Centres of Vocational Excellence

Home Funding Calls for proposals Centres of Vocational Excellence Centres of Vocational Excellence ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE Topic Call for proposal Internal navigation General information Topic description Topic updates Conditions and documents Budget overview Partner search announcements Start submission Topic Q&As Get support General information Programme Erasmus (ERASMUS ) Call Centres of Vocational Excellence (ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE) Type of action ERASMUS-LS ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants Type of MGA ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant [ERASMUS-AG-LS] Open For Submission Deadline model single-stage Opening date 04 December 2025 Deadline date 03 September 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time Topic description Scope: CENTRES OF VOCATIONAL EXCELLENCE Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) aim to be a driving force for reforms in the Vocational Education Training (VET) sector, ensuring high quality skills and competences that lead to quality employment and career-long opportunities, meeting the needs of an innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy and contributing to addressing challenges in key economic sectors. The main objective is the establishment of transnational collaborative networks that bring together local and regional VET stakeholders (VET institutions, companies, social partners, authorities, higher education institutions, research institutes, etc.) in strong and broad partnerships, thereby creating comprehensive skills ecosystems for innovation, regional development, and social inclusion. The initiative is based on a bottom-up approach to vocational excellence, enabling VET institutions to rapidly adapt skills provisions to evolving economic and social needs in their context as identified by the project partners. It is complementary to and works in synergy with other Pact for Skills initiatives. Implementing vocational excellence approaches features prominently in the overall EU policy for skills and VET put forward in the Union of Skills, the European Education Area, the 2020 Council Recommendation on VET, as well as the Osnabrück Declaration and its successor, the Herning Declaration. The CoVE initiative is firmly anchored in the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Green Deal, the new Digital Strategy, and supports the Industrial and SME Strategies, the Council Recommendation ‘Europe on the Move’ – learning mobility opportunities for everyone, the STEM Education Strategic Plan, and the Clean Industrial Deal. The Union of Skills is an investment in people for a competitive European Union, which needs skilled people to respond to new challenges and stay competitive. It is an initiative that aims to improve the quality of education, training, and lifelong learning and the Centres of Vocational Excellence can contribute to the Union of Skills and the upcoming VET strategy, also through public-private partnerships, expand the use of micro-credentials, etc. Further, this initiative introduces a European dimension to vocational excellence by supporting the implementation of EU VET policy and actions agreed with Member States, social partners and VET providers. OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTION The main objective of the CoVE initiative is the establishment and development of transnational collaborative networks that bring together local and regional VET stakeholders (VET institutions, companies and other employers, social partners, authorities, higher education institutions, research institutes, etc.) in strong and broad public-private partnerships, thereby creating comprehensive skills ecosystems for innovation, regional development, and social inclusion and supporting European competitiveness. The Centres of Vocational Excellence aim at achieving the following objectives: to ensure high quality skills through flexible and learner-centred VET provisions that lead to quality employment and career-long opportunities, swiftly responding to the needs of an innovative, inclusive, competitive and sustainable economy as well as to societal needs; to support and act as drivers for local and regional development, innovation and social inclusion; to contribute to upward convergence on VET excellence, to increase the quality of VET at system level in more and more countries; to ensure that outputs and results are taken into use and have impact beyond the project partner organisations and beyond the project period. SCOPE OF THE ACTION The CoVEs are expected to develop innovative VET practices, e.g. for use of digital technologies, including AI, contribute to VET attractiveness and inclusion as well as applied research and innovation, facilitate mobility and apprenticeships and professional development of teachers and trainers, work together on joint VET provisions incl. micro-credentials, etc. The Centres of Vocational Excellence operate at two levels: 1. At national level, involving a wide range of local stakeholders creating skills ecosystems for local innovation, regional development, and social inclusion, while working with CoVEs in other countries through international collaborative networks. 2. At transnational level, bringing together CoVEs that share a common interest in: ▪ specific sectors; ▪ innovative approaches to tackle economic and societal challenges (e.g. climate change, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, sustainable development goals [See Berlin Declaration on Education for SDG ], integration of migrants and disadvantaged groups, upskilling people with low qualification levels, etc.), or ▪ innovative approaches to increase the outreach, quality and effectiveness of existing CoVEs. For more information, see the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. Show more Topic updates 04 December 2025 The submission session is now available for: ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE Show more Topic conditions and documents Conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. 3. Other Eligible Conditions described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. 5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. 5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds Evaluation criteria, scoring, threshold and process are described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in the Erasmus + Programme Guide 2026. Publication of the call: 27 November 2025. Deadline for submitting applications: 3 September 2026, 17:00 (Brussels time). Evaluation period: September 2026- March 2027. Information to applicants: March 2027. Signature of grant agreement: June 2027. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants n/a Call document and annexes: Application form templates Standard application form (ERASMUS BB and LSII) Detailed budget table (ERASMUS LSII) Information on Partnerships and Activities (ERASMUS COVE) Guidance ERASMUS Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Additional documents: Call document (Official Journal of the European Union) ERASMUS+ Work Programme ERASMUS Regulation 2021/817 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement How to manage your lump sum grants Show more Budget overview Topic Budget year : 2026 Stages Opening date Deadline Contributions Indicative number of grants ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE - ERASMUS-LS ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants 68 000 000,00 € Single-stage 4 December 2025 3 September 2026 Items per page: 10 50 100 Showing 1–1 of 1 Partner search announcements 439 Searches of partners to collaborate on this topic View / Edit LEARs, Account Administrators or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into this Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile. Start submission Need help? To access the Electronic Submission Service, please click on the submission-button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement that corresponds to your proposal. You will then be asked to confirm your choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system. Upon confirmation, you will be linked to the correct entry point. To access existing draft proposals for this topic, please login to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section. Please select the type of your submission: ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants [ERASMUS-LS], ERASMUS Lump Sum Grant [ERASMUS-AG-LS] Start submission Topic Q&As0 item(s) found General FAQ Get support Please read carefully all provisions below before the preparation of your application. For help related to this call, please contact the COVE functional mailbox: eacea-eplus-vet@ec.europa.eu Please note that the deadline for addressing queries to the COVE functional mailbox (eacea-eplus-vet@ec.europa.eu) is Thursday 20 August 2026. Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals. IT Helpdesk – Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.