Applying for an education grant
An education grant may be available for some forms of cooperation with universities outside the Netherlands, such as student exchanges, staff mobility or setting up your own education project or international master’s programme. More information about possible grants is given below.
Advice on applying for an education grant
If you want to know more about what grants are available and how to apply for them, the International Relations department of Student and Educational Affairs (SEA) can help you with:
- Identifying funding opportunities
- Writing a grant proposal
- Submitting a grant proposal and administrative processing
- Developing, launching and evaluating a new European project
Erasmus+ grants
Erasmus+ is a European Commission initiative, offering grants for education projects with partners within and outside of Europe. Erasmus+ also supports international mobility (exchange) of students and teaching staff.
Mobility outside of Europe
The term used by Erasmus+ for the exchange of teaching staff and students with universities outside of Europe is ‘mobility with partner countries’. The best known programme is the International Credit Mobility (ICM).
The International Credit Mobility (ICM) programme offers scholarships for incoming (to Leiden) and outgoing (to other countries) teaching staff and students. If you would like to develop a project outside of Europe and need a grant for this, please contact the International Relations grant advisor. You can also contact the grant advisor if you have any questions about ICM.
Other Erasmus+ education grants
The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees are grants for joint or double degree programmes delivered by consortia of European universities. They provide funding for scholarships for excellent students, training of teaching staff and organisation of the master’s programmes.
Erasmus Mundus Design Measures (EMDM) promotes design, or the development of new and innovative transnational master programs.
Strategic Partnerships
Grants for Cooperation Partnerships are intended for people who develop and use innovative practices within the education sector or between different sectors (universities, public authorities, civil society organisations and private enterprises).
Capacity Building provides funding for cooperative projects between higher education institutions within Europe and organisations in partner countries outside of the EU.
Alliances for Innovation can be awarded if you wish to establish a partnership between European higher education institutions and private enterprises. Your goal must be to connect education more closely to the job market, with an emphasis on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Jean Monnet programme focuses on activities that promote integration between European countries, where the teaching staff and researchers from the different countries help one another in modernising education and research.
This can be done, for example, by establishing a centre of excellence or combining multiple themes (history, economics, law and politics) in a single university course.
This new action aims to create networks of teacher education institutions in order to improve policies and practices in Europe. An Erasmus+ Teacher Academy involves at least three partners from three different countries.
Virtual exchanges projects consist of 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. While virtual debating or training does not fully replace the benefits of physical mobility, participants in virtual exchanges ought to reap some of the benefits of international educational experiences. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least four organisations.
Individual funding
Mobility within Europe with Erasmus+
The term used by Erasmus+ for the exchange of staff and students within Europe is ‘mobility between programme countries’; these are the European Union countries plus North Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.
- Staff members of Leiden University who are looking for funding for training or teaching assignments within Europe, can find more information in the list of available scholarships.
- Students who wish to engage in an internship or period of study abroad and would like more information about grants, should contact the international exchange coordinator of their faculty.
More general information about mobility between programme countries is available on the Erasmus+ website (Dutch only).
Virtual International Cooperation
In a Virtual International Cooperation Project (VIS), Dutch and foreign students work together remotely on a project in which local issues are linked to an international perspective. Lecturers and educationalists who want to develop such a project for Leiden students and students from a foreign university can apply for a subsidy at two times during the year. If granted, the university will receive €15,000 from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to free up the applicant to develop the project. The grant application is submitted centrally by the International Relations Office.
Other options
There are also other possibilities outside of the Erasmus+ programme to apply for funding.
- The Orange Knowledge Programme of the Nuffic (Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education) has funds for developing the knowledge and capacity of individuals and institutions in 52 countries. Information and contact details of the subsidy advisor can be found on the Nuffic website.
- Students can apply for various scholarships for a period of study abroad (such as a LUSTRA+ scholarship). You can refer your students to the faculty's international exchange coordinator. Or to the student website.