ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE — Key Facts: Centres of Vocational Excellence

Call ID

ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE

F&T Portal call code

Action

Erasmus+ KA2 CoVE

Partnerships for Excellence

Funding model

Lump sum (80% rate)

ERASMUS-AG-LS · single lump sum per project

Total budget

€68,000,000

Call total · ~17–22 projects (2021 funded 13 on €44M; avg historic grant ~€3.0–3.7M)

Max grant per project

€4,000,000

Verbatim from Programme Guide

Project duration

48 months

Extensions possible if duly justified

Deadline

3 Sep 2026 · 17:00

Brussels time · single-stage submission

Page limit (Part B)

120 pages

Application Form ERASMUS BB and LS Type II · Arial 9pt min · A4 · margins ≥15mm

Evaluation thresholds

75 / 100 overall

+ per-criterion: 18/35 · 13/25 · 11/20 · 11/20

Award criteria (max points)

35 · 25 · 20 · 20

Relevance · Design · Partnership · Impact

Partnership minimum

8 partners · 4 countries

EU MS or third country associated to the Programme

Who can apply

VET providers · enterprises · authorities

Public or private legal entities active in VET or world of work

Verify on the official Portal: ec.europa.eu › topic-details › ERASMUS-EDU-2026-PEX-COVE
Source: Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026 (published 12 Nov 2025), section "Centres of Vocational Excellence" · CoVE call topic published on F&T Portal 27 Nov 2025 · submission opened 4 Dec 2025
EACEA contact: eacea-eplus-vet@ec.europa.eu

Full process timeline

4 Dec 2025

Submission opened

20 Aug 2026

Queries deadline

3 Sep 2026

Submission deadline

Sep 26 – Mar 27

Evaluation

Mar 2027

Results

Jun 2027

GA signature

⚠ Belarus excluded. Organisations established in Belarus (Region 2) are not eligible to participate in this action — neither as beneficiary, affiliated entity, nor associated partner.

⚠ Mandatory partner mix in EACH of the 4+ countries. Every EU Member State (or third country associated to the Programme) represented in the consortium must include BOTH (a) at least one enterprise / industry / employer / sector representative organisation, AND (b) at least one VET provider (secondary and/or tertiary level). Affiliated entities and associated partners do not count toward this minimum. Missing this in even one country = inadmissible.

Seal of Excellence — possible soft landing, not a guarantee. Proposals scoring ≥75 but unfunded due to budget exhaustion may be awarded a Seal of Excellence certificate. The Seal lets national/regional funders or ERDF / ESF+ Managing Authorities fund your proposal without re-evaluating it — the Commission's experts have already validated quality. The Programme Guide is explicit: the Seal does not guarantee alternative funding; decisions are entirely discretionary. Track record is strong across Horizon Europe / EIC / MSCA / ERC, but for Erasmus+ KA2 specifically, dedicated national schemes are still rare — verify with your National Agency / Managing Authority before counting on it. Practical tip: you must opt in to data-sharing in the application form for any national or regional funder to even hear about your Seal-holder proposal.

120-page limit (Part B). The current Application Form (ERASMUS BB and LS Type II, V2.0) sets 120 pages for all non-low-value Erasmus+ grants — including CoVE (max €4M qualifies as a high-value grant). Excess pages are silently made invisible to evaluators (no admissibility warning), so the limit cannot be gamed. Annexes (CVs, list of previous projects, detailed budget table) do not count toward the 120pp. Some legacy consultant guidance still cites 70pp — that is stale; verify against the current template in the Submission System.

Single lump sum per project, capped at €4M. This is the Erasmus+ Lump Sum action grant model. The granting authority fixes the lump sum amount based on the estimated project budget, the evaluation result, and a reference funding rate of 80%. Detailed budget table required (work-package breakdown). FSTP / sub-grants / prizes are NOT allowed. Costs for financial audits NOT eligible. Volunteer and SME-owner unit costs ARE allowed.

Eligible activities — 3 mandatory clusters

The applicant must address all three clusters and select at least the minimum number of activities per cluster from the list of 20 in the Programme Guide. Each selected activity needs concrete actions and deliverables described in the application.

Cluster 1 of 3

Teaching and learning

Minimum 4 activities

Activities 1–9 of the Programme Guide.

Includes: labour-market relevant skills (STEM, green/digital), lifelong learning & inclusion, curricula and qualifications (incl. micro-credentials), innovative learner-centred materials (Learning factories, makerspaces, MOOC, VR/AR/AI), professional development of teachers and trainers, quality assurance (EQAVET / ISO 21001 / EFQM), feedback loops & graduate tracking, guidance services, validation of prior learning.

Cluster 2 of 3

Cooperation and partnerships

Minimum 3 activities

Activities 10–15 of the Programme Guide.

Includes: business-education partnerships (apprenticeships, Pact for Skills), applied research and innovation (with SMEs, innovation hubs), VET internationalisation and mobility abroad, fostering entrepreneurial skills, raising VET attractiveness (campaigns, International VET Campus), skills competitions (WorldSkills, EuroSkills — note: prizes are NOT eligible costs).

Cluster 3 of 3

Governance and funding

Minimum 2 activities

Activities 16–20 of the Programme Guide.

Includes: autonomy and effective VET governance, strategic approach to skills development, co-creating skills ecosystems (Community of Practice of CoVEs), sustainable financial models, full use of national and EU financial instruments.

Partnership composition rules in detail

At least 8 applicants (beneficiaries) from a minimum of 4 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.
Each of the 4+ MS/associated countries must include at least one enterprise / industry / employer / sector representative organisation AND at least one VET provider (secondary and/or tertiary level).
The coordinator must be from an EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme.
Affiliated entities and associated partners do NOT count toward the consortium minimum.
Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme in Regions 1–3 can participate as beneficiary or affiliated entity (NOT as coordinator), if their participation brings essential added value.
Organisations from other third countries can participate only as associated partners (no funding).
Belarus excluded.

Do you fit this call?

3-step self-check. Returns an eligibility verdict and a recommended cluster to lead, based on the 2026 Programme Guide rules above.

Next step

Before you start a 120-page CoVE proposal, check whether the idea can actually win.

The facts above show the rules. The CoVE Decision Brief shows the strategic interpretation: what the Commission is buying, where proposals fail, how scoring works, what kind of consortium is credible, and how to position against previous funded CoVE projects.

Request the CoVE Decision Brief →

Inside the CoVE Decision Brief

Section	What you get	Why it matters
1. Call Decoder	What CoVE is really buying, policy hooks, EQF traps.	Avoids writing a generic VET project under a CoVE label.
2. Compliance Matrix	Eligibility, page limit, partner mix, funding rules.	Prevents avoidable failure before drafting.
3. Scoring Playbook	Criteria, gates, scoring signals.	Shows where evaluators punish weak logic.
4. Consortium Blueprint	2×N partner grid and competitive structure.	Helps build a consortium that can score, not just qualify.
5. Topic Positioning	Sector saturation and white-space logic.	Helps avoid recycled project ideas.
6. 90-Day Quick Start	First actions in sequence.	Turns interest into a work plan.
7. Prior CoVE Landscape	73 funded projects and synergy use.	Helps write specific complementarity arguments.

Sample insight from the brief

Synergy is not decorative.

In CoVE 2026, synergy with existing CoVE projects sits inside Relevance, the highest-weighted criterion. A strong proposal should name specific prior CoVEs, explain what they already covered, and show the new gap. Generic "we build on existing initiatives" language is weak.

Tier A . Read and decide

CoVE Decision Brief

For teams that need to understand the call, avoid obvious traps, and decide whether to pursue, lead, join, or avoid it.

€59

Inside the Decision Brief

01 . Strategic reading of the call: What CoVE is actually buying, where weak proposals fail, and which scoring signals matter most.
02 . Compliance and positioning logic: Eligibility traps, consortium rules, activity requirements, and how to position against previous funded CoVE projects.

Request the CoVE Decision Brief

Recommended

Tier B . Read, decide, and act

CoVE Decision Pack: Brief + 2 GPTs

Everything in Tier A, plus access to two dedicated GPT assistants: Grant Fit GPT for evaluating your existing idea, organisation, or consortium against CoVE rules, and Grant Accelerator GPT for turning a promising direction into structured CoVE project concepts.

€149

Inside the Decision Pack

01 . Grant Fit GPT: Evaluates an organisation, idea, or consortium against CoVE rules and returns GO / MAYBE / NO-GO with risks, likely role, readiness level, and missing evidence.
02 . Grant Accelerator GPT: Turns a promising direction into structured CoVE project concepts with objectives, activities, expected results, partner roles, scoring logic, and known gaps.

Request the Decision Pack

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Disclaimer. This page is produced using advanced AI analysis and reviewed by an experienced EU grant engineer. While we take care to ensure accuracy, the information may contain errors or become outdated. It is the applicant's sole responsibility to verify all facts against the official EU Funding & Tenders Portal before making any decisions. Global Disruption accepts no liability for errors, omissions, or decisions made based on this content. No refunds are offered for Key Facts pages or Decision Briefs.