DAADeuroletter Fokus Frankreich A wide range of tasks Over the course of the last 20 years, the agency’s workforce has increased intermittently but notice- ably, reflecting its growing field of activities as well as the expansion of various European education pro- grammes. Currently, it has 150 em- ployees at its offices in Bordeaux’s Gare St Jean quarter, with around 30 people working on higher education alone. Amongst other things, it runs the national support for the Elec- tronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE), leads the national team of VET (Vocational Education and Training) experts, coordinates the French activities of the Euro- pean agenda for adult education and training (AEFA), and fulfils the task of a National Europass Centre. And last but not least, it ensures, of course, «the promotion, implementa- tion, and management of the Eras- mus+ programme».2 time, France is also a leading coun- try for Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees, and French HEIs are very active in the European Universities alliances. Forty-seven universities, representing 15% of the European student population, are involved in 28 (of the 41) alliances. The only exceptions to this rule are cooperation partnerships and skills alliances. The agency is addressing this issue by focusing on research and development departments which do not seize the opportunities Erasmus offers quite as readily. «We highlight how the different Eras- mus+ actions complement each oth- er and organise events and webinars to inform professionals about these new opportunities, in synergy with Horizon Europe and other European programmes», explains Thierry. The publication of thematical collections of Erasmus+ project best practices is a complementary measure. A resounding success Erasmus+ is widely known and extremely popular in France, in the population generally but specifically in the higher education sector. Ac- cording to a survey representative of the French population aged 15 to 65 carried out in May 2017, almost nine in ten respondents (88%) knew the programme or at least had heard of it, and a relative majority considered it to be «the programme most asso- ciated with concrete progress made by the European Union».3 All French universities now organise Erasmus+ mobilities. Altogether 1,300 high- er education institutions (HEIs) are involved in the programme and hold a valid ECHE (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education) for the period 2021-2027. Interest is not limited to a specif- ic key action or activity covered by Erasmus+, says the agency’s dep- uty director Sébastian Thierry, and it has grown over the course of the last programme generation. «The demand for European mobility in higher education increased by more than one third between 2014 and 2020, for example. Internships ac- tually doubled during this period», adds Thierry. For the last couple of years, France has sent more students abroad with Erasmus+ than any oth- er country – for example, there were 48,722 outbound mobilities under Call 2018 (30,505 for studies and 18,267 for traineeships). At the same 2 Lʼagence Erasmus+ France/Éducation Formation, Our role, https://agence.erasmusplus.fr/en/ agence-erasmus/our-role/ [30.09.2021]. 3 BVA Group, Etude de notoriété et d’image du programme Erasmus+ en France, pp. 3, 6, 15 and 23 (quote), available online at https://t1p.de/bx6z [30.09.2021]. 46