Analyzing Regional Trends in Erasmus+ Project Funding and Thematic Clusters through Heatmaps Visualizations

In the past decades, the Erasmus+ program has been a foundation of the European educational exchanges, promoting academic and professional mobility across the EU. This paper analyzes the regional trends in Erasmus+ project funding across Europe, using heatmap visualizations to represent project density and grant distribution. The study highlights key regions with high project participation and significant grant awards, suggesting a strong concentration in Central and Western Europe, particularly in France, Germany, Benelux, UK, Spain. The integration of thematic clusters provides insights into the types of projects funded and their regional prevalence and suggests that Erasmus-funded projects are more frequent in wealthier, central European countries where there is a stronger institutional network for research and education. These findings emphasize the need for more inclusive funding strategies to support project development in underrepresented regions.