The first course catalogue was launched under the Comenius programme, the predecessor of the Erasmus+ programme. At the time, the offer was small enough to be reviewed systematically and to guarantee the quality of the courses. Since then, the funding of Key Action 1, and commercial attractiveness, has constantly increased.

With the transition to Erasmus+ in 2014, the proactive review was discontinued. Knowing that Erasmus+-beneficiaries rely on quality courses, various attempts were made to ensure the quality guarantees for courses published on our platforms. Initially with written user reviews, then with ratings from participant reports and most recently with course quality standards. Each of these attempts has experienced its own challenges in implementation and in enforcement, due to legal limitations under which the European Commission operates.

The current situation is that the catalogue is larger than ever, but it is more difficult than ever to identify high quality opportunities. At the same time, the catalogue’s public nature makes the platform attractive to cyberattacks.

With the new Erasmus+ programme approaching, it is therefore necessary to seriously explore alternatives to the status quo. This temporary measure will help us evaluate how beneficiaries find quality courses in this changed environment. During this period, the team will also reflect on the different ways to (better) support high-quality staff mobility.