Renata Russell

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European Commission Response to Engagement in
Higher Educationin ACP Countries

• Renata Russell
• Programme Manager, Centralised Operations for the
  ACP Countries, European Commission, EuropeAid
  Cooperation Office

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(No Transcript)
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Policy

• The policy of the European Commission (EC) is to
  provide support to Higher Education in ACP
  partner countries in the context of a balanced
  approach to investment across the education
  sector as a whole.
• The primary and overarching objective of EU
  development policy is the eradication of poverty
  in the context of sustainable development,
  including the achievement of the Millennium
  Development Goals (MDGs).

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Policy

• ACP Higher Education sub-sector needs to respond
  to a number of key development issues
• need to stimulate potential for economic growth
  by increasing the supply of high level qualified
  human resources available to ACP economies
• need to improve the quality of locally provided
  Higher Education in the ACP states
• importance of building local capacity by
  promoting both cooperation between ACP tertiary
  education institutions and between ACP and
  European universities
• importance of promoting inter-cultural dialogue
  and understanding among European and ACP
  countries.

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Programmes 9th EDF and still ongoing

• EDULINK Cooperation Programme in Higher Education
  - 2004 - EUR 35 000 000
• Programme for Science and Technology Innovations
  and Capacity Building 2007 - EUR 35 350 000
• An initial Contribution to the Erasmus Mundus
  Classical Master Programmes (now Action 1)
  2006 EUR 5 000 000
• First contribution to the Erasmus Mundus External
  Cooperation Window (now Erasmus Mundus
  Partnerships Action 2) 2007 EUR 5 000 000

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EDULINK Objectives, Main Features, Status of
Implementation.

• To foster capacity building and regional
  integration in the field of higher education
  through institutional networking, and to support
  a higher education system of quality, which is
  efficient and relevant to the needs of the labour
  market, and consistent with ACP socio-economic
  development priorities.
• HE Institutions participate in a competitive
  procedure of Calls for Proposals. The best ones
  are awarded grants of up to EUR 1M.
• 3 Calls published, 406 valid proposals received,
  between 500 and 700 HE Institutions participating
  in each Call
• 66 Projects selected involving around 340 HEI
  from EU and ACP.

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Science and Technology Objectives, Main
Features, Status of Implementation.

• The overall objective of the PSTICB programme is
  to support ACP countries in formulating and
  implementing ST policies that can lead to
  sustainable development and to poverty reduction
  through economic growth and progressive
  integration in the world economy.
• The programme will emphasize the promotion of
  interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable
  development along three main axes
• 1 Co-ordination and networking in applied
  research
• 2 Instruments for collaborative research
• 3 Management of research activities and
  reinforcement of research quality

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Science and Technology Objectives, Main
Features, Status of Implementation.

• Budget per project between 350 000 and a
  maximum of 1 million
• Competitive procedure- calls for proposals where
  groups of institutions (consortia) apply for
  funding with a concrete project proposal
• Institutions eligible for this programme are ACP
  national and regional ST organizations, research
  institutions, universities, government ministries
  and public institutions dealing with research
  policies, ACP national research networks,
  relevant civil society and private sector actors
  and similar EU actors working in partnership with
  ACP counterparts
• Call published in October 2008 and closed in
  March 2009
• 200 eligible proposals received
• Expecting to fund between 35 and 40 projects

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Erasmus Mundus Classical Master Programmes (now
Action 1) Objectives, Main Features, Status of
Implementation.

• The Projects purpose is to facilitate linkages
  between the EU and the ACP region in the field of
  higher education thereby encouraging and enabling
  ACP students to undertake postgraduate studies in
  Europe. This will in turn contribute to reducing
  skilled manpower shortages and to improving
  political, economic and cultural links between
  the EU and the ACP region which are the overall
  objectives of the Project.
• Students apply directly to the Accredited Mundus
  courses
• Receiving Universities conduct selection
  procedure
• Masters Programmes for students starting in the
  academic year 2007/08
• 3963 ACP applications spread across 80 MA courses
• 130 MA grants awarded in addition to the 141
  awarded from the EC core budget

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Erasmus Mundus Classical Master Programmes and
PhDs (now Action 1) How to apply?

• Index of MA courses with links to each
• http//eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/results_c
  ompendia/selected_projects_action_1_master_courses
  _en.php
• Index of PhDs
• http//eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/results_c
  ompendia/selected_projects_action_1_joint_doctorat
  es_en.php
• Study in Europe Portal
• http//www.study-in-europe.org/index.cfm?objectid
  E79FEF22-3FFF-AEA2-3C3CD817AD912F46
• EU Master Portal
• http//www.mastersportal.eu/

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Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window - (now
Erasmus Mundus Partnerships Action 2),
Objectives, Main Features, Status of
Implementation.

• Overall objective
• Contribute to reducing skilled manpower shortages
  and to improving political, economic and cultural
  links between the EU and the ACP region
• Specific objective
• Facilitate linkages between the EU and the ACP
  region in the field of higher education thereby
  encouraging and enabling ACP students and
  academics to undertake postgraduate studies in
  Europe.

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Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window - (now
Erasmus Mundus Partnerships Action 2),
Objectives, Main Features, Status of
Implementation.

• Education Agency publishes a Call for Proposal
  with various Lots of which ACP Lot is one
  competitive procedure where the best consortium
  wins
• EU and ACP Universities form a consortium
• EU universities host all the students, EU and ACP
  universities host scholars
• Both EU and ACP universities participate in the
  organisation and preparation of mobility
• The winning consortium is responsible for
  publication for prospective students which come
  from ALL ACP countries
• Hosting institutions approve the final selection

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Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window - (now
Erasmus Mundus Partnerships Action 2),
Objectives, Main Features, Status of
Implementation.

• 2007 Call produced very good results ACP
  Selected project scored very highly in comparison
  to all the other regions
• Call for students attracted over 8000
  registrations and 3200 applications
• The mobility flow started on time and is ongoing
  no specific problems were reported
• Participation of the ACP Universities
  geographically balanced and active
• 184 scholarships in total including 149 MAs
  and 35 academic exchanges
• Very good response in terms of Target Group 3
  vulnerable groups (refugees)

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Future 10th EDF

• Continuation of EDULINK with 20 000 000 for
  next call, evaluation of the programme is now
  ongoing. Programme will be fine-tuned.
• Continuation of Science and Technology with 20
  000 000 for next call.
• Continuation of Erasmus Mundus External
  Cooperation Window Action 2
• Budget of 30 000 000 split over 5 Calls for
  Proposals
• Inclusion of Sandwich PhDsNo student flow from
  EU to ACP academics yes
• Maximum 10 from one country
• Development of a new programme- Intra ACP
  Mobility Programme
• Africa - AUC Mwalimu Nyerere component - 30 000
  000
• Caribbean and Pacific components - 10 000 000

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Initial Project Concept

• The overall objective of the project is to
  promote sustainable development and poverty
  alleviation by increasing the availability of
  trained and qualified high-level professional
  manpower in the ACP countries.
• The purpose is to facilitate linkages between the
  Higher Education Institutions in the ACP region
  thereby creating education opportunities to
  encourage and enable ACP students to undertake
  postgraduate studies, and also to promote
  intra-ACP mobility of academics and staff.

Renata RussellEuropean Commission
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Initial Project Concept

• More specifically the project will aim
• To enhance the international cooperation capacity
  of universities in ACP countries
• To promote cooperation between sending and
  hosting institutions
• To enable students, academics and staff to
  benefit linguistically, culturally and
  educationally from the experience gained in the
  context of mobility to another country
• To improve the transparency and recognition of
  studies and qualifications
• To increase access for students from vulnerable
  groups to higher education
• To enhance, in the medium-term, the political,
  cultural, educational and economical links
  between the participating countries
• To contribute to the improvement of the quality
  of higher education through the promotion of
  internationalisation, joint degrees and
  harmonisation of programmes and curricula by
  participating institutional networks.

Renata RussellEuropean Commission
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Initial Project Concept

• The expected results are as follows
• -ACP postgraduates completing Masters Courses
  outside of their home countries
• -ACP postgraduates completing PhDs
• -ACP Academic staff is exposed and contributes to
  the higher education inter-institutional
  exchanges
• -Enhanced international cooperation capacity of
  higher education institutions in the ACP
  countries through cooperation within the region
• -The spreading of the various experiences and
  best practices of participating universities
• -Increased both visibility for the participating
  institutions and ability to host and manage flow
  of foreign students
• -Improved cultural understanding and respect for
  diversity
• -In the longer term, improved political,
  cultural, educational and economical links
  between the countries in the ACP region with a
  better understanding of mutual values.

Renata RussellEuropean Commission
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Initial Project Concept

• As a result of the assessment of strengths and
  weaknesses of the ACP regional organisations a
  two-phase approach is proposed for this project.
• During the first phase the management of the
  project will be entrusted to the EACEA, following
  which in relevant regional organisations are
  expected to take over.
• During Phase I, the African Union Commission will
  be invited to second personnel to get acquainted
  with the working methods of the EACEA in regard
  to the management of mobility schemes. The
  personnel concerned will receive training and
  then will be responsible for the management of
  the scheme for Africa.
• In relation to the operation of the scheme for
  the Pacific and the Caribbean, it will also be
  implemented from the EACEA. The relevant
  organisations will be given an option and invited
  by the ACP Secretariat to deploy officials to the
  Agency in order to be exposed to a learning
  process of designing and implementing mobility
  schemes.

Renata RussellEuropean Commission
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Basic Features

• Calls for Proposals for groupings of Universities
  similar to EMECW
• In the first phase the Africa, Pacific and
  Caribbean regions operate independently with
  mobility within the regions, later possibilities
  for mobility between the regions may be
  considered.
• In the first call 3 African Projects, 1 Pacific,
  1 Caribbean
• MAs, PhDs, Academics, Staff
• Applicants will also have to submit for scrutiny
  details of the courses that will be offered.
• For Africa minimum 5 and maximum 10 Universities
  in a consortium
• For C P the composition still needs to be
  defined

Renata RussellEuropean Commission
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Further Information

• For more information on the ongoing ACP Lot 10
  project
• www.erasmusmundus10.net
• For more information on Erasmus Mundus
  http//ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-p
  rogrammes/doc72_en.htm
• For further information on the past guidelines,
  information on other regions, list of selected
  projects etc.
• http//eacea.ec.europa.eu/extcoop/call/index.htm
  
• For more information on EDULINK
• http//www.acp-edulink.eu/
• For more information on Science and technology
• http//www.acp-st.eu/
• EuropeAid
• http//ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm
• Contact Renata.russell_at_ec.europa.eu