DAADeuroletter Fokus Slowenien The significance of Erasmus As «the only major programme providing financial support for in- ternational cooperation in higher education, and the main source for student mobilities, Erasmus+ is quite widely known and accepted in Slo- venia in general and the Slovenian higher education sector in particu- lar», states Božidar Grigić, head of the higher education unit at CME- PIUS. «Around five out of six Slove- nian higher education institutions hold an Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and participate in the programme». Because of this prominent role, Erasmus has a huge impact on the internationalisation strategies and activities of Slovenian higher edu- cation institutions (HEIs). They have repeatedly adapted their strategic documentations and structures to the programme’s acquirements. Moreover, as Alenka Flander, director of CMEPIUS since 2011, adds: «sever- al national strategic documents have been prepared based on its mecha- nisms and implications, such as the ‹Strategy for the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education 2016- 2020› and its related ‹Action plan›».³ The institutional framework According to its own statements, CMEPIUS has two main tasks. Firstly, it coordinates Erasmus+ in all areas of education – school, vocational, higher, and adult education –, training, and sport, that is to say, everything but the field of youth, which is run by a separate National Agency, Zavod MOVIT NA MLADI- NA. Secondly, it supports develop- ments in education and training, for instance the overall institutional development of the Slovenian higher education system and particularly its strategic internationalisation. In addition, the Centre also administers bi- and multilateral exchange pro- grammes such as CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies), which Slovenia co-founded in 1994, and hosts the Slovenian eTwinning National Sup- port Centre, amongst other things. A look at staff numbers illustrates the central role Erasmus+ plays in the daily work of CMEPIUS. Almost all the institution’s employees – currently 30 of 32 – are involved with the different actions support- ed by the programme in the fields of education, training, and sport. And of those, just over a quarter, roughly eight in terms of full-time equivalent positions, focus on higher education. The importance of mobility projects Of all the different actions that Erasmus+ has to offer, the mobili- ty projects attract most attention, considerably more than Strategic Partnerships, even though their numbers have risen in recent years. This is particularly true of mobilities to programme countries, with Spain topping the list of receiving coun- tries of students in 2019, followed by Germany and Portugal. However, a keen interest was also shown in in- ternational mobility projects to part- ner countries (International Credit Mobility), especially to the Western Balkans (Region 1), the Eastern Part- nership countries (Region 2), and post-industrialised countries (Region 13). Of the two groups benefitting from the mobility projects in the higher education sector – students on the one hand, staff on the other – the former, unsurprisingly, make up the larger group. In 2018/19, for instance, there were around 1,400 outgoing students (Student Mobility for Studies, SMS) and just over 700 outgoing trainees (Student Mobili- ty for Placement, SMP), while 1,045 persons went abroad with Erasmus+ either to teach at a partner uni- versity (Staff Mobility for Teaching Assignments, STA) or for further ed- ucation and training (Staff Mobility for Training, STT). ¥ See CMEPIUS, About us > Basic info, https://www.cmepius.si/english/#about [¤¾.¢¡.Ÿ¢Ÿ¤]. ]. An over view of the Centre’s activities can also be found in CMEPIUS, Exchanging knowledge, experience and ideas for the future, Ljubljana [Ÿ¢¤½], pp. ¤½, available online at https://t¤p.de/nf£c [¤¾.¢¡.Ÿ¢Ÿ¤]. ¬ See Strateg y for the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education, ed. Katarina Aškerc Veniger and Alenka Flander, Ljubljana Ÿ¢¤°, pp. Ÿ¬, available online at https://t¤p.de/¤bk£; and Action plan strateg y for the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education Ÿ¢¤°-Ÿ¢¤¾. Collected objectives, measures, indicators, responsibilities with a time plan, n/d, pp. ¤Ÿ, available online at https://t¤p.de/Ÿakv [¤¾.¢¡.Ÿ¢Ÿ¤]. ££