Academy schools and free schools can apply for Erasmus+ funding from November 2026. The question comes up regularly and the answer is straightforward: operating outside local authority control makes no difference to eligibility. If your school is registered and delivering statutory education, you qualify. This guide covers everything academy and free school leaders need to know ahead of the 2027 application window.

This article is part of IBD’s series on who can apply for Erasmus+ funding in the UK. The full guide covering all institution types is the place to start if you are new to the programme. This article covers academy schools and free schools specifically.

Can academy schools and free schools apply for Erasmus+?

Yes. Academy schools and free schools in England are fully eligible for Erasmus+ KA1 funding. The programme’s eligibility criteria apply to any registered school operating within the UK education system, regardless of governance model. Whether your school is a converter academy, a sponsored academy, a free school, a studio school or a university technical college, none of those distinctions affect your right to apply. What matters is that your school is a recognised educational institution delivering statutory education to pupils.

The UK rejoins Erasmus+ from January 2027 after a six-year absence following Brexit. Applications are expected to open in November 2026 through the British Council, which has been confirmed as the UK National Agency. For academy schools and free schools that have not run an international mobility project before, the 2027 call is a genuine opportunity to build something that benefits both students and staff.

What Erasmus+ KA1 offers academy and free schools

Erasmus+ KA1 is the Key Action that funds mobility: individuals and groups going abroad for structured educational activity. For schools, the relevant activity types are the following.

Study visits and group mobility

A study visit takes a group of students abroad for a structured programme combining school visits, cultural activities and educational content. Groups travel together with their teachers and are supported by a local coordinator throughout. Projects can run from a few days to several weeks, and the programme is built around defined learning objectives that connect to what students are working on in school.

For academy schools with specific curriculum priorities, a well-designed study visit puts students in direct contact with ideas and environments that a classroom cannot replicate. A school with a strong arts and creative curriculum might visit partner institutions in Italy or Spain. A school focused on science and technology might visit technical institutions in Germany or Finland. The destination and programme are chosen to serve the school’s objectives, not the other way around.

Work placements for older students

Students in sixth form or on vocational pathways at academy schools and free schools can take part in funded work placements abroad. They spend two to six weeks working inside a real business in their chosen sector, gaining professional experience and language immersion simultaneously. IBD has placed students across more than 30 sectors, from hospitality and business to engineering, healthcare and media, across destinations in the UK, Ireland and Spain.

Job shadowing for teachers and staff

Job shadowing under Erasmus+ KA1 funds teachers, curriculum leads and senior staff to spend time at a partner school abroad, observing lessons, attending professional development sessions and building relationships with European counterparts. For academy schools investing in staff development, a funded international observation visit is a different level of CPD from anything available domestically. Staff return with practical ideas, a broadened professional perspective and often a partnership that benefits future student projects.

How multi-academy trusts can use Erasmus+

Multi-academy trusts are in a particularly strong position when it comes to Erasmus+ applications. A MAT can apply as a single organisation on behalf of multiple schools within the trust, combining participants from several academies into one project. This has two practical advantages.

First, a larger group attracts a larger grant while the administrative burden of a single application is shared across the trust rather than falling on one school. Second, a MAT with schools serving different communities can design a mobility project that draws students from across its network, broadening the reach of the programme without multiplying the workload.

Trusts that already have an internationalisation strategy in place are well positioned to integrate Erasmus+ into it. Those that don’t have a strategy yet will find that applying for Erasmus+ is a useful forcing function for developing one.

What the funding covers for academy and free schools

Erasmus+ grants are awarded to your school or trust as the applicant institution. The grant is designed to cover the real cost of running a mobility project, with little or nothing left for the school or its families to pay.

For 2027 projects the main funding components are:

• Travel costs from roughly €20 up to €1,500 per participant depending on distance to the destination
• Individual support covering accommodation and meals, starting from €79 per participant per day
• Organisational support of up to €500 per participant for coordination, preparation and documentation costs
• Inclusion support for participants with fewer opportunities, which provides additional funding on top of the standard rates for students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with other barriers to participation

The inclusion support element is worth particular attention for academy schools and free schools serving communities with high levels of deprivation. Erasmus+ is explicitly designed to widen access to international mobility for young people who would not otherwise get it, and the inclusion supplement reflects that. Schools with a high proportion of pupil premium students are often eligible for significantly more funding than the standard rates suggest.

What makes a strong Erasmus+ application from an academy or free school

The application asks you to describe what your project will achieve, not just what it will do. Assessors want to see a clear connection between the mobility activity and the school’s educational priorities. A study visit to Valencia is not a strong application. A study visit to Valencia for Year 10 students on the school’s bilingual Spanish programme, with structured school visits and language workshops designed to consolidate classroom learning in an immersive environment, is.

Academy schools with a specialism, whether in arts, sport, technology, languages or another area, have a natural advantage here. The specialism provides the rationale. The Erasmus+ project becomes the international dimension of something the school already does well, which is exactly what strong applications look like.

Free schools, many of which were founded around a specific educational philosophy or community need, are similarly well placed to write compelling applications provided they connect the project clearly to the school’s founding purpose.

IBD Partnership Group has been guiding schools through the Erasmus+ funding process since 2005, working with institutions across the UK to build projects that reflect what each school genuinely wants to achieve. We have supported more than 60,000 participants across 25 countries and operate hosting destinations in Portsmouth, London, Brighton, Southampton, Cork, Limerick and Valencia.

The difference between Erasmus+ and the Turing Scheme for academy schools

Many academy schools and free schools have run Turing Scheme projects since 2021. The Turing Scheme funds outbound mobility only: UK students and staff going abroad. Erasmus+ funds both directions. From January 2027, your school can send students and staff abroad on Erasmus+ funding and also host European students and teachers at your school, with the visiting institution accessing funding on their side to cover the trip.

For schools that have built relationships with European partner schools through Turing, Erasmus+ makes those relationships genuinely bilateral. The Spanish school your students visited last year can now send their students to you. That is a different kind of international partnership from anything the Turing Scheme makes possible, and for schools serious about internationalisation it is the more sustainable long-term model.

Both programmes are expected to run in parallel from 2027. Schools can apply to both simultaneously. Turing remains the better option for destinations outside the Erasmus+ programme country list.

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If your academy school, free school or multi-academy trust is considering its first Erasmus+ project for 2027, or if you want to understand what a study visit, work placement or staff mobility would look like for your school, get in touch with the IBD team. We have been working with UK schools on funded international mobility since 2005 and we’re happy to talk through what is realistic before any commitment is made. Contact us here.