Consultation on the further development of the European Student Card Initiative

Results of the consultation to date

A survey was conducted between 9 March and 10 April 2026, targeting higher education staff, students and student representatives, as well as digital officers from national agencies, and was complemented by targeted workshops. Of the 22,725 responses submitted to the survey, 77.7% came from students and student representatives.

The results of the consultation so far show that the ESCI landscape continues to be characterised by fragmentation in systems, processes, governance and communication. For the transition to the next Erasmus+ programme, greater integration, stable and coherent structures, and the avoidance of duplicate structures are therefore required. Key priorities include better alignment of ESCI components, stronger governance and coordination mechanisms, and a clear multi-annual roadmap to ensure greater transparency and stronger planning predictability for higher education institutions and stakeholders.

Results of the online workshop:

Over 250 people took part in the workshop, mainly from international offices, IT departments, and national agencies and authorities. The results show that familiarity with Erasmus Without Paper is relatively high, while the European Student Card is less well known, and most participants were largely unfamiliar with the Erasmus+ app.

The feedback focused on the desire to consolidate and stabilise existing ESCI processes and components. Particular emphasis was placed on the need to reduce the administrative burden for higher education institutions and students, to improve interoperability between systems, and to align the European Student Card more closely with the validation of student status and access to student-related services. Technical improvements were especially cited as a key success factor for ESCI in the next Erasmus+ programme.

Harpa Sif Arnarsdóttir (Rannis), Dana Rocklin (Stockholm University) and Marco Comotti (ESN, IT Manager) attended as guest speakers to provide brief insights from a stakeholder perspective.

Next steps:

• 11 June 2026: ESCSI+ conference to present the consultation results. Participants will have the opportunity to share their views on the results during interactive sessions.
• Q4 2026: EACEA will provide information on the consultation results.
• Q4 2026: Publication and communication of a detailed future roadmap, including the involvement of relevant stakeholders via various channels such as events, training sessions and workshops. At the same time, the technical specifications will be finalised and the development of ESCI+ will begin.
• Q1/Q2 2027: Initial testing phase of ESCI+.
• Q3 2027: Implementation of user tests in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Q4 2027: Training sessions for users on ESCI+.
• Q1/Q2 2028: Full roll-out of ESCI+.
• Academic year 2028–2029: Student mobility will be fully supported by ESCI+

Background on ESCI:

ESCI is the European Commission’s flagship initiative to make the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) more inclusive, digital and interconnected. It is currently implemented in the higher education sector as follows: Networking of over 3,200 higher education institutions via the EWP network, more than 290,000 digitally concluded inter-institutional agreements and 540,000 learning agreements, 280,000 downloads of the Erasmus app, as well as 4.8 million European Student Cards issued  (of which 1.8 million are active).