News

European Commission launches new dialogue on higher education with Southern Mediterranean neighbours

02-07-2012

The European Commission has launched a new dialogue with Southern Mediterranean countries on higher education policies and programmes as part of its roadmap for anchoring progress in the region following the 2011 Arab Spring.
 
Today and tomorrow (2-3 July), Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, is hosting a two-day event in Brussels with Ministers and senior officials from Southern Mediterranean countries to assess the challenges they face in higher education and to see how the EU can strengthen its cooperation and support for them in the future.
 
Speaking today at the launch, Commissioner Vassiliou said: "Education is central to our efforts. In order to reach our objectives for a democratic and prosperous Southern Mediterranean, we need to concentrate on young people. They are the main catalyst for social and political change - and they are also the region's future main economic actors. Their education is a crucial element in the development of the Southern Mediterranean region."
 
With a third of the Southern Mediterranean’s population under the age of 15, up to 60 million young people will join the workforce by the middle of the next decade, with the region needing to create between 2.5 and 5 million jobs every year if they are to absorb new entrants to the labour market and contain unemployment.
 
In this context, "education systems are under tremendous pressure", said Vassiliou: "They face the crucial challenge of providing valuable skills to millions of young jobseekers so that they can play an active role in their societies."
 
The Commissioner added: "Education has a tremendous transformational potential. Let us put our trust in what we know can be a force for the good: the spread of literacy, the sharing of knowledge, the empowerment of women. We will all reap the benefits from these processes, and democracy will grow stronger from that. Democracy, in any country, cannot take root unless people come to see that liberty translates into concrete opportunities for them and their children."
 
In response to the events of the Arab Spring, the European Commission has significantly increased funding for the Southern Mediterranean through its international higher education programmes, Tempus and Erasmus Mundus.
 
Tempus, which supports the modernisation of higher education, has received an additional €12.5 million in 2012 and 2013, taking total spending to €29 million a year. Erasmus Mundus, which promotes European higher education and intercultural cooperation through cooperation with non-EU countries, will allocate €80 million in Southern and Eastern neighbouring countries in 2012-2013, more than double the amount initially foreseen.
 
The objectives of the dialogue with Southern Mediterranean countries on higher education policies and programmes are to:
 
•       Provide a regional platform for policy dialogue on education, higher education, vocational education and training and youth issues;
•       Share good practice and experience, in particular using the experience gathered through Tempus and Erasmus Mundus;
•       Evaluate EU assistance and identify further needs for support;
•       Promote regional cooperation;
•       To support partners in their modernisation and reform of higher education systems and promote their voluntary convergence towards Bologna Process and the European Research and Higher Education Area;
•       To significantly improve the knowledge and use of EU-supported programmes (Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Jean Monnet, Marie Curie) to support the reform of higher education systems;
•       To inform partner countries about increased future opportunities under 'Erasmus for All', the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport (2014-2020);
•       To support intra-regional cooperation and mobility.
 
The new policy dialogue covers Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and the occupied Palestinian territories. Syria may be invited to join it at a future date. (EU Neighbourhood Info)
 
Read more
 
Press release and background information
 
Commissioner Vassiliou speech
 
Erasmus Mundus
 
Tempus
 
Androulla Vassiliou's website
 
Follow Androulla Vassiliou onTwitter @VassiliouEU
 
EU Neighbour hood Info Centre webpage – education
 
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre video – Education Cooperation with Southern Neighbours
 

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