Written Answers. - Socrates EU Programme.
The Programme is intended to contribute to the development of quality education and training and the creation of an open European area for co-operation in education.
Details of the contents of each Chapter are at Appendix 1.
The budget specified in the decision by the Council of Ministers is 850 MECU, about £680 million, of which around £10 million would be allocated to Ireland.
Article 4 of the decision provides for the establishment of a committee to assist the Commission in the implementation of “SOCRATES”. This met for the first time on 28-29 March 1995 to consider the programme's policy objectives and implementation details.
SOCRATES IS BROKEN DOWN INTO 3 CHAPTERS |
CHAPTER |
1 HIGHER EDUCATION (ERASMUS) |
CHAPTER |
2 SCHOOL EDUCATION (COMENIUS) |
CHAPTER |
3 HORIZONTAL MEASURES |
CHAPTER 1 |
HIGHER EDUCATION (ERASMUS) |
ACTION 1 |
Promoting the European Dimension in Universities |
ACTION 2 |
Student Mobility and Financing ERASMUS grants |
ACTION 1: |
PROMOTING THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION IN UNIVERSITIES |
1. |
Inter-university co-operation (ICP) |
|
— mobility of students |
|
— ECTS (European Course Credit Transfer System) |
|
— joint development of curricula |
|
— mobility of teachers |
|
— short term education courses |
2. |
Other Activities |
|
— incorporating cultural, artistic, political etc. characteristics of other member states into the curriculum |
|
— languages |
3. |
Institutional contracts |
4. |
University co-operation projects |
ACTION 2: |
STUDENT MOBILITY AND FINANCING ERASMUS GRANTS |
|
— direct financial aid to allow students study in another member state |
CHAPTER 2 |
SCHOOL EDUCATION (COMENIUS) |
ACTION 1 |
Partnership between schools |
ACTION 2 |
Education for children of migrants, travellers and gypsies |
ACTION 3 |
Updating skills of educational staff |
ACTION 1 |
|
1. |
Encouragement of multilateral partnerships between schools which are built around a European Education Project (EEP). |
ACTION 2 |
|
1. |
Promotion of the participation in school activities of the children of travellers, migrant workers etc. |
ACTION 3 |
|
1. |
Promotion of information and experience which adds a European dimension to the improvement of teachers skills. |
CHAPTER 3 |
HORIZONTAL MEASURES |
|
— these activities apply at all levels of education |
ACTION 1 |
Promotion of language skills (LINGUA) |
ACTION 2 |
Open and distance learning |
ACTION 3 |
Exchange of information and experience (ARION AND EURYDICE) |
|
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[847][848]ACTION 1 |
PROMOTION OF LANGUAGE SKILLS |
|
Financial assistance may be allocated to projects involving the |
|
— Development of European Co-operation Programmes for training of language teachers |
|
— Immersion courses abroad for language teachers |
|
— Assistantships abroad for future language teachers |
|
— Development of curricula, materials and methods for language teaching |
ACTION 2 |
PROMOTION OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING |
|
Financial assistance may be allocated to projects involving |
|
— co-operation between institutions in the field of distance learning |
|
— enhancing of skills of teachers in techniques of distance learning |
|
— improving the quality of distance education |
|
— recognising qualifications |
ACTION 3 |
PROMOTION OF EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND EXPERIENCE |
|
— Questions of common educational policy interest |
|
— Exchange of information (EURYDICE) |
|
— Multilateral study visits for those in the educational field (ARION) |
|
— Development of National Academic Recognition Information Centres (NARIC) |
|
— Promotion of European dimension in adult education. |
