EU general education, VET and youth programmes

In November 2006, the EU adopted a new generation of general education, VET and youth programmes for the years 2007-2013: The “Lifelong Learning Programme” covers both general education and vocational education and training (VET) whereas the “Youth in Action Programme” covers extracurricular activities intended for young people.

1 January 2011 was a turning point for Swiss participation in these programmes. Until then, Switzerland had been involved only in individual projects, with limited rights, and activities were directly funded by the Confederation. Since 2011, thanks to a bilateral agreement between Switzerland and the European Union, Switzerland is now able to fully and directly participate in these programmes, after more than fifteen years of indirect participation. Swiss nationals now enjoy the same rights as EU nationals to gain access to all of the Actions covered by these programmes. Swiss institutions are also able to submit project proposals and coordinate projects. In addition, Switzerland may participate in the strategic planning of programmes and has the right to be represented in the programme committees. Switzerland’s contribution to the budget of these programmes stands at EUR 44.7 million for the remaining three years of the Lifelong Learning Programme (2011-2013) and EUR 5.4 million for the remaining three years of the Youth in Action Programme.

Implementation of programmes

Like all of the other participating countries, Switzerland has established a national agency responsible for programme implementation. The ch Foundation, which is based in Solothurn, was awarded the contract following a public call for tenders issued by the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER). Among other things, the national agency (“ch agency”) has received a mandate from the SER to inform and advise potential participants, to make preparations for the selection of projects and to manage the funds for the programme’s decentralised actions (around 80% of the Swiss contribution). These actions are mainly intended to encourage greater mobility, partnerships, visits for study purposes, preparatory visits and innovation transfer projects. The programme’s centralised actions are managed by the EU’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) in Brussels. Centralised actions mainly include major multilateral projects, networks and accompanying measures.

More information about ch agency, calls for project proposals and the criteria for participation in EU general education, VET and youth programmes can be found on the Internet at: www.ch-go.ch