Description of the project

• The Erasmus+ Programme
• The MERGING VOICES Partnership
• Scholarships
• Financial Support

The Erasmus+ Programme

The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work. The seven year programme will have a budget of €14.7 billion; a 40% increase compared to current spending levels, reflecting the EU's commitment to investing in these areas.

Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad.

Erasmus+ will support transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe.

It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism.

Erasmus+ brings together seven existing EU programmes in the fields of Education, Training, and Youth; it will for the first time provide support for Sport. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for cooperation across the Education, Training, Youth, and Sport sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules.

The MERGING VOICES Partnership

The MERGING VOICES consortium (MV) is based on institutional trust, founded on the excellent cooperation links developed among its partners during the last years. The MV is built on a strong cooperation, connecting Portugal’s North and South and bringing together some of the best practices that our Country has to offer. The sharing of common ideas and priorities for international development coined the decision to present this new consortium.

The Portuguese Higher Education Institutions that joined together to form this consortium are:

Universidade Nova de Lisboa	UNL	Coordinator
Universidade do Algarve	UAlg	Partner
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro	UTAD	Partner
Universidade do Porto	UPORTO	Partner

In the process of reinforcing the international visibility of the institutions, mobility flows play a decisive role. Consequently, mobility is one of the Universities’ top priorities in terms of internationalization strategy. Having recognized it, the MV is prepared to provide new opportunities to their students, teachers and staff. By doing it, Universities are fulfilling their basic missions: fostering the mutual enrichment, the transfer of know-how and best practices, as well as being driving forces of knowledge and contributing to the development of our society, economy and culture.

Through a total of 100 scholarships, the MV will support mobility of students, academic and administrative staff in Europe and in 12 Partner Countries: Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Macao, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam. The main goals of the MV are to:

1. reinforce the (inter)national cooperation of the involved institutions, thus contributing to the fulfilment of the HEIs’ mission;
2. provide students with new mobility opportunities that may contribute to their academic growth, thus allowing them to benefit from an international experience beyond the “standard destinations”;
3. improve students’ knowledge and enhancing their capacities and skills, thus positively contributing to their employability in the near future;
4. bring more awareness to the staff (academic and administrative) on the importance of the international cooperation beyond the European borders so as to allow a closer and better understanding of the partner institutions.

Scholarships:

The available scholarships (signed with X) for the 3^rd call are:

Financial Support

Travel

Travel distances	Amount
Between 100 and 499 km	180 EUR per participant
Between 500 and 1999 km	275 EUR per participant
Between 2000 and 2999 km	360 EUR per participant
Between 3000 and 3999 km	530 EUR per participant
Between 4000 and 7999 km	820 EUR per participant
8000 km or more	1100 EUR per participant

Important Information: the "travel distance" represents the linear distance between the city where the university of origin and the city where the host university are located. This is calculated automatically by a website indicated by the European Commission and cannot be subject to any change. The financial support allocated to the "travel distance" is the maximum allowed by the Erasmus+ Programme and is intended to contribute to the round trip back between the home and host institutions. In the event that the assigned value is insufficient to pay for the desired trip, the scholarhip holder must find another sources of funding.

Stay

STUDENTS mobility (Studies - SMS)	Mobility periods: 5 months Origin Host Country Monthly allowance Eligible Partner Countries Portugal (Programme Country – Group 2) 800 EUR / month Programme Country Partner Country 650 EUR / month Ultraperipheral regions (Programme Country Group 2) Partner Country 700 EUR / month
STAFF mobility (Academic Staff- STA)	Mobility periods: 5 days The per diem amount for Staff: - From the programme countries to the partner countries: 160 EUR - From the partner countries to the programme countries: 120 EUR
STAFF mobility (Administrative Staff - STT)

Insurance

Every selected applicant will receive a health, accident and travel insurance valid during the entire mobility period provided by Universidade Nova de Lisboa.