The European Parliament is preparing the next multiannual financial framework. During its plenary session, it is expected to provide a position on Thursday 14 September on an own-initiative report requesting more funding for the Erasmus + exchange programme in the education sector.
The draft report prepared by Petra Kammerevert (S&D, Germany) on behalf of the Parliament’s culture and education committee, considers that the programme will only be able to meet the expectations it has created if it benefits from “significant additional funding”.
The text particularly encourages a certain flexibility in the conceptualisation of the new programme as a means to ensure that this programme is able to swiftly meet emerging challenges and strategic priorities at European and international levels. The future programme will also have to be inclusive if it is to reach more young people through different tools, particularly those of a digital nature, as well as the organisations and formal and informal education institutions at all levels.
The rapporteur also recognises that one of the main barriers to increased higher education student mobility is the lack of clarity and coherence in the recognition of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) acquired during periods of mobility. Ms Kammerevert is therefore calling on the member states and appropriate authorities, particularly the higher education institutions, to fully implement the agreement on learning as a mandatory element in the mobility process and promoting harmonised recognition of the ECTS acquired.
The draft report also refers to a post- Brexi situation. It emphasises that the on-going negotiations on the United Kingdom leaving the EU, “should produce a satisfactory agreement for the two parties on the status of the students and teachers in the EU who participate in the mobility systems in the United Kingdom and vice versa”
The draft report can be seen at: http://bit.ly/2vOHVOk (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)