Brussels, 24/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - The new Erasmus for All programme (over the period 2014-2020), presented by the European Commission on Wednesday 23 November, brings together all the current EU and international schemes for education, training, youth and sport. It does not only replace the Erasmus programme, as mistakenly reported in EUROPE 10501, but replaces seven existing programmes with a single programme: Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, Grundtvig), Youth in Action, Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa, Edulink and the bilateral cooperation programme with industrialised countries.
Thanks to the streamlined structure of the new programme - together with its significantly increased investment means - the EU will be able to deliver many more opportunities for students, trainees, young people, teachers, youth workers and others to improve their skills, personal development and job prospects. Erasmus for All will also promote research and teaching on European integration, and support grassroots sport. Since 2007, an average of 400,000 people per year have received EU grants for study, training and volunteering abroad. Under the Commission's proposal, this figure would nearly double to almost 800,000.
According to the proposal, Master's degree students would also benefit from a new loan guarantee scheme set up with the European Investment Bank Group. A budget of €881 million has been earmarked to this end for the period 2014-2020. (LC/transl.jl)