The European Students’ Forum AEGEE with
enthusiasm and appreciation have learnt that on Wednesday 14 July the European
Commission adopted proposals for the new generation of programmes in the
education, youth, culture and audiovisual fields. We consider the adopted
developments and changes to be a beneficial and important step towards the
achievement of the goal of the Lisbon Strategy – to make Europe the most
competitive knowledge-based society. We believe that the new programmes will provide the Union with an
instrument to help improve the quality of education and training
systems.
We would especially like to
express our appreciation of the decision to raise the budget for Higher
Education programs, and are sure that it’s the right investment in building the
European society with the aim to help improve the quality of education and
training systems. Moreover we are happy for the extension of the “Youth
Programme” (“Youth in Action” since 2007) in terms of the age of young people
eligible to be its beneficiaries (to 13-30) as well as placing a huge emphasis
on youth exchanges and the ambitious plans of the Commission for 35.000 exchange
projects to take place by 2013. Student exchanges is one of AEGEE's main and
most popular activity.
AEGEE has been active in the field of promoting student mobility for
years now, being one of the originators of the idea of the Erasmus Project in
1987/1988, then regularly organising the Erasmus Action Week, and even coming up
with a proposal for the Commission to introduce the blended learning program – a
combination of summer courses and e-learning. AEGEE has been devoting its
activities to a European-wide lobby for the programs which significantly
increase the mobility of students across Europe for their studies, introducing a
European dimension in education and enhancing intercultural learning and
experience sharing. AEGEE has been leading a continuous dialogue with the
Institutions on the topic, and concluded with the seminar in the European
Parliament on the 26th of May this year.
AEGEE
wishes the Commission to realise their ambitious goals. "We are committing
ourselves to popularise the new programmes among European students and will
continue our involvement in motivating students to take part in them." -
concludes Nicola Rega, President of AEGEE-Europe.
AEGEE is one of Europe's largest interdisciplinary and voluntary student associations, operating without being linked to any political party, promoting a unified Europe, cross-border co-operation, communication and integration in academic environment, and at the same time striving to create an open and tolerant society by involving students and young graduates in valuable projects and discussions over the topics of importance for the communities they live in. It is represented in 260 university cities, in 42 countries all around Europe and has about 17000 members.
More
information:
Ewa Solarczyk
Vice-President / Director for Public Relations,
AEGEE-Europe
Email: [log in to unmask]
European Students' Forum - AEGEE
Rue Nestor de
Tiere 15
1030 Bruxelles
Phone: +32
2 245 23 00
Fax: +32 2 245 62 60
Web: www.aegee.org