Erasmus is the EU's flagship education and training programme, enabling more than 180,000 students to study and work abroad each year, as well as supporting co-operation actions between higher education institutions across Europe. It caters not only for students, but also for professors and business staff who want to teach abroad and for university staff who want to be trained abroad.

The Programme is named after the humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1465-1536) whose travels for work and study took in the era’s great centres of learning, including Paris, Leuven and Cambridge. Like the man, the Erasmus programme places great importance on mobility and furthering career prospects through learning. By leaving his fortune to the University of Basel, he became a pioneer of the mobility grants which now bear his name.

Studies show that a period spent abroad not only enriches students' lives in the academic field but also in the acquisition of intercultural skills and self-reliance. Staff exchanges have similar beneficial effects, both for the people participating and for the home and host institutions.

In addition to mobility actions, the Programme supports higher education institutions to work together through intensive programmes, networks and multilateral projects.

Few, if any, programmes launched by the European Union have had a similar Europe-wide reach. Around 90% of European universities take part in Erasmus and 2 million students have participated since it started in 1987. The annual budget is in excess of €440million, more than 4,000 higher education institutions in 31 countries participate, and even more are waiting to join.

Objectives and actions

Erasmus has become a driver in the modernisation of higher education in Europe and inspired the establishment of the Bologna Process. The general aim of the Programme is to create a European Higher Education Area and foster innovation throughout Europe.

Erasmus became part of the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme in 2007 and expanded to cover new areas such as student placements in enterprises (transferred from the Leonardo da Vinci programme), university staff training and teaching for enterprise staff. The Programme seeks to expand its mobility actions even further in coming years, with the target of 3 million Erasmus students by 2012.

Actions include support for:

	For students: studying abroad doing a traineeship abroad linguistic preparation		For universities/higher education institution staff: teaching abroad receiving training abroad
	For universities/higher education institutions: intensive programmes academic and structural networks multilateral projects		For enterprises: hosting students placements teaching abroad participating in university cooperation projects

Higher education institutions which want to participate in Erasmus actions must have an Erasmus University Charter. The Charter aims to guarantee a high level of quality in mobility and cooperation by setting out fundamental principles for all Erasmus actions that participating institutions must follow.

The European Commission is responsible for the Erasmus programme's overall implementation and its Directorate-General for Education and Culture coordinates its different actions. So called "decentralised actions" regarding individual mobility are run by national agencies in the 31 participating countries. Centralised actions such as networks, multilateral projects and the award of the Erasmus University Charter are managed by the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture based in Brussels.

More detailes you can find at http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc80_en.htm

 

ERASMUS MUNDUS 2009-2013

Introduction

Erasmus Mundus is a cooperation and mobility programme in the field of higher education that aims to enhance the quality of European higher education and to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through cooperation with Third-Countries. In addition, it contributes to the development of human resources and the international cooperation capacity of Higher education institutions in Third Countries by increasing mobility between the European Union and these countries.

The Erasmus Mundus programme provides support to:

• higher education institutions that wish to implement joint programmes at postgraduate level (Action 1) or to set-up inter-institutional cooperation partnerships between universities from Europe and targeted Third-Countries (Action 2);
• individual students, researchers and university staff who wish to spend a study / research / teaching period in the context of one of the above mentioned joint programmes or cooperation partnerships (Action 1 and Action 2);
• any organisation active in the field of higher education that wishes to develop projects aimed at enhancing the attractiveness, profile, visibility and image of European higher education worldwide (Action 3).

Objectives

Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 is a cooperation and mobility programme in the field of higher education for:

• the enhancement of quality in European higher education;
• the promotion of the European Union as a centre of excellence in learning around the world;
• the promotion of intercultural understanding through coopera­tion with Third Countries as well as for the development of Third Countries in the field of higher education.

Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 (Decision N° 1298/2008/EC) continues and extends the scope of the activities already launched during the first phase (2004-2008)of the programme. It now includes the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window scheme, which was launched in 2006 as a complement to the original programme. In addition, the Programme integrates cooperation activities with Industrialised Countries.

Decision stablishing the Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 action programme (December 2008):

Actions

Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 is implemented through of the following actions:

• Action 1: Erasmus Mundus joint programmes of outstanding quality at masters (Action 1 A) and doctoral (Action 1 B) levels including scholarships/fellowships to participate in these programmes;
• Action 2: Erasmus Mundus Partnerships between European and Third Country higher education institutions including scholarships and fellowships for mobility at all academic levels;
• Action 3: Promotion of European higher education through projects to enhance the attractiveness of Europe as an educational destination and a centre of excellence at world level.

The Programme Guide contains all the general information and the conditions on how to apply for funding. In addition, regular Calls for Proposals are published for the specific actions.

Programme management

The European Commission is responsible for the running of the Erasmus Mundus Programme 2009-2013. It manages the budget and sets priorities, targets and criteria for the Programme. Furthermore, it guides and monitors the general implementation, follow-up and evaluation of the Programme at European level.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) is responsible for the implementation of the Erasmus Mundus Programme.

More detailes ou can find at http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/programme/about_erasmus_mundus_en.php

25.02.2010