New RAY Monitoring Findings
Effects and outcomes of the Erasmus+ Youth Programme & the European Solidarity Corps
Our newest RAY Monitoring findings are out! They are coming straight from our second survey round in this programme cycle, conducted between September 2025 and March 2026.
Our Key Findings publication presents selected insights from the analysis of the results with project participants and project teams involved in Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps.
And here are some teasers:
What is working well in the programmes?
The European youth programmes are intercultural learning at its best. The programmes are exceedingly good at strengthening intercultural understanding. Young people, youth workers, and project team members all share profoundly positive feedback. For example, 91% of survey respondents agree or agree strongly that they improved their ability to get along with people who have a different cultural background.
The European youth programmes are bringing young people closer to Europe. Studying, learning, training, participating, and engaging in an intercultural context – and practicing solidarity and citizenship through studying, learning, training, participating, engaging – is at the core of the European youth programmes and their aim to strengthen a common sense of belonging across Europe. The programmes remain very good at developing young people’s European identity and sense of belonging, as one respondent shared:
I very much appreciate these kinds of projects. They have changed my life on a large scale. I have found friends across Europe. It has influenced my decision what to study as my master degree and makes me identify with the EU much more. I am very grateful I got the chance to take part in this and hope it reaches many more young people across Europe and beyond!
The European youth programmes are catalysts for active European citizenship. The European youth programmes aim to support, through lifelong, intercultural learning, the development of young people as active citizens. Rooted in shared values, they seek to strengthen European identity through active, democratic citizenship, and a sense of belonging as active, democratic citizens. According to data, 90% of respondents agree or agree strongly that after the project, participants are better able to actively engage in civil society.
The European youth programmes are powerhouses for European youth work. The European youth programmes aim to support high-quality youth work. They seek to strengthen non-formal learning in the context of learning mobilities, participation and solidarity projects, and volunteering opportunities. They also strive to provide tools and systems for the training of youth workers. 75% of respondents agree or agree strongly that the project already had an impact on their network/organisation.
What are the challenges of the programmes?
The European youth programmes need new ideas and instruments for media literacy. Digital transformation, one of the four thematic priorities of the European youth programmes, continues to struggle. It is the priority with fewest applications, and fewest granted projects, reflecting an overall challenge of the youth field in this area. While a crucial competence, especially in our day and time, only a third of responding participants manage to develop it further: Only 37% of respondents think they can indentify misinformation more than before their project.
The European youth programmes need new approaches to safety of volunteers. The safety of volunteers has been a matter of attention for some time already. In the first survey round of this programme generation, conducted in 2023-2024, 19% of respondents involved in individual volunteering projects said they had, or observed, safety concerns during their project. This percentage has jumped to 24% in the second survey round, conducted in 2025-2026.
The European youth programmes need new tools for policy skills development. Policy development, cooperation, and dialogue are a key focus of the Erasmus+ programme. Being able to discuss political topics seriously is a relevant skill, and one of the areas of competence development with plenty of room for improvement. For example, 55% of participants of youth exchanges agree or agree strongly that they improved their ability to discuss political topics seriously through their project.
The European youth programmes need a budget that matches needs and potential. Project teams assess the adequacy of their project funding generally positive, with a slight improvement from 2023 to 2025. The real hurdle remains gaining access to the European youth programmes. The success rate of the youth chapter in Erasmus+ has dropped to 31%, which is abysmally low when compared to school education (48%), vocational education (59%), and higher education (82%). In no other sector is the relation between demand and potential of the field, and the budgetary possibilities of the programme, so unequal.
Want to dive deeper?
>> Read the full Key Findings here!
>> Follow our live stream from the RAY Triangular Summit on 22 October, when we hear more about the findings and discuss them further with our panellists. More information here!
>> First key findings were also teased in our latest Youth Research Dialogue episode, more information and a recording of the episode can be found here!