Making Europe a global magnet for talent - Attracting and retaining students, researchers and high-skilled workers from outside the EU

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Expected Outcome:
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Generate rigorous, policy-relevant evidence on the factors that may influence students, researchers, and high-skilled workers from non-EU countries to move to and remain in the EU.
• Provide policymakers and higher education/research institutions with guidance on which policies and programmes could be effective in attracting talented students, researchers and high-skilled workers from non-EU countries to the EU.
• Develop actionable advice to policymakers and higher education/research institutions about how to retain talented students, researchers and high-skilled workers from non-EU countries to ensure a long-term positive impact on the EU economy’s innovation and competitiveness.
• Provide evidence-based policy insights/options to improve the coherence of migration pathways for skilled talent across the EU. Support the development of more flexible and attractive mobility schemes, reducing administrative barriers, increasing accessibility and enhancing retention mechanisms to enhance the EU’s competitiveness in research, innovation, and cultural exchange. Scope:
The EU’s ability to compete on a global scale depends not only on retaining homegrown talent but also on actively drawing and retaining talent from outside Europe. The Union of Skills, adopted in March 2025, aims to make the EU and the European Research Area (ERA) a global magnet for talent, to attract and retain brilliant extra-EU tertiary students, top-level researchers and high-skilled workers. There is still limited research on what specific factors and their variability across Member States and Associated Countries (e.g. academic quality, career opportunities, cultural appeal, political context or funding availability) most influence the decision-making process for international students when choosing destinations. The same applies to the factors that can make a destination desirable for researchers and other high-skilled workers (e.g. quality of life, wages, professional opportunities, integration and family reunification measures, support to innovation ecosystem). More evidence is also needed about:

• How policies and programmes can be successful in retaining students, researchers and high-skilled workers from abroad into the EU (and into Horizon Europe Associated Countries) in the medium-to-long term. Projects should assess the functioning of Talent Partnerships.
• How to mobilise the professional potential of humanitarian migrants already in the EU in the context of global competition for talent. Proposals should apply rigorous quantitative methods for their analysis of the abovementioned factors, policies and programmes and could complement them with qualitative research methods and relevant research from SSH disciplines. Proposals should also address the gender and disability dimensions of attracting and retaining talent. As the pull factors may differ among categories of migrants, proposals can choose which group to focus on: students, researchers and/or high-skilled workers.
Cooperation with higher education institutions, research institutions, non-academic organisations and notably industry, and social partners, as well as clustering and cooperation among selected projects under this call and other relevant projects, are strongly encouraged.

Status

Closed

Deadline

24 September 2026 (time not stated)

Opens

12 May 2026

Published

12 December 2025

Total budget

€10,000,000

Grant range

€3,000,000 – €3,300,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involved

12 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

This call is closed. The steps below show what applying involved, and are kept for reference only.

Understand the call

• Read the call on the source portal and download its documents
• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds

  As described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) . The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive … — conditions §6

• Check the amount you plan to request against the call's range

Check you are eligible

• Check your country of establishment is eligible

  The source scopes this to associated countries. — ai_results.eligibility

• Check every partner is established in an eligible country

  As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide — conditions §2

• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as a beneficiary with zero funding, or as an associated partner. The JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal - see General Annex B. As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §3

• Be able to show financial and operational capacity

  As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

  Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. — conditions

• Complete the detailed budget table standard for this programme

  In addition, it is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System. — conditions

Submit

• Check the submission and evaluation process

  As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual — conditions §5b

• Submit before the closing date shown above

  The source states the closing day but no closing time — check the portal before the last day. — calls.deadline

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