More scholarships to students from the Western Balkans
09/04/07
More scholarships will become available to students of the Western Balkans for studies in the European Union as of the current year. The Commission has been reviewing its actions under Tempus and Erasmus Mundus in order to expand opportunities for mobility undergraduate and graduate students as well as teachers as from 2007.
Cooperation with Western Balkan countries in the area of Education has been significant in recent years, with a substantial Commission Contribution under two programmes: Tempus and Erasmus Mundus.
In 2006, a new scheme "Erasmus Mundus - Western Balkan Window" was initiated under the CARDS programme to allow up to 100 students from the region to undertake postgraduate studies in EU high profile master's courses. This arrangement will be renewed under the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance and will be extended to Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which, as candidate countries, are not eligible under the general Erasmus Mundus Programme.
The third phase of the Tempus programme expired at the end of 2005.The Commission plans to continue Tempus with its strong focus on institutional co-operation beyond 2006. Moreover, the revision of the Programme (Tempus IV) has allowed the incorporation of a new dimension into the Programme: students' mobility activities. This new component will be available as from 2008.
A new "Erasmus Mundus - External Cooperation Window" will be initiated in 2007 to enable additional scholarships to graduate and undergraduate students. This new Window will enable the exchange of 500 undergraduate students annually between the EU Member States and the Western Balkan region as well as between the countries of the Western Balkan region themselves.
These 3 components of the Higher Education Programme in the Western Balkan countries have been included in the 2007 Financing Proposal for Education and Youth Programmes, which will be approved by the European Commission later this year.
Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/169&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
