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Translating European Sustainability - A case study of Erasmus+ and its impacts on grant recipient organisations

Cavaliere, Fabio LU (2025) STVM23 20251
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Erasmus+ is a European Union (EU) grant programme aimed at education, youth and sport. The programme funds projects for 5€ billion per year, impacting around 84 000 organisations. Erasmus+ is an example of how the EU implements sustainability policy through soft governance tools. Through an analysis of sustainability criteria in Erasmus+, this thesis explores how EU policy in grant programmes impacts funded organisations in Skåne. This was operationalised through a thematic analysis of: 1) the 2025 Erasmus+ guide, as a representation of the EU’s conceptualisations of sustainability, and 2) interviews with 9 Erasmus+ recipient organisations to understand the policy impact.
The findings show how participant organisations align conceptually... (More)
Erasmus+ is a European Union (EU) grant programme aimed at education, youth and sport. The programme funds projects for 5€ billion per year, impacting around 84 000 organisations. Erasmus+ is an example of how the EU implements sustainability policy through soft governance tools. Through an analysis of sustainability criteria in Erasmus+, this thesis explores how EU policy in grant programmes impacts funded organisations in Skåne. This was operationalised through a thematic analysis of: 1) the 2025 Erasmus+ guide, as a representation of the EU’s conceptualisations of sustainability, and 2) interviews with 9 Erasmus+ recipient organisations to understand the policy impact.
The findings show how participant organisations align conceptually with the EU’s policies as a result of the mandatory sustainability criteria. Erasmus+ conceptualises sustainability through environmental, social and economic themes. However, sustainability is mostly presented as the long-term viability of a project. Sustainability themes are transferred directly to participant organisations, who translate them into actionable project goals.
At the same time, organisations retain the flexibility to shape their projects’ goals and give more weight to their own understandings of sustainability during project implementation. Other than being a mechanism of policy implementation, Erasmus+ furthers a trend in Europeanisation and integration, creating a shared European working culture. Respondents highlighted an impact on their organisational structures, relations with partners and norm alignment. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Cavaliere, Fabio LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM23 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
European Union, Erasmus+, sustainability, soft governance, grants
language
English
id
9189033
date added to LUP
2025-08-08 11:38:01
date last changed
2025-08-08 11:38:01
@misc{9189033,
  abstract     = {{Erasmus+ is a European Union (EU) grant programme aimed at education, youth and sport. The programme funds projects for 5€ billion per year, impacting around 84 000 organisations. Erasmus+ is an example of how the EU implements sustainability policy through soft governance tools. Through an analysis of sustainability criteria in Erasmus+, this thesis explores how EU policy in grant programmes impacts funded organisations in Skåne. This was operationalised through a thematic analysis of: 1) the 2025 Erasmus+ guide, as a representation of the EU’s conceptualisations of sustainability, and 2) interviews with 9 Erasmus+ recipient organisations to understand the policy impact.
The findings show how participant organisations align conceptually with the EU’s policies as a result of the mandatory sustainability criteria. Erasmus+ conceptualises sustainability through environmental, social and economic themes. However, sustainability is mostly presented as the long-term viability of a project. Sustainability themes are transferred directly to participant organisations, who translate them into actionable project goals. 
At the same time, organisations retain the flexibility to shape their projects’ goals and give more weight to their own understandings of sustainability during project implementation. Other than being a mechanism of policy implementation, Erasmus+ furthers a trend in Europeanisation and integration, creating a shared European working culture. Respondents highlighted an impact on their organisational structures, relations with partners and norm alignment.}},
  author       = {{Cavaliere, Fabio}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Translating European Sustainability - A case study of Erasmus+ and its impacts on grant recipient organisations}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}