On Friday 13 September 10.00-11.30, the International Office is hosting an online Q&A session for interested parties who have not yet participated in the application.

Sign up for the session is closed.

You'll find all relevant information on this page and you are always welcome to ask questions to internationaloffice@aau.dk 

KA171 creates opportunities for new collaborations outside the EU/EEA

Within the Erasmus+ programme, you can apply for mobility projects with countries outside the EU, aka partner countries. This part of the Erasmus+ programme is also called “The International Dimension in Erasmus+”, “International Credit Mobility” or KA171. Usually, we call it (Erasmus) KA171

Purpose

The focus of KA171 is to strengthen competences and openess of Higher Education Institutions within the EU and in the rest of the world.

If you are part of a collaboration that fits the framework of  Erasmus+ "Mobility Projects for Higher Education Students and Staff" (please always check the current Erasmus+ Program Guide), the funds could be used to boost it.

The collaboration must include a partner country (non EU/EEA country) and the purpose must include promoting (educational) development in that country.

There's a call for applications for project funds every year. A project is usually 36 months.

Which activities?

You can apply for funds to receive and send students for studies or traineeships, and to receive and send staff for teaching or training activities.

You can read more about the various options on the website of the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education

Your role in KA171

If you decide to participate in the application for KA171 funds, you will get an active role in the project. Both during the application phase and if your part of the application gets funded.

You will become the departmental project coordinator and will have certain administrative responsibilities. Please read more in the section "After granted application"

International Office has registered increasing interest in KA171.

So far five departments have successfully obtained funding.

• 2016: Department of Business and Management.
• 2018: Department of Planning.
• 2019: Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology (several lecturers and academic areas), and Department of Planning.
• 2020: Department of Architecture, Design, and Media Technology (several lecturers and academic areas) and Department of Energy Technology (several lecturers and academic areas).
• 2021: No EU call for applications
• 2022: Department of Architecture, Design, and Media Technology, and Department of Planning.
• 2023: AAU did not apply for funds.

Previous (sub) projects (excerpt) 

• Cooperation on education and curricula development related to the UN's SDGs
• Strengthening of existing research and/or exchange cooperation by adding mobilities focusing on educational and curricula development.

Should I apply for KA171 funds or opt for an ordinary exchange agreement?

Please note that even if applying, there is no guarantee to receive KA171 funds. And, as indicated in all the other content of this page, being part of the application and the project involves a lot of work. Particularly for the departmental project coordinator (you).

Hence, we advise you to consider if an ordinary bilateral exchange agreement with the relevant partners would suit you better. You can read more about that process on New agreement on international exchange or education

What you must know before deciding to apply

Before deciding to apply we strongly advise that you read the International Office must read "Things you should know before applying for KA171" and the ICM Handbook for participating organisations. It will give you a summary of the most important things to remember when applying.

• ICM Handbook for Participating Organisations 
• Things you should know before applying for KA171

The application process

The International Office is in charge of the application process and will guide AAU staff interested in applying.

AAU can only submit one application compiled of several sub-applications for different regions.

This means that if more than one academic environment is interested in applying for the same region, the academic environments will have the choice between co-writing (not recommended for more than two academic environments at a time) or agreeing on who gets to apply for the current call. 
If neither is possible (or if the co-writing attempt breaks down), the International Office will decide who gets to participate for the current call. We will make the decision based on the International Office Administrative Basis for Erasmus+ KA171.

International Office will coordinate and submit the application.

Your contribution to the application

Please note that if you want to apply you will need to provide the academic, describing content specific for your project. The International Office will compile this information and submit it as one application to the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (UFS).

To be able to provide this description, you need to read the available information documents and budgets.

The International Office will also host an information meeting where we do our best to guide you through this.

Available funds

The projects are meant to support development in the partner countries

The EU considers KA171 as the foreign policy instrument of Erasmus+. This means that UFS and the Commision pay special attention to the projects being of particular benefit to the partner countries.

This is reflected quite clearly in the amount of funds available for each region.

74% of the available funds are dedicated to the following 4 regions:

• Sub-Saharan Africa (Region 9): 26%
• Western Balkans (Region 1): 19%
• South-Mediterranean (Region 3): 17%
• Neighbourhood East (Region 2): 12%

Many of the remaining 8 regions that share the last 26% of the funds are very popular, making it unlikely to receive funding for countries in these regions.

Asia (region 5) as example:

Budget: 349,155 €

Applied for: 1,318,764 € (almost four times the budget)

Granted: 349,155

So please carefully select the countries you apply for

In the ICM Handbook for Participating Organisations (p. 6) you can see the regions and the countries that are part of each region.

To optimize your chances for obtaining funding, you need to keep the following in mind:

• Be strategic with your application and only apply for a few well-chosen partner countries.
• Expect low or now funding for projects in the 8 regions allocated the smaller budget portions.
• Please also note that the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science is obligated to distribute funds according to geographical balance which influences the distribution of funding.
• The International Office recommends that you only establish KA171 partnerships with partners you know well.
• If you want to use KA171 to start an exchange cooperation with a new partner, it's better to start out with staff mobilities to establish further knowledge and trust between our institutions.

National budget for call 2024 KA171

• National Budget

Timeline for the KA171 2025 application

• 13 September 2024 : Q&A session for AAU staff who are interested in KA171 and who haven't yet participated in the Key Action.
• Until 23 October 2024:
  • Consider if any of your ongoing activities with non-EU countries would be suitable for and benefit from travel and individual support funds from this project.
  • Obtain formal, written approval from your manager (could be Head of Department, Head of Studies, Head of Section depending on who is accountable for how you spend your workhours)
  • Start talking to your contact persons to agree if and what you will apply for (mobility for staff, students, or both).
• 24 October 2024: Deadline let the International Office know that you wish to be part of the 2025 application to KA171. Send us an email at internationaloffice@aau.dk and remember to include
  • Information on the countries and institutions you will be applying for.
  • Approval from your relevant manager as described above. Please note that without their explicit approval the International Office will unfortunately not be able to include your contribution to the AAU application (mandatory approval form available upon request from internationaloffice@aau.dk).
  • Inhouse pre-evaluation form (available upon request to internationaloffice@aau.dk)
• 1 November 2024: Those who expressed their interest in taking part in the application will
  • Receive the application questions.
  • Receive information on whether they need to co-write their application with someone else.
  • Receive an invitation for the session "Moving on with your KA171 application".
• 8 November 2024: International Office hosted the "Moving on with your KA171 application" session.
• 8 November 2024 - 30 January 2025: Ask questions and send text for review with the International Office as needed. We strongly recommend that you write your first draft before the seasonal holiday in December.
• Mid November to mid December 2024: International Office participates in Erasmus+ information meeting held by Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science
• Early to mid December 2024: Receive email with confirmation and if applicable any minor adjustments for the 2025 call.
• 30 January 2025: Deadline for sending your project descriptions to International Office at internationaloffice@aau.dk 
• 30 January to 16 February 2025: The International Office clarifies any uncertainties in project descriptions, mobility types, and numbers with you and enters the data in the official application form.
• ? February 2025: Last chance for the International Office to apply on behalf of AAU.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

If your part of the application for funding for Erasmus outside Europe receives funding, you will be responsible for a number of processes. These include but are not limited to:

• Facilitating the signature of the Inter-Institutional Agreement with the Higher Educational Institutions in the partner countries you received funding for.
  • The International Office will fill out the templates for you but you need to help secure some information and the signature from the relevant person at the partner intistutions.
  • Obtaining signatures for the Inter-Institutional Agreement can take a long time. So we encourage you to start talks on the agreement immediately after the application has been submitted (who at the partner institution should sign it, how long does this process usually take, etc.).
  • However, please only sign the agreement if you receive information that your project has been funded.
• Facilitating the signature of the AAU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC)
  • When collaborating with most (but not all) non-EU countries, AAU use the Standard Contractual Clauses to meet our GDPR obligations.
  • In cooperation with the Grants and Contracts Department, the International Office will prepare the templates.
  • It is however the responsibility of the departmental project coordinator to obtain the signatures from the partners.
• (Facilitating) signature of Learning Agreement for incoming students and interns.
   
• (Facilitating) signature of Mobility Agreements and Certificate of Attendance for incoming staff
   
• Academic guidance and nomination of outgoing interns (in cooperation with the Study Board)
   
• Academic guidance and nomination of outgoing students (in cooperation with the Study Board)
   
• Provide data for interim and final reports.