!

The Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges (EVE) 2026 call opened for submission on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (F&TP). Please refer to the Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026 for the call deadline and further information.

Virtual exchanges in higher education and youth are online people-to-people activities that promote intercultural dialogue and soft skills' development. They make it possible for every young person to access high-quality international and cross-cultural education (both formal and non-formal) without physical mobility. 

Virtual exchanges take place in small groups and are always moderated by a trained facilitator. They should be easily integrated into youth (non-formal education) projects or higher education courses. All projects under this call will involve organisations and participants coming from both EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, and third countries not associated to the Programme in eligible regions (i.e. Western Balkans, Neighbourhood East, South-Mediterranean countries and Sub-Saharan Africa). You can find a list of eligible countries in the Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026.

The overall budget and the budgetary envelopes are published on the F&TP. 

Important novelties and changes for the 2026 call (ERASMUS-EDU-2026-VIRT-EXCH):

• Eligibility criteria applicable to consortium composition has changed:

  Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 6 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities), which must comply with the following conditions: 

  • Minimum 6 independent entities (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 6 different eligible countries;
  • Minimum 3 higher education institutions or youth organisations from 3 EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme and 3 higher education institutions or youth organisations from 3 different eligible third countries not associated to the Programme belonging to the same eligible region;
  • Organisations from different eligible regions cannot participate in the same project. Cross-regional projects are not eligible;
  • The number of organisations from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme must not be higher than the number of organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme;
  • Only beneficiaries (not affiliated entities nor associated partners) count for the consortium composition.
• Part B of the application shall not exceed 40 pages
• Some changes in the “Award criteria”.

Important funding rule (as in previous years) when establishing the budget of the application: 

The maximum EU grant per project is EUR 500 000. Beneficiaries can receive at most EUR 200 per Virtual Exchange participant (i.e., young participant or facilitator). For example, beneficiaries receiving the maximum grant of EUR 500 000 must involve at least 2 500 participants in virtual exchanges. The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested. The total number of participants and trained facilitators must be clearly indicated in the application form.

Useful resources for applicants

• The Virtual Exchanges action was presented at the Erasmus+ Regional Info session for Sub-Sharan Africa (in English and interpreted into French and Spanish), including Q&A sessions
• Presentation in PDF with information on EVE 2026 and summary of the novelties in English

• Are you looking for partners for your EVE project? – please consult our Partner Search Document in two languages (in English) 

• Start to submit a real application on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (F&TP).
• For more information on this action, please consult the dedicated EVE section in our Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026.

For any further questions you may have on this action, please contact us at EACEA-EPLUS-VIRTUAL-EXCHANGESec [dot] europa [dot] eu (EACEA-EPLUS-VIRTUAL-EXCHANGES[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu). Please note that the deadline for addressing queries related to the Erasmus+ Virtual Exchanges Call for proposals is 13 March 2026 (eob).