EU funding will allow up to 50,000 Irish students to study in Europe by 2020.
The new Erasmus plus programme will come into effect in January 2014 and students from participating countries will have the chance to study abroad.
The Erasmus student study abroad programme was established in 1987 and is operating in 34 countries.
The European Parliament has given the go ahead to give €14.7bn to the programme, which will benefit around two million higher education students across the 34 participating European countries.
50,000 students are expected to benefit in Ireland.
