All classes participating in the eTwinning programme of Erasmus+, which is present in all EU Member States, can apply for the initiative. The national support services of eTwinning will select them on the basis of the quality of the project they have done under eTwinning for school year 2016-2017.

A first list of 5,000 beneficiaries will be established, as well as a reserve list of 2,000 potential additional beneficiaries.

The base entitlement is 350 EUR. It goes up to 530 EUR in three specific cases:

1. For beneficiaries who depart from or travel to Cyprus, Malta, Iceland or an outermost region (which include: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, La Réunion, Mayotte, Saint-Martin, Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands);
2. When domestic travel costs to reach the main train station, bus station or airport from which the beneficiary will cross the national border already exceed 100 EUR;
3. When the trip is a school trip to the twinned class.

On top of not exceeding the entitlement budget-wise, the trips have to meet two other criteria:

1. The weighted average of the CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometre based on the distance travelled with each mode, may not exceed 200. This excludes trips based on planes only.
2. The ratio between the time spent travelling and the time spent at destination must not exceed 1 to 3 for a trip of maximum three days and 1 to 4 for a trip longer than three days. This is to allow sufficient time to discover the destination and its people.

There will obviously be a trade-off between these two criteria. A plane may be faster but more polluting than a train. In case both criteria cannot be met at the same time, the beneficiary will have to choose another location, except in some derogation cases like for beneficiaries departing from an island.

We will review on a monthly basis which trips have been booked and for what value. If some of the beneficiaries have not used their full entitlement, we will then re-invest the underspending by awarding additional beneficiaries standing on the reserve list.

Not at all! The initiative is completely open. The contractor booking the trips can select all public transport: all modes, all operators, all lines. The choice will be made solely based on the destination the beneficiary wants to go to, his or her place of departure and of course the criteria explained above (budget, CO2, travel vs. time at destination).

But certain transport operators have been willing to make this initiative bigger by giving the beneficiaries special rebates or special promotional prices. That is why we are highlighting them, to thank them and inform that they are doing something extra to support the initiative.

Move2Learn, Learn2Move is especially for 2017, linked to the 30th Anniversary of Erasmus. We will carefully assess its results.