NOVA Glossary for Erasmus+
Plain, crisp definitions for Erasmus+ terms—written for humans.
A
- Accompanying person
- An adult who travels with participants (often minors or those with fewer opportunities) to keep them safe and support learning during a mobility.
- Accreditation
- A “quality pass” that lets experienced organisations access simplified Erasmus+ funding by proving they meet key standards.
- Affiliated entity
- A legally linked body to a beneficiary (e.g., a national branch). It follows the same rules but doesn’t count toward minimum consortium size.
- Applicant / Coordinator
- The organisation (or informal youth group) that submits the project. In a consortium, this org becomes the coordinator and holds extra duties.
B
- Basic skills
- Literacy, numeracy, and science & tech—part of the EU’s key competences.
- Beneficiary
- Once funded, the applicant (and sometimes partners) become beneficiaries and sign a grant agreement.
- Blended mobility
- Mobility that mixes in-person time with meaningful online collaboration.
C
- Call for proposals
- The official invitation (with a deadline) to apply for funding.
- Clerical error
- A small mistake (like a typo) that changes meaning.
- Co‑financing
- Projects may need non‑EU contributions alongside the EU grant.
- Company / SME
- A business. SMEs have <250 staff and meet EU turnover/balance limits.
- Consortium
- Two or more organisations delivering a project together.
D
- Digital competence
- Safe, critical use of tech for learning, work, and civic life (data, media, coding, IP, cybersecurity, digital well‑being).
- Diploma Supplement
- An add‑on to a degree explaining what you studied—useful for recognition.
- Double / Multiple degree
- Two or more separate diplomas from a joint programme.
E
- ECHE (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education)
- The green light that allows HEIs to do mobility and cooperation under Erasmus+.
- ECTS
- A transparent system to design, compare, and recognise higher‑ed study using credits and learning outcomes.
- EQF
- The EU’s 8‑level framework that translates qualifications between countries.
- ESCO
- The EU’s open dictionary linking jobs, skills, and qualifications (25 languages).
- Established
- Officially registered/recognised at national level (or legal rep’s residence for informal youth groups).
- Europass
- EU platform for CVs, skills records, and digital credentials.
F
- First‑time applicant / Less‑experienced organisation
- Organisations that haven’t coordinated (or have done so only rarely) in the last seven years; often get extra support.
- Force majeure
- An exceptional, unforeseeable event beyond your control that prevents delivery despite due diligence.
G
- Green skills
- Skills for a low‑carbon future.
- Green travel
- Travelling mainly by low‑emission transport (train, bus, car‑pooling, bike).
H
- Hosting (receiving) organisation
- The organisation that delivers the learning on the ground.
I
- Informal learning
- Unplanned learning from daily life.
- International / Transnational
- Activities that involve organisations from different countries (as defined in the action).
- Itinerant activity
- One activity that moves through more than one country with all participants.
J
- Job shadowing
- Learning by observing peers in their workplace abroad.
K
- Key competences
- The EU’s core list (e.g., literacy, multilingual, STEM, digital, personal/social/learning, citizenship, entrepreneurship, cultural awareness).
L
- Learning mobility
- Going to another country to study/train or do non‑formal/informal learning.
- Learning outcomes
- What a participant knows, understands, and can do after learning.
- LEAR
- The person validated on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal who maintains an organisation’s legal/financial data and access rights.
M
- Micro‑credential
- A recognised proof of learning from a short, assessed learning experience (owned by the learner; portable and stackable).
- Mobility/Learning agreement
- The contract between sending/receiving orgs and the participant about goals, content, and recognition.
- MOOC
- A free, open online course (Erasmus‑funded MOOCs must be free including certificates).
- Month (grant calc.)
- 30 days.
N
- National Agency
- The body that runs Erasmus+ in each programme country.
O
- OID
- Your Organisation ID to apply under National‑Agency‑managed actions. (NOVADER’s OID: E10402315).
- Open Access / OER / Open licence
- Educational outputs should be free to use, adapt, and share under an open licence (or be public domain).
P
- Participant
- Anyone fully involved in the project; may receive EU support (travel, subsistence, inclusion).
- Participant with fewer opportunities
- People facing barriers (economic, social, cultural, geographical, health, disability, migrant background, educational difficulties, or other grounds under Article 21 of the EU Charter).
- Partner organisation
- A formal project participant that isn’t the coordinator.
- Partnership
- The agreement among project orgs to do things together.
- Peer learning
- Mutual learning by sharing practices and ideas.
- Professional development
- Any structured or informal learning to build competences of learners/staff.
- Profit‑making body active in CSR
- A company that integrates social/environmental ethics into its core work.
- Project
- A coherent set of activities designed to achieve stated objectives.
Q
- Qualification
- A formal recognition that learning outcomes meet a standard.
R
- Receiving organisation
- The organisation that hosts participants and runs activities.
S
- School / School pupil
- Institutions and learners from early childhood to upper secondary (eligibility may vary nationally).
- Sending organisation
- The organisation that prepares and sends participants abroad.
- SME
- See Company / SME.
- Social enterprise
- A business primarily aiming for measurable social impact; reinvests profits and is transparently run.
- Staff
- Anyone (paid or volunteer) regularly involved in learning (teachers, trainers, youth workers, leaders, ECEC staff, non‑educational staff).
- Statutory link
- A documented, ongoing relationship between organisations that goes beyond a single project.
- Study visit
- Short, structured observation to learn from another organisation’s systems/practices.
T
- Third countries not associated to the Programme
- Countries outside full programme participation; may join certain actions—check the Guide.
- Traineeship (work placement)
- Work‑based learning abroad to gain specific skills and workplace culture.
- Transversal (soft) skills
- Critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, communication, adaptability, stress management, etc.
U
- Union transparency & recognition tools
- EU instruments that help compare/recognise learning and qualifications (e.g., EQF, ECTS, Europass).
V
- Validation of non‑formal & informal learning
- A 4‑step process (identify, document, assess, certify) that can lead to a partial/full qualification.
- Venue
- The physical place of an activity.
- Virtual cooperation / Virtual learning
- Using ICT to collaborate or learn meaningfully across borders.
W
- Work Package (WP)
- A cluster of activities that pursue the same specific objective within a project plan.
X
- No entries under X (yet).
Y
- Young people (E+ youth field)
- Individuals aged 13–30.
- Youth activity
- Out‑of‑school learning like youth exchanges, training, or volunteering.
- Youth worker
- A professional/volunteer who supports young people’s personal, social, and professional development through non‑formal learning.
- Youthpass
- Certificates (and a reflection process) to recognise learning in many Erasmus+ youth actions.
Z
- No entries under Z (yet).
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