Jean Monnet

The Jean Monnet Actions of the Erasmus+ are named after Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (1888 – 1979), one of the founding fathers of the European Union and the first President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (the precursor to what we call the European Union today).

There are three types of Jean Monnet actions included in the Erasmus+ Programme. These are:

  • Jean Monnet Actions in the field of higher education – supporting teaching and research in the field of EU studies. This is done through three types of projects: Modules, Chairs, and Centres of Excellence. NextStepEU is a Jean Monnet Module.
  • Jean Monnet Actions in other fields of education and training – focused on promoting a better understanding of the European Union and its institutions at the primary and secondary education levels (ISCED 1-4).
  • Jean Monnet policy debate (higher education and other fields of education and training) – focused on creating networks that collect, share and discuss research findings, content of courses and research products in two thematic areas: internal (“Future of Europe”) and foreign policy (“Europe in the world”).

The Jean Monnet Actions in the field of higher education is the category of Erasmus+ Actions that has provided funding for the NextStepEU project. Our project, as well as the overall set of activities within which it fits, seek to achieve a subset of the following four objectives:

  • promote excellence in teaching and research in the field of European Union studies worldwide;
  • foster dialogue between the academic world and society, including local and state level policy-makers, civil servants, civil society actors, representatives of the different levels of education and of the media;
  • generate knowledge and insights in support of EU policy-making and strengthen the role of the EU within Europe and in a globalised world;
  • reach out to a wider public and spread knowledge about the EU to the wider society (beyond academia and specialised audiences) bringing the EU closer to the public.

For more information about Erasmus+ and Jean Monnet Actions, you can browse the Programme Guide at https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-programme-guide.