Two Key Actions with very different purposes — one moves people, the other connects organisations.
KA1 and KA2 sit within the same Erasmus+ programme but do fundamentally different things. KA1 — Learning Mobility of Individuals — funds people to go abroad: students on placement, staff job-shadowing, teachers training. KA2 — Cooperation among Organisations — funds partnerships between institutions to build something together, such as joint curricula, shared training materials, or strategic cooperation projects, usually without individual mobility as the primary activity.
Funds a defined number of students or staff to spend time abroad on a placement, job shadowing or training visit.
Funds joint projects between schools or organisations — curriculum development, shared resources, strategic partnerships — typically over one to three years.
If the goal is sending students abroad for a work placement, KA1 is the relevant Key Action — this is what funds the mobility itself. KA2 becomes relevant if a school wants to formally partner with institutions in other countries to develop something longer-term together, such as a shared training programme, independent of any individual mobility.
The two aren't mutually exclusive: a school might run KA1 mobilities every year while also being part of a KA2 partnership on curriculum development. For most schools starting out, though, KA1 is the more direct route to what they actually want — students gaining real workplace experience abroad.
A closer look at the Key Action most VET schools use.
Read more → Erasmus+How KA1 and KA2 both fit within the wider programme.
Read more → Erasmus+ KA1The specific mobility formats KA1 supports.
Read more →DNA Europe is a Lisbon-based host organisation for Erasmus+ KA1 VET mobility, coordinating placements, accommodation and documentation for partner schools.