The short answer
Erasmus+ is the European Union’s programme for education, training, youth and sport. It pays for people to learn something outside their own country, for a week or a month or a year. Serbia is a full member of it, so anyone living here can take part. You do not apply to the EU. You apply to an organisation that has a funded project, and they take you along.
That is the whole thing in four sentences. The rest of this page is the detail people usually get wrong.
What most people think Erasmus+ is
Ask around Niš and you will hear the same answer: it is when a student spends a semester in Spain.
That version exists. It is called student mobility, it runs through universities, and it is maybe a fifth of what the programme does. If you are not enrolled at a faculty, or you finished your studies six years ago, or you never went, people will tell you the door is closed.
It isn’t. We have sent people abroad on Erasmus+ projects who were 17, who were 44, who were unemployed, who had never left the country before. None of them were students.
What Erasmus+ actually covers
The programme is split into formats. These are the ones that matter for a person reading this from Serbia:
- Youth exchanges — groups of young people aged 13 to 30 from several countries meet for 5 to 21 days and work on a theme together. No qualifications needed.
- Training courses — usually for youth workers, trainers, volunteers and people active in an organisation. Practical skills, from 2 days to 2 months.
- European Solidarity Corps — volunteering abroad from a couple of weeks up to twelve months, for people aged 18 to 30.
- Staff mobility for teachers and school workers — courses and job shadowing in another country, arranged through your school.
- Adult education mobility — for people working in adult learning, and for adult learners themselves. No upper age limit.
- DiscoverEU — travel passes for 18-year-olds, awarded through EU-wide rounds.
Different names, same logic underneath. An organisation writes a project, gets a grant, and the grant pays for people to travel and learn.
Where Serbia sits
Serbia is not a guest at this table. Since 2019 it has been a country associated to the Programme, which in the Commission’s own wording means it “can fully take part in all the Actions.” The other non-EU countries in that group are North Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Türkiye.
Practically, that means a Serbian organisation can apply for its own grant, host a project here, or lead a partnership. Not just tag along on someone else’s.
The programme is run in Serbia by Foundation Tempus, which acts as the national agency for education, training, youth and sport. They handle the applications, the deadlines and the reporting. Organisations like ours deal with them; participants almost never have to.
The chain, from Brussels to you
This is the part worth understanding, because it explains why the process feels the way it does.
The European Commission sets the budget and the rules. National agencies — Foundation Tempus here — distribute the money to organisations in their country. Organisations write projects, get approved or rejected, and then look for participants. You are at the end of that chain.
So when you see an open call on Instagram with a deadline in eleven days, that call is the last link. Somebody wrote that application eight months earlier and has been waiting on a decision since spring. The rush at the end is not disorganisation. It is what the calendar does to everyone.
Who can go
The honest version:
| Format | Age | Do you need to be a student? |
|---|---|---|
| Youth exchange | 13–30 | No |
| Training course | 18+, usually no upper limit | No |
| European Solidarity Corps | 18–30 (up to 35 for humanitarian aid) | No |
| Teacher / school staff mobility | No limit | You need to work at the school |
| Adult education | No limit | No |
Group leaders on youth exchanges have to be at least 18. That is the only hard age rule most people bump into.
What it costs you
Less than you think, and rarely nothing. The grant covers travel up to a fixed ceiling based on distance, and the hosting organisation covers your food and accommodation. Some organisations charge a participation fee on top, some don’t.
We wrote a whole page on this because it is the single most misunderstood part of the programme: Is Erasmus+ Free? What’s Covered and What You Pay Yourself.
What you actually get out of it
Certificates, yes. Youthpass at the end of a youth project, a course certificate from a training. Those help on a CV.
But the thing people tell us about two years later is never the certificate. It is that they found out they can hold a conversation in English for eight days straight. Or that they came home with a contact in Portugal who later invited them to something else. Or, in a few cases, that they came back and started organising things themselves.
How to get on your first project
- Follow organisations that send people from Serbia. Ours is @oev.ngo.
- Read the open call properly: dates, age range, theme, what the fee covers.
- Apply before the deadline, not on it. Selection often happens as applications arrive.
- Say yes to the boring-sounding theme. Waste management in Romania turns out to be nine people you now text every week.
The full walkthrough is here: How to Apply for Your First Youth Exchange, Step by Step.
Still not sure which format fits you?
Start with Youth Exchange, Training Course or ESC — What’s the Difference?. It is the question we get asked more than any other, and picking the wrong one wastes an application.
Open Educational Vibes is a youth organisation based in Niš, Serbia. We coordinate and host Erasmus+ projects and send participants abroad. Questions about anything on this page: office@oev.rs.
Sources: Erasmus+ eligible countries · European Youth Portal — Erasmus+ · Foundation Tempus
