Erasmus +: New Opportunities For Cooperation In Higher Education In Eastern Partnership Region

On 22-25 October, the European Commission, together with Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, organised two events in Kaunas: the Eastern Partnership Youth Forum and an information event on Erasmus+ for Eastern Partnership (EaP) universities. 
The Erasmus+ information day was an occasion to present new cooperation opportunities offered to universities from the EU and Eastern Partnership countries as of 2014. Teaching and management staff from the main universities in the region also received a briefing on the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions, which funds researchers’ mobility and training. 
As of 2014, Erasmus+ will bring under a single umbrella all existing EU international higher education programmes (Tempus, Erasmus Mundus, Alfa, Edulink and bilateral programmes with industrialised countries). With this integration, the EU wishes to bring more coherence and synergy between the existing programmes and better align intra-EU and international cooperation and mobility. In a globalised university world, there is no longer any reason to apply different approaches and procedures to cooperation within and outside the EU. More...