/// EUCIS-LLL NEWS ///
Erasmus+: civil society concerns have been heard
The Erasmus+ funding programme 2014-2020, (formerly “Erasmus for all” as proposed by the Commission and the Council or “YES Europe” by the Parliament) has been officially approved by the Council (COREPER I) on 26 June after a compromise was reached in the inter-institutional “trialogue” negotiations. The programme will include the three streamlined actions initially elaborated by the Commission (learning mobility, cooperation for innovation and good practices and support for policy reform) but also keep the different sub-programmes as reintroduced by the Parliament (Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Erasmus Mundus, Youth in Action). Almost half of the programme budget (43%) will be dedicated to higher education. The rest of budget allocation per sectors are the following: 22% to Leonardo da Vinci, 15% to Comenius and 5% to Grundtvig; 10% will go to Youth in Action; 1,8% to Sport; 1,9% to Jean Monnet; 3,4% and 3,5% for the Loan Guarantee Mechanism. Doris Pack (EPP), Parliament Rapporteur for Erasmus+, ensured that support to European education and training NGOs had been included in the legal basis, in response to more than a year and a half of advocacy by the Stakeholders’ Coalition lead by EUCIS-LLL. The final legal basis for Erasmus+ will be adopted during the next CULT Committee and voted in Parliament plenary session in September, then officially signed by the three EU institutions.
EUCIS-LLL Policy Debate on Entrepreneurship skills
Last 18th of June EUCIS-LLL, in cooperation with the EPP Group, organised a policy debate entitled “Entrepreneurship skills: Common understanding? Common Expectations?” at the European Parliament. Around 40 experts took part in this interesting meeting, which counted with civil society presentation of good practices in the field. A report of the event will soon be published.
1st ever-European Citizens’ Summit!
The Civil Society Citizens‘ Summit 2013 was held in Brussels on 24 and 25 June 2013, just a few days before the European Summit. Representatives of organisations of the civil society gathered together for the two-day-meeting to discuss their ideas on the future European Union. Participants voiced their concerns towards austerity measures and emphasized the importance of core values of the EU (equity, solidarity, human rights) to move the Union’s project forward. Have a look at the closing press release and the video summarizing the main key messages that came out from the summit.
Open Letter: Future of ‘Europe for Citizens’ Programme
On 27 of June, nearly 100 European and national organisations and networks, including EUCIS-LLL, signed an open letter to support the “Europe for Citizens” Programme. “We find it unacceptable that while the EU celebrates the European Year of Citizens in 2013 (with the lowest ever dedicated budget for a European Year), the Council proposes to deny the ‘Europe for Citizens programme’ almost one quarter of its already extremely small budget”.
EYCA Conference in Zagreb: What does EU Citizenship mean?
On 8 July, 150 European citizens, gathered together by the European Year of Citizens’ Alliance (EYCA) – of which EUCIS-LLL is part – will exchange views and experiences in a European conference entitled: “EU citizenship: Crossing perspectives”. The event will take place in Zagreb, the capital city of the EU’s 28th Member State to debate EU citizenship and to engage with the core question of citizens’ participation in Europe. Read the press release.
/// NEWS FROM MEMBERS AND PARTNERS ///
Take part in the Europemobility Video Contest!
The Europemobility Network, which counts with several EUCIS-LLL members like EfVET and EVTA, has launched the 2013 Europemobility Video Contest, open to all those who have done a practical training, youth exchange, volunteer service or work training abroad within Europe. The best videos will win an iPad and a trip to Brussels to the Awards Ceremony. Be creative, share your experience and be an inspiration to others to go abroad as part of their educational path. Deadline 31stof August.
Conference on Awareness Raising for Adult Learning and Education
EAEA, the European Association for the Education of Adults, invites you to the ARALE conference, which will take place in Brussels on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2013. The project aims to collect awareness raising and advocacy activities for adult education in Europe. The conference will particularly present the project’s results and some best practice examples of awareness raising activities for adult education. You are also still very welcome to contribute to the project by filling in the survey that will be open until the 14th of July 2013.
ESN – Visas and Residence Permits Survey
The European Commission is revising its Visa Directive regulating how Visas and Residence Permits are treated in the European Union. The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is launching a survey exploring issues concerning Visas and Residence Permits. If you have at some point applied for either a Visa or Residence Permit you may fill in the short questionnaire. If you are interested in the topic, have a look at EUCIS-LLL position on the revision of the Visa Directive.
ESHA survey on school leadership in Europe
The European School Heads Association (ESHA) has launched a survey on school leadership in Europe in the framework of the project “European Policy Network of School Leaders” (EPNoSL). The questionnaire is available in several languages and will only take 10 minutes of your time. Deadline 1st September.
/// INSTITUTIONAL NEWS ///
MFF agreement reached: a budget for Erasmus+
Negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) which will define the EU budget 2014-2020 have just been closed. After more than one month of tense trialogue negotiations, ?the Presidents of the three EU institutions met to try to break the gridlock and an agreement was finally reached on 27 June (more flexibility between years on payments and commitments, commitment of the Council to ensure 2013 obligations are honoured, revision clause in 2016, the promise to initiate a serious reflection on own resources…). It seems that budget lines will not really change from what had been decided during the last EU Summit in February (with a global amount of €960bn), as political groups rather concentrated on those highly sensitive issues. An additional €150 million was frontloaded in 2014 and 2015 for Erasmus in the framework of measures adopted to tackle youth unemployment with a focus on apprenticeships. Youth unemployment was also at the core of the European Summit‘s agenda last 27-28 June, where member states agreed to put in place the Quality Framework for Traineeships in early 2014. The MFF political agreement will be voted this Wednesday in Parliament plenary session and endorsed by the Council of Ministers. Then only, the Parliament will be able to adopt more than 60 Regulations awaiting for their budget allocation, among which the new Erasmus+ programme.
Lithuanian EU Presidency priorities in education and training
Today Lithuania took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) for the second semester of 2013. Since a deal on the future programme for education, youth, training and sport ‘Erasmus +’ was reached in the end of June, Lithuania will see the formal adoption of the programme under its Presidency. Furthermore, they will concentrate on the two main priorities set for education, i.e. quality and efficiency of the education and training systems. See EUCIS-LLL information note for further information.
16 recommendations on the quality of teaching in universities
On 18 June 2013, the high-level group on the modernisation of higher education, which was set up in September last year, published its first report on improving the quality of teaching and learning in universities. The report includes 16 policy recommendations, including the creation of a ‘European Academy of Teaching and Learning’. The second part of the high-level group’s mission will focus on how to maximise the impact of new teaching methods such as the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Tackling youth unemployment
The CULT Committee of the European Parliament released an opinion on “tackling youth unemployment: possible ways out” for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. It stresses the importance on keeping investing in Education and employment. Among others, it proposes concrete measures to improve VET, dual education and traineeship programmes. In this sense, tomorrow the European Commission will officially launch European Alliance for Apprenticeships at World Skills Summit taking place in Leipzig. The Alliance is one of the key measures the Commission is proposing to tackle the high youth unemployment rates. Its objectives include to improve the quality and supply of apprenticeships in Europe and to change the mind-sets towards apprenticeship-type training.
Agreement reached on the future EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation
Last 28th of June the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on the EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) with a proposed budget of €815 million for the 2014-20 period. EaSI integrates and extends the coverage of three existing programmes: Progress (Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity), EURES (European Employment Services) and the European Progress Microfinance Facility, which will be allocated respectively 61%, 18% and 21% of the budget.
/// RESEARCH & INNOVATION ///
OECD releases Education at a Glance 2013
On 25 June 2013, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published its 2013 ‘Education at a glance’ report, analysing the education systems of more than 40 countries, including OECD members and G20 partners. The report includes new types of indicators, e.g. on the links between education levels and employment, and confirms that even thought the value of education rises in the context of the economic crisis, public spending has decreased dramatically in the last years.
ETUI publishes a study on governance in Education
The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has published a very interesting article entitled The European governance of education: progresses and challenges, where it looks at the policy content of EU economic and social governance to explain the contradiction between EU ambitions in education and training policies and its limited influence on national performance.
Three skill scenarios for 2025
Cedefop just published its latest Briefing Note on “Roads to recovery: three skill and labour market scenarios for 2025”, available to download in eight languages (Spanish, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Polish and Portuguese).
Good practices on Youth entrepreneurship
The European Commission has published a booklet of good practices on youth entrepreneurship where they highlight the importance of this phenomenon as a way to overcome the high unemployment rates among youngsters from all Member States.
The role of Erasmus in higher education reforms
The Commission has also published a booklet entitled “Supporting reform: the role of Erasmus in higher education”, including 20 success stories from all around Europe.
Eurydice publishes new school and academic calendars 2013/14
Eurydice just published the updated annual overview of the school and academic calendars in Europe 2013/14, containing national data on the length of the school year in primary and secondary education and how the academic year is structured in higher education.
/// EU FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES ///
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs – 63-G-ENT-CIP-13-E-N01C011
Deadline 09 July 2013
El-Hibri Peace Education Prize
Deadline 15 July 2013
Preparatory Action: European Partnership on Sports – EAC/S03/13
Deadline 19 July 2013
Call for tenders: Romania-Republic of Serbia IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme in cultural and sports activities
Deadline 26 August
European Policy Network of National Literacy Organisations – EAC/S05/13
Deadline 29 August 2013
Open call for tender – Study on Supporting the Entrepreneurial Potential of Higher Education
Deadline: 30 August 2013
Call for tenders Twinning ENPI – Empowerment of the Tertiary Level Education of the Republic of
Armenia for European Higher Education Are Integration – EHEA
Deadline: 3 September 2013
Youth support systems – Partnerships – Sub-action 4.6
Deadline 5 September 2013
Support to Youth Workers’ Mobility – EACEA/15/12
Deadline 10 September 2013
Call for proposals – Two new EIBURS sponsorships under the EIB Knowledge Programme
Deadline 13 September 2013
Implementation of the European strategic objectives in Education and Training (ET 2020) – EACEA/04/2013
Deadline 16 September 2013
Open Call – European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) – COST 2013-3
Deadline 27 September 20143
Youth in Action Programme
permanent calls for proposals 2013
/// PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ///
Vote for the most important investment areas of the future EU budget
DG Budget has launched an online question where you can state the three priority areas that should be financed from the common EU budget, including education.
Public consultation on health and safety at work
DG Employment has launched an online public consultation on health and safety at work in order to evaluate the European Strategy on Safety and Health at Work 2007-2012 and help to identify current and future challenges and solutions in the occupational safety and health area. Regarding education and training, the consultation also covers questions related to the integration of occupational safety and health in the curricula. The public consultation will run until 26 August.
/// AGENDA ///
Find all our events on our website!
