Jean Monnet: modules, chairs and centres of excellence

Jean Monnet is the strand people most often underrate. The amounts are modest next to the rest of the programme, but this is the only part of Erasmus+ where a single institution applies with no consortium, and preparation is measured in weeks rather than months.

For an institution with no EU project experience it is the shortest route to a first grant and a first experience of reporting to the EACEA.

Three formats

Module – a short teaching course on European integration: at least 40 teaching hours per academic year over three years, grant up to €35,000.

Chair – a professorship specialising in European studies: at least 90 teaching hours per year over three years, grant up to €60,000.

Centre of Excellence – a focal point of competence in the institution combining teaching, research and public activity. No teaching-hour requirement, three-year duration, grant up to €100,000.

Who may apply

Higher education institutions from programme countries and from third countries not associated to the Programme, Ukraine among them. The restrictions are geographic and specific: organisations from Belarus are not eligible for Modules and Chairs, and organisations from Belarus and the Russian Federation are not eligible for Centres of Excellence.

What the project is actually about

The mistake that costs points is submitting an ordinary international relations or economics course under a Jean Monnet label. The subject must be European integration itself: EU law and institutions, policies, the history of the project, the country's place in it.

The second requirement that is often ignored is reach beyond the classroom. Evaluators expect activity aimed at a wider audience than the students on the course: public lectures, materials for schools, work with civil servants or the media.