EU adopts €14bn educational programme

The EU Council of Ministers Tuesday adopted the regulation establishing "ERASMUS PLUS," the EU's Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for the period 2014-20. The new programme has a total budget of about 14.7 billion euro (USD 19 billion), an increase of 40 percent compared to the previous budget. Each year, more than 230,000 students benefit from the Erasmus programme and currently some four percent of all students in participating countries in Europe receive a grant to go abroad during their studies. Close to three million students have participated in the programme since it started in 1987