Brussels, 20/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - Six EU-funded education projects in favour of social integration were named winners of the 2010 European Awards for Lifelong Learning on Wednesday 19 May. The winning projects are from Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom, and involve partners from many other European countries. The awards were announced at a conference in Barcelona on the future of the EU's main programme for education and training after 2013. The European commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, Androulla Vassiliou, said: “The EU's lifelong learning programme supports transnational projects in education and training that really make a difference at grassroots level. I congratulate the six winning projects: they can be particularly proud of their contribution in this European Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion”.
The projects, each involving partners in several European countries, were “excellent examples of what can be achieved by working together across borders to promote learning for all, regardless of age or social group”, Vassiliou added. A prize was awarded in each of the following fields: - school education (projects funded by the EU Comenius programme), higher education (Erasmus programme), adult education (Grundtvig programme), and vocational training (Leonardo da Vinci), as well as for languages and information and communication technologies. The Barcelona conference focused on how best to develop the EU's support for crossborder exchanges of students and teachers, as well as transnational partnerships between education and training institutions, and simplification of the way the EU's lifelong learning programme is managed. (I.L./transl.jl)