Erasmus+ is the European Union's funding programme for education, training, youth and sport, and its Key Action 2 (KA2) strand is shifting focus. Organizations that once treated KA2 Cooperation Partnerships as a way to trade good practice are now being pushed toward genuinely innovative outputs1.
What KA2 actually funds
Key Action 2 supports cooperation projects between organizations, with the European Union backing partnerships that exchange good practice, adopt new technologies and develop new teaching and learning methods2.
Projects under this action also aim to support non-formal learning and to build shared tools and activities at local, regional, national or European level2.
One live example is Youth Voices Rising, a Cooperation Partnership in Youth funded from 1 April 2025 to 31 May 2027, designed to give young people skills to influence policy-making and take part in civic life2.
Navigating change in the KA2 model
The core shift described for Erasmus+ 2025 is a move away from cooperation alone and toward innovation as the organizing goal for KA2 projects1.
This means organizations need to adapt project strategy rather than reuse the same partnership format that worked under the older cooperation-first approach1.
Consultancies that support applicants describe involvement across both proposal writing and full project delivery for Erasmus+ KA2 initiatives, spanning completed and ongoing partnerships3.
A KA2 Strategic Partnership is structured to fund the production of project results and to cover the activities needed to share those results and promote their impact4.
Wider Erasmus context
Cooperation across European universities has its own parallel history: European university alliances launched in 2019 as part of the European University Initiative, testing action plans and setting priorities for long-term institutional change7.
There are now more than 65 of these alliances, bringing together over 570 higher education institutions and 11 million students across Europe7.
Separately, framework programmes supporting cooperation in research and innovation have run since 1984, later evolving into the Horizon research funding programmes5.
Access to the mobility side of Erasmus+ has also been a live issue at national level. Hungary's Education and Children's Affairs Minister, Judit Lannert, said on Facebook that the Hungarian government had taken the steps needed by the end of August to reopen the Erasmus+ programme to Hungarian university students8.
Lannert said the 21 universities previously affected by restrictions now have valid Erasmus mobility applications for the 2026-27 academic year, reopening international mobility for their students8.
Why the shift matters for applicants
For organizations writing new KA2 proposals, the practical takeaway is that a partnership built only around exchanging practice is no longer the strongest pitch under the 2025 priorities1.
Projects that can point to a concrete innovative output, such as a new tool, method or non-formal learning activity, align more closely with what KA2 is designed to fund2.
Applicants can also draw on support for proposal writing from consultancies with a track record across multiple KA2 partnerships3.
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