The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities confirmed on 22 July that Spain will channel €408.84 million of EU and national funds into the 2026 Erasmus+ call, an 8 % increase on the previous year. The Service for the Internationalisation of Education (SEPIE) revealed that €376.8 million will underwrite 163,000 student, faculty and staff exchanges, while €32 million supports 210 cooperation projects linking Spanish institutions with partners worldwide. Minister Diana Morant hailed the programme as “a double engine: personal development for participants and strategic transformation for our education system”. The call prioritises inclusion, setting aside an extra €250 per month for low-income participants and ring-fencing grants for students with disabilities. It also devotes €69.5 million of national co-financing to boost outbound mobility with Latin America – a region of growing interest for Spanish multinationals seeking bilingual graduates. For multinationals the enlarged budget is good news: universities use Erasmus+ funds to internationalise curricula and to host short-term traineeships in industry. Mobility managers can expect a larger pool of Spanish interns seeking placements abroad and more requests from universities to host visiting lecturers in Spain. Firms with established Erasmus internship pipelines should prepare for higher volumes and earlier nomination deadlines. SEPIE will publish provisional award lists for Key Action 1 (learning mobility) on 1 August, giving HR teams advance notice to start compliance checks on incoming trainees who may need NIE numbers and Social Security registration. Digital signatures via Spain’s new Cl@ve Empresa portal will be accepted for grant agreements, simplifying paperwork for corporate hosts. The ministry also announced a pilot ‘Green Erasmus’ supplement: organisations implementing low-carbon travel plans can claim up to €15 per participant in additional funding. Companies that already incentivise rail within Spain can align their CSR goals with the scheme and highlight it in sustainability reporting.
Source: Europa Press
