Erasmus+ 2021–2027 in Higher Education: Contributions to the 2030 Agenda and to the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, approved by all UN member states in 2015, includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are seen by Boeren (Int Rev Educ 65:277–294, 2019) as a program of actions not only for people but also for the planet and prosperity. These goals are essentially intended to help nations work together to build a cleaner world and a fairer global society while safeguarding the environment and are aligned with those advocated by the Erasmus+ program. Both the program and the SDGs have goals to be achieved and associated indicators that should be used as tools to achieve these goals that corroborate those outlined in the 2030 Agenda. This work aims to find out to which SDGs contribute most the Erasmus+ program. To this end, we used a qualitative analysis of the regulation that led to the creation of the Erasmus+ program for the period 2021–2027 and the 17 SDGs. It was concluded that the most relevant SDGs are 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, and 17 and that the Erasmus+ program seems to have a strong potential to drive and mobilize sustainable development in the world through the participation of people and the projects implemented and developed. It was also concluded that SDG4 contributes directly or indirectly to the other selected SDGs, but no SDG contributes to SDG4.