Erasmus+ enables more Europeans to study, train, work and volunteer abroad in 2015: annual report

The European Commission on Thursday published new figures about European Union's (EU) Erasmus+ program, showing that the EU's education and training program saw more participants in 2015.

Erasmus+ Annual Report for 2015 showed that in 2015, Erasmus+ enabled 678,000 Europeans to study, train, work and volunteer abroad, more than ever before.

According to the report, the EU invested 2.1 billion euros (2.25 billion U.S. dollars) in over 19,600 projects involving 69,000 organizations in 2015 and the program is expected to meet its target of supporting 4 million people between 2014 and 2020.

In the same year, Erasmus+ enabled higher education institutions to send and receive more than 28,000 students and staff to and from countries beyond Europe, the report said.

Among them, France, Germany and Spain remained top three sending countries, while Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom received most of the Erasmus+ participants.

The publication of the report also marked the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus program.

In 2017, many events will be held across Europe to celebrate it.

The current Erasmus+ program, running from 2014 to 2020, has a budget of 14.7 billion euros (15.72 billion U.S. dollars) and will provide opportunities for over 4 million people to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad. Enditem