SOCRATES

Socrates is Europe's education program and involves 31 European countries including Turkey. Its main objective is precisely to build up a Europe of knowledge and thus provide a better response to the major challenges of this new century: to promote lifelong learning, encourage access to education for everybody, and help people acquire recognized qualifications and skills. In more specific terms, Socrates seeks to promote language learning, and to encourage mobility and innovation.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/socrates_en.html)

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Comenius

COMENIUS focuses on the first phase of education, from pre-school and primary to secondary school, and it is addressed to all members of the education community in the broad sense - pupils, teachers, other education staff, but also local authorities, parents' associations, non-government organizations.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/comenius/index_en.html )

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Erasmus

European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (the ERASMUS program), established in 1987. It is named after the philosopher, theologian and humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam (1465-1536). An untiring adversary of dogmatic thought in all fields of human endeavor, Erasmus lived and worked in several parts of Europe, in quest of the knowledge, experience and insights which only such contacts with other countries could bring.

Objectives:
Higher education plays a crucial role in producing high quality human resources, disseminating scientific discovery and advanced knowledge through teaching, adapting to the constantly emerging needs for new competences and qualifications, and educating future generations of citizens in a European context. All such functions are of vital importance to the long-term development of Europe. The increasing speed at which existing knowledge becomes obsolete, and the rapid changes in the means by which it is delivered and renewed, will require the higher education sector to adopt new methods and commit itself wholeheartedly to the provision of lifelong learning. Against this background, ERASMUS contains a wide range of measures designed to support the European activities of higher education institutions and to promote the mobility and exchange of their teaching staff and students.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/erasmus/erasmus_en.html )

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Lingua

The Lingua Program aims to support language teaching and learning throughout the Europe. The new Lingua Action supports these actions through measures designed to:
- Encourage and support linguistic diversity throughout the Union.
- Contribute to an improvement in the quality of language teaching and learning.
- Promote access to lifelong language learning opportunities appropriate to each individual's needs.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/actions/lingua2_en.html )

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Grundtvig

This action is aimed at enhancing the European dimension of lifelong learning. It supports a wide range of activities designed to promote innovation and the improved availability, accessibility and quality of educational provision for adults, by means of European co-operation.
The Grundtvig action addresses a great variety of educational providers, but the final beneficiaries are adults who, at whatever stage of their lives, wish to learn in order to: increase their capacity to play a full and active role in society and develop their intercultural awareness; improve their employability by acquiring or updating their general skills; enhance their capacity to access or re-enter formal education schemes.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/grundtvig/home_en.html )

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Minerva

The Minerva Action seeks to promote European co-operation in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in education.
The Action has three main objectives,
(1) to promote understanding among teachers, learners, decision-makers and the public at large of the implications of MINERVA and ICT for education, as well as the critical and responsible use of ICT for educational purposes;
(2) to ensure that pedagogical considerations are given proper weight in the development of ICT and multimedia-based educational products and services; and
(3) to promote access to improved methods and educational resources as well as to results and best practices in this field.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/minerva/ind1a_en.html )

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Observation & Innovation

Making optimal use of existing structures wherever possible, this Action consists of the following:
(a) collection of descriptive and statistical data, and comparative analysis of educational systems and policies in the Member States;
(b) development of methods for evaluating the quality of education, including the development of appropriate criteria and indicators;
(c) development and updating of databases and other information resources on innovatory experiments;
(d) dissemination of experience resulting from relevant activities supported at Community and Member State level;
(e) facilitation of the recognition of diplomas, qualifications and periods of learning at all educational levels in other Member States.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/observation/index_en.html )

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Joint Activities

Joint Actions aim to promote a "Europe of knowledge" and focus on themes that, by their very nature, are not limited to one field alone, i.e. education, training or youth policy. They call for reinforced cooperation between actors from various sectors and fields of knowledge. The EU programs SOCRATES, LEONARDO DA VINCI, CULTURE 2000 and YOUTH are complementary instruments that aim to create European-level conditions under which learners of all ages are able to acquire the experience, knowledge and skills they need to live, work and actively participate in society. Joint Actions are included in all four Programs and give concrete form to complementarity by implementing initiatives that extend beyond the scope of a single Program.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/joint/jointactions_en.html )

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Accompanying Measures

Accompanying Measures support various activities which, though not eligible under the main Actions, will clearly contribute to achieving the program's objectives. The projects to be supported will be aiming at: raising awareness of relevant target groups or the general public concerning the SOCRATES program or the importance of European cooperation in the field of education more generally (conferences, seminars, etc.); improving the implementation of SOCRATES, in particular by providing training in project management or in tackling obstacles; maximizing the impact of European cooperation in the field of education, by disseminating the products and processes resulting from European cooperation; fostering trans-sectoral synergies between the Actions of the SOCRATES program, for example around activities bringing together projects supported under Comenius, Erasmus, Grundtvig, Lingua, Minerva, etc.; targeting horizontal priorities of the SOCRATES program, including in particular, the promotion of equal opportunities, the integration of disabled persons, intercultural education and the fight against racism.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/action8/action8_en.html )

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LEONARDO DA VINCI

The Leonardo da Vinci Community vocational training action program, introduced in 1994, is now entering its second phase, which will run from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2006. Promoting a Europe of knowledge is central to the implementation of the program, which seeks to consolidate a European co-operation area for education and training.
The program actively supports the lifelong training policies conducted by the Member States. It supports innovative transnational initiatives for promoting the knowledge, aptitudes and skills necessary for successful integration into working life and the full exercise of citizenship, and affords scope for links with other Community initiatives - particularly the Socrates and Youth programs - by supporting joint actions.
The broad lines of this second phase are set out in the Council Decision of 26 April 1999 (OJ L146 of 11 June 1999), which affirms the need to develop quality, innovation and the European dimension in vocational training systems and practices through transnational co-operation.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/leonardo/leonardo_en.html )

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YOUTH

The YOUTH program is the EU's mobility and non-formal education program targeting young people aged between 15 and 25 years. The Program is open to youth in 30 European countries. The YOUTH program offers possibilities to young people in the form of both group exchanges and individual voluntary work, as well as support activities.
The YOUTH program started in spring 2000 but incorporates, and is based on, the experiences faced by the former Youth for Europe and European Voluntary Service programs. There are National Agencies for the YOUTH program established in all 30 Program Countries. The Agencies assist with the promotion and implementation of the Program at national level. Furthermore, the Euro-Med Youth program II, involving 27 Euro-Mediterranean partner countries, is one of the YOUTH program's main activities. National Coordinators based in the 12 Mediterranean partner countries facilitate the implementation of this Program. The YOUTH program also supports co-operation activities with other third countries in the SEE and the CIS countries.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth.html )

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TEMPUS

The Tempus program encourages institutions in the EU Member States and the partner countries to engage in structured cooperation through the establishment of "consortia". The "consortia" implement Joint European Projects (JEPs) with a clear set of objectives. Such projects may receive financial aid for two or three years.
Tempus also provides Individual Mobility Grants (IMGs) to individuals working in Higher Education institutions to help them work on certain specified activities in other countries. The Tempus Program may also provide help for certain sorts of complementary actions. Institutions and organizations which may participate in Tempus range from Higher Education institutions through to non-academic institutions such as non-governmental organizations, business companies, industries and public authorities. At present, the partner countries eligible for funding through cooperation via consortia with the EU Member States are: The Western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (these are referred to as the 'CARDS' countries). The Partner States in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan (these are referred to as the 'TACIS' countries). The Tempus III decision is in the process of being amended with a view to extending the program to the following Mediterranean partners: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

(Source: European Commission. For more information please visit the Community's web site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/tempus/index_en.html )

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