Erasmus+

Capacity Building in
Higher Education
Action

THE FINAL REPORT

Recommendations

Carla GIULIETTI, Franco BURGIO

Brussels, 11 October 2022
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CONTENT
1. REPORTING
2. NARRATIVE PART OF THE REPORT
3. VISUAL IDENTITY
4. PENALTIES
5. RESULTS PLATFORM
6. FINANCIAL REPORTING

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1. REPORTING

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 1.1

Project Reporting

 The project is a common achievement of ALL project

partners

 The coordinator sends the draft final report to the other

beneficiaries for comments and agreement

 The coordinating institution submits the final version to the

Agency (signed by its legal representative)

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 1.2
Reporting forms

Reporting forms and explanations are provided by the

Agency on the Beneficiary Space

Projects 2018
https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu/grants/2014-
2020/erasmus/capacity-building-field-higher-education-2018_en
Projects 2019
https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu/grants/2014-
2020/erasmus/capacity-building-field-higher-education-2019_en

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2. NARRATIVE PART

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 2.1
Docs in the beneficiary space

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 2.2
General Recommendations on Reporting

We assess what has been implemented based on

what and how you write the Final Report!

 Be clear and focused on each answer in each section

 All activities and project results should be quantified and
supported by evidence
 No hyperlinks in the e-report, BUT in the «Table of
achieved results»
 Write in a clear and structured way and do not copy/
paste from the application

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 2.3
 Update the Project summary: from future tense of the
application, now converted to past tense with what has
been done/achieved
 Avoid redundancy! Do not repeat the same information
under different sections
 Provide EACEA with access to intranet/any platform
used to share documents
 All project results should be available in (i) the project
website and (ii) the E+ Project Results Platform and
accessible from all Partner Country Universities’
institutional websites
 The main achievements must be listed per country and
per institution

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 2.4
Curriculum Development 1/3

 Explain clearly if a new Study Programme or a

revised/updated Study Programme was implemented,
specifying differences in the various beneficiary HEIs.

 Revised Study Programme: insertion of new courses

and/or updated courses (% of changes compared to the
one previously existing)

 Avoid ambiguity when you use the word ‘Course’: Study

Programme or subject ?

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 2.5
Curriculum Development 2/3
 Detailed information for each university:
 Study Programme(s) where new/revised courses have been
integrated,
 nr of courses, including title, ECTS (or other applicable system),
compulsory/optional, learning outcomes,
 nr of enrolled students and link to the university website where
the Study Programme funded by the CBHE grant is visible.

 Clarify Accreditation / Authorisation needed

 Necessary or not before starting teaching the new Study
Programme(s), differences between beneficiary countries
 Delivered by whom

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 2.6
Curriculum Development 3/3

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 2.7
Governance Reform

 NATURE of the reform

• What has been achieved / delivered?
• Novelties and changes introduced by the reforms

 BENEFICIARIES
• Which HEI; Target groups; quantification

 INSTITUTIONALISATION
• Explain how and to what extent the reforms are
embedded in by the beneficiary institutions and
sustained overtime

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 2.8
Strenghthening links with Business sector
and society at large
 NATURE of the results
• What has been achieved / delivered?

 BENEFICIARIES
• Which sector of the society is directly concerned?
• Which stakeholders were involved and how?
• How many end-beneficiaries outside the consortium?

• List the Agreements concluded with companies or

Agencies

 INSTITUTIONALISATION
• Project results are embedded in and supported by the
beneficiary institutions? 14
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 2.9
Structural Projects

 NATURE of the results

• Describe the political/structural reforms
• Status of these results in the national context
 BENEFICIARIES
• Collaboration with the national authorities
• Main beneficiaries - quantification
 INSTITUTIONALISATION
• How the results will continue to be implemented and
monitored by the HEIs and national authorities

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 2.10
Common aspects 1/2
 QUALITY ASSURANCE
Explain internal and external mechanisms
Clarify how the recruitment of external expert(s) is organised
 EQUIPMENT
No conflict of interest and transparency in purchases/tenders/
subcontracts.
Demonstrate there was no splitting of the purchase to
avoid a tender
PROJECTS 2018 PROJECTS 2019
To be eligible, equipment To be eligible, equipment
has to be purchased 4 has to be purchased 12
months before the end of months before the end of
the project the project
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 2.11
Common aspects 2/2

 IMPACT
Provide figures of the indicators at individual, institutional
and national level

 SUSTAINABILITY
Practical measures taken
No good intentions and hypothetical perspectives, but precise
facts and proofs demonstrating that sustainability is ensured

 CHALLENGES & RISKS

Outline the challenges faced in the implementation and the
countermeasures adopted

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3. VISUAL IDENTITY

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 3.1

European Union emblem

 All beneficiaries have to indicate (e.g. on publications) that
they have received an EU funding and display the European
Union emblem.

 Specific instructions are provided here:

https://wayback.archive-
it.org/12090/20210122031341mp_/https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/ab
out-eacea/visual-identity-and-logos-eacea/erasmus-visual-identity-
and-logos_en

 In case of non-compliance a financial penalty of 20% of

the grant awarded will be applied (Art. I.18.3)

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4. PENALTIES

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 4.1
Penalties for poor implementation

 CBHE action focuses on the obtained results and their

quality

 In case of weak results/implementation the final grant

will be reduced (Art. I.10.6 of the Grant Agreement)

 The reduction depends on the level of weaknesses, based

on the score attributed to the project after the assessment:
 25% if the project scores between 40 and 49
 35% if the project scores between 30 and 39
 55% if the project scores between 20 and 29
 75% if the project scores below 20

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5. PROJECT RESULTS PLATFORM

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 5.1
What are the obligations concerning the
visibility of results?

 The use of the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform is a

contractual obligation
Projects 2018: Art I.10.8 on Dissemination and Exploitation
Projects 2019: Art I.16 of project Results

 It is an integral part of the Final Reporting exercise: the

payment file is suspended until the ‘results’ are uploaded in
the platform

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 5.2
What we mean by “results”

 Tangible outputs of project activities

 Concrete products or services that have been produced by
the project activities. Examples:
• A new curriculum, new/revised courses, new textbooks
• Digital modules
• A training manual
• A new database, a new software
• A new career centre
• A new placement scheme for students’ internships

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 5.3
What is NOT considered a “result”?

The following items are not considered as results of CBHE

projects:

 Project activities (minutes, photos, satisfaction surveys)

 Internal project working documents (Quality Assurance

Plan, Dissemination and Exploitation Plan, Sustainability
Plan)
 Promotion material (leaflets, newsletters, press release,
gadgets with project logo)

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 5.4
How to access the
Erasmus+ Project Results Platform?

 From the public front page :

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/

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 5.5
What happens after uploading of results?

 The EACEA Project Officer reviews the results and evaluates

them

 They are rejected by the Agency if:

(i) incomplete, missing results;
(ii) too many irrelevant documents uploaded.
EACEA PO sends back and requests a new upload by the
coordinator

 If approved, the results appear to the outside world on the

Project Results Platform (in your project page)

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6. FINAL FINANCIAL REPORTING

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 6.1

Final Financial Statement

 Mandatory document to be submitted with the final report,

to be signed by legal representative of the coordinating
institution

 It must be submitted by the project coordinator, but all

beneficiaries listed in Annex IV of the Grant Agreement are
responsible for the information and data declared

 Information included must be correct, clear, complete and

detailed enough (clear description of activities performed
by staff members, details of subcontracted activities etc.)

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 6.2
Audit certificate

 With the Final Report, the Audit certificate is part of the

package to be submitted

 Final Report rejected if Audit certificate missing

 The mandatory template to be used is available on the

CBHE website (beneficiary space)

 Annexed to the certificate the letter of engagement of

the auditors containing detailed EACEA instructions must
also be submitted

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 6.3
Costs and activities
 All costs declared in the Financial Statement must be
incurred (and related activities must be necessary for the
project) during the project contractual period
ONLY EXCEPTIONS: 1. reasonable staff costs for the
preparation of the final report 2. audit certificate)

 Costs must be incurred and declared only by

beneficiaries listed in Annex IV of the Grant Agreement

 Costs should be verifiable and recorded in the accounting

records (Art. II.19 of Grant Agreement) of each
beneficiary

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 6.4
Foundations
(or other autonomous legal entities)

Costs of Foundations or other autonomous legal entities, if not

listed in Annex IV of the Grant Agreement, cannot be allowed
and become ineligible for reimbursement

This applies to all categories of costs (staff, travels, costs of

stay, equipment and subcontracting)

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 6.5

Reporting table for unit costs - Covid-19

Possible reimbursement of
expenses related to project
activities that could not take
place due to the COVID-19
pandemic and that have
not been refunded,
or only partially refunded,
by providers (air companies
or assurance)

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 6.6
Eligible costs

 Check that all cost items claimed comply with eligibility

rules of the Grant Agreement and the Erasmus+ Programme
Guide
 Examples of ineligible costs: mobile phones, furniture,
vehicles, alarm and anti-theft systems, costs for premises
(rent, repairs, maintenance, heating), exchange losses,
excessive or reckless expenditure

 Example of costs that have to be

covered by self-financing:
overhead costs, bank charges

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 6.7

Staff costs

 Staff costs can only be claimed for individuals employed by a

beneficiary organisation mentioned in the Grant Agreement

 The staff category applied is linked to the tasks performed and

not to the function of the staff member

 The number of full working days declared per staff member

(for one or several funded projects) cannot exceed 20 days
per month or 240 days per year

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 6.9
Equipment

 Intended exclusively for the Partner Countries’ Higher

Education Institutions

 Necessary for the implementation of the CBHE project and

used during project implementation

 Should have been purchased as soon as possible after the

project start and recorded in the inventory

Equipment not complying with the Programme

Guide’s provision (i.e. purchased in the last
4 months (projects 2018) or 12 months (projects 2019)
will be declared ineligible

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 6.10
Other important rules

 Budget transfers between categories may not lead to an

increase of more than 10% of your contractual budget (e.g. if
in the Grant Agreement the budget for equipment is 180.000
€, only an increase up to 198.000 € is permitted)

 This applies as well for the grant breakdown among

partners, which cannot be drastically altered compared to
the approved application.
At application stage we reject unbalanced applications, where
the coordinator takes the majority of the grant, or where just
2 institutions get the majority of the amount.
No reason to accept it at final report stage.

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 6.11
Other important rules

 No conflict of interest and transparency in purchases with or

without open call for tenders

 Best value for money

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 6.12
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2018
Art. I.10.2
 For Equipment & Subcontracting only two monthly exchange
rates have to be applied for the whole duration of the project

 To be found in INFOREURO website:

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contract
s/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm

1. Monthly rate of the month when the first pre-financing was paid
by EACEA
2. Monthly rate of the month when the second pre-financing was
paid by EACEA

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 6.13
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019
Art. I.4.6
First step: Different practice for:

 Beneficiaries with general accounts in euros

 Beneficiaries with general accounts in a currency other than euro

General accounts not bank account !

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 6.14
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019
Art. I.4.6

Beneficiaries with general accounts in euros: convert

costs incurred in another currency into euros in
accordance with their usual accounting practices

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 6.15
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019
Art. I.4.6
 Beneficiaries with general accounts in a currency
other than euro: convert costs at the average of
the daily exchange rates of the corresponding
reporting period published in the C series of the
Official Journal of the European Union
http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref
/html/index.en.html

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 6.16
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019

Reporting period 1: From month 1 to month 18

Reporting period 2: From month 1 to last month of the project

This means that the exchange rate you used for the Progress
report was only a provisional one, the definitive one is the
average you calculate at final report, over the whole
implementation period

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 Exchange rate to be used 6.17

PROJECTS 2019
Art. I.4.6

You need to wait until the end of the eligible period, in order to
be able to calculate the average over the whole reporting period
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 6.18
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019

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 6.19
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019

The European Central Bank only gathers the daily exchange rate
of the 31 most used currencies around the world.

If, for a currency, no daily euro exchange rate is

published in the site of the ECB, conversion must be
made at the average of the monthly rates over the
corresponding reporting period established by the
Commission and published in:

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_
en.cfm 46
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 6.20
Exchange rate to be used
PROJECTS 2019

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Exchange rate to be used 6.21

PROJECTS 2019

Also for Inforeuro website you need to

wait for the end of project in order to
have the data of the last month available
and to calculate the average over the
whole reporting period

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 6.22

Supporting documents
 Each beneficiary must keep all original relevant supporting
documents with its records and must have a proper and
ordered archiving system

 When a sampling of supporting documents is requested

by the Agency, the coordinator has to provide copies
following a clear and coherent referencing

Documents have to be submitted to the Agency numbered and

divided per budget heading and per partner organisation

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 6.23

Supporting documents
Staff costs

 Timesheets, Joint Declarations, employment

contracts signed by persons legally authorised
(e.g. Head of Institution)

 Proofs of work performed (e.g. activity reports,

teaching materials)

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 6.24

Supporting documents
Travels and Costs of stay

 Individual travel reports

 Proofs of travels (e.g. boarding passes)

 Proofs of activities carried out (e.g. attendance lists)

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 6.25
Supporting documents
Equipment and Subcontracting

 Invoices / Subcontracts

 Proofs of payments (e.g. bank transfers)

 Tendering procedures and quotes, if value of

purchase higher than 25.000 EUR

 Documents on non-deductible VAT, if applicable

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 6.6
VAT (Value Added Tax)

 VAT can only be claimed if it cannot be recovered

 If VAT is claimed (Equipment and Subcontracting), an official

document from national tax authorities stating that the
institution concerned can not recover VAT is needed

 Alternative options:

• Declaration issued by tax authorities or refused claims for

reimbursement by tax authorities
• Declaration on honour from institution concerned accompanied
by an expert’s statement (e.g. certified auditor)

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 6.26
Payments

 All payments must be made via the banking system (no cash
payments!) and should be traceable

 Transfers between project beneficiaries have to be made to

institutional bank accounts of the beneficiary institutions
listed in Annex IV of the Grant Agreement

 Direct payments from the coordinating institution to staff

members of other instititions are not permitted

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 6.27
Ex-post Audits
 After the execution of the final payment, projects may be
audited by EACEA auditors for a period up to 5 years

 A part of EACEA audits are randomly selected, another part is

decided on the basis of the submitted sampling
 Auditors will perform audits on the premises of the project
coordinator or other beneficiaries

 Auditors will check in detail that all relevant supporting

documents (originals) are available, that all costs are recorded
in the accounting records of the beneficiaries and that payments
have been made correctly and on the basis of eligible costs

 In case of unjustified costs and payments a recovery

order is issued !
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 6.28
SUMMARY
Main recurrent mistakes to be avoided

 Missing supporting documents

 Missing or unclear proofs of employment relation
 Missing documents on tendering procedures
 Missing documents on non-deductible VAT (if applicable)
 Exchange rate wrongly applied
 Purchase of equipment in a late period of the project
 Travels outside countries of the partnership without prior
autorisation from the Agency
 Travels of students shorter than 2 weeks

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 6.29
Final Report Workflow 1/2
 Reception and registration of the complete Final Report by
the Agency

 Agency checks that results were upload in E+ Platform

 Request to the coordinator of supporting financial

documents (sampling) to be submitted within 2-3 weeks

 Request of additional operational/technical information, if

necessary

 Financial and content analysis, including checking the

project website and each partner’s institutional website

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 Final Report Workflow 2/2 6.30

 If supporting documents are not delivered by the deadline

given by the Agency, the final grant will be determined
according to the available documentation/information
leading to cuts of undocumented costs and activities

 The Agency sends the Pre-Information Letter containing

the evaluation to the coordinating institution
 Launching of the final payment or of the recovery order

Important:
The request for additional information interrupts the
processing time
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 59
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